Mr Michael Ring, a Fine Gael TD for Mayo, will challenge legislation in the High Court that prohibits Oireachtas members from simultaneously holding seats on local councils.
TDs and senators from Fine Gael and other parties, who are concerned the reform will not only cost them money but eventually lead to the loss of their Oireachtas seats, will help to fund that legal action.
An attempt by the previous Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, to end the dual mandate foundered on backbench opposition during the last Coalition Government.
Mr Ring is confident he will win this case. His challenge, he said, was all about allowing people to elect who they wanted, rather than parliament deciding who could, or could not, become a council member. And he warned that between 50 and 75 per cent of TDs and senators will lose their seats in the next two general elections if the dual mandate ends.
The flamboyant public representative from Mayo is fully entitled to test the constitutionality of this legislation. But we should be clear about the issues involved which have more to do with the self-interest of Oireachtas members than any concerns expressed by the electorate.
Double-jobbing is frowned upon in most occupations. Dáil members are paid full-time salaries and generous, unvouched expenses. Councillors receive a small salary and expenses. In spite of its full-time status, the Dáil sits in plenary session for fewer than 170 days a year. It does not sit on Mondays because backbenchers attend council meetings on that day. It does not sit on Fridays because they attend to constituency business. Such part-time Oireachtas activity, at a time when members are receiving benchmark payments, cannot continue.
It has taken more than 20 years to reach this point. Initially government ministers, and then ministers of state, were required to give up their council seats so that they could devote more time to government business. Many of them left the councils reluctantly. But none of them stopped working in their constituencies. Now TDs and senators are being asked to travel the same road.
Mr Ring said more than 50 per cent of TDs will lose their seats in the next two elections. That is about right. Statistics show that at least one-quarter of all TDs retire or lose their seats in a general election. It has nothing to do with the dual mandate.
Mr Ring also said that between 60 and 70 per cent of his work has to do with local government. Perhaps there is a message in that for him.