A minimum of £5,000 a year for each councillor, plus expenses, has been demanded by the chairman of the Local Authority Members' Association. He was addressing a weekend conference in Bray, Co Wicklow, of over 200 councillors from Ireland and Britain.
The theme was "Local Government after the General Election". The delegates met the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, at a reception in Dublin on Saturday.
Senator James Walsh, a member of Wexford County Council, said that local government is now a huge business employing 30,000 people, with a £2 billion public capital programme. Yet councillors, who were in reality directors of this "huge company", were getting a raw deal, he said.
"When the officials the councillors are working with receive up to £45,000 a year, we think that a small salary of at least £5,000 a year for each councillor should be attainable. This is small money and simple fairness should dictate that councillors get paid.
"We have the mandate but not the management. The State must realise that councillors have their own families to support and any examination of their own workload will bear up to scrutiny from all the communities they serve," said Senator Walsh.
He told the Minister for the Environment "not to tinker at the edges" but to introduce meaningful changes, so that local government can operate like a business company.
The Minister, Mr Dempsey, told the conference that he is examining some adjustments in the allowances system for councillors. But he added: "While a pension scheme is not a feasible proposition, I am examining the position to see if it is possible for some form of recognition to be granted to long-serving councillors on their retirement.
"This would require legislation and can be considered in the context of the Local Government Bill, which I hope to bring forward next year."
Mr Dempsey warned that a pension scheme could lead to complications with the Revenue Commissioners. But the increased job load and responsibility meant that an allowance for councillors would have to be considered seriously.
Mr Michael O'Donnell, a Louth councillor, said that a TD's salary is now about £35,000 a year, plus mileage expenses and holidays. So councillors who did a lot of work in the TD's constituency "must be worth at least half of that a year."
Ms Clare Wheeler, of Dublin City Council, said that women councillors have often to employ child-minders, who "do not come cheap", when they attend council meetings. They surely must be reimbursed for such costs, she observed.
Mr Blaise Treacy, Wicklow County Manager, told the conference that he had "personally a roomful of debates, reports and papers aimed at the future of local government. But as yet no major reforms have taken place despite over 25 years of talks of reforms.
"To date we have not experienced the major reforms contained in these reports which began in 1970."