LIMERICK Labour TD and Party Housing Spokesperson, Conor Sheehan, is to introduce a Bill calling for the mandatory broadcasting of local authority meetings.
This comes after Mayor of Limerick, John Moran, said he will put forward a motion at the next full meeting of Limerick City and County Council (March 23) proposing that “all live-streamed full Council meetings be recorded in full, and those records be published on the Council’s website within two working days.”
The proposal has already been backed by Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan, who is set to second the motion. It’s also received support from Fianna Fáil TD, Niall Collins.
Deputy Sheehan said: “I will be introducing a short Bill on the mandatory broadcasting of council meetings. I never understood in my previous role as a Councillor why council meetings were not publicly broadcast and recorded.
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“This is done in many local authorities around the country, indeed it takes only a couple of cursory clicks to access an archive of South Dublin County Council meetings”, Deputy Sheehan commented.
“Limerick should long follow suit and I welcome Mayor Moran’s call and I believe that a simple Bill could deal with this issue satisfactorily.”
“As a member of Dáil Éireann, all of our proceedings are broadcast and recorded and I believe this is essential for transparency and trust in politics. In principle meetings should not happen behind closed doors and the public should be able to easily access local authority proceedings”, he added.