STAGE fright has set in amidst the rank and file foot-soldiers in Limerick City and County Council. Discussions on recording statutory public meetings has seen councillors get cold feet in recent weeks despite suggestions from Social Democrats’ Cllr Elisa O’Donovan that they could be “a ratings hit”.
Far more entertaining than the daytime musings of Dáithà Ó Sé and Sinead Kennedy over on RTÉ they might be, but there can be a heavy price for tuning into these Council spectacles if your sanity is something you’d like to cling onto!
If the meetings are eventually recorded, you’ll be able to fast-forward to the more salacious moments over a pinot grigio of a Friday night instead of tuning into The Late Late Show.
Hold your whist for now, though. There could be chicanery afoot.
Councillors managed to kick the Mayor’s can — to record the full statutory meetings — down the road for another bit with their cunning and guile.
Councillors cleverly feigned interest in Mayor Moran’s proposal by seeking an “all or nothing approach in the interest of transparency”.
Cutting the Mayor off at the pass, Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Collins proposed an amendment calling for all statutory meetings to be recorded or none at all. He wanted a costing on recording district meetings before going any further.
“We have to have a proper value on everything. What happens if we get a costing on the districts in two months’ time and we can’t afford it? Then we’ve missed the boat,” Cllr Collins hit out.
“In the interest of transparency, I’d call on the Mayor to see his way to have everything in the public domain. The district meetings are of the upmost importance, because the work we do is very important.”
No flies on these boys!
Fine Gael councillor John Sheahan took issue with the definition of qualified privilege – a protection which can aid as a legal defence against defamation claims – they receive from the Council executive. As far as he was concerned, it was as good as a “lighthouse in a bog-hole”.
“Things can be said and people can do things that they can regret within the second that they do it. That will not be good enough in the future if that recording is available for somebody to take them to the steps of the court,” Sheehan warned.
Amazingly, what seemed most lost on councillors, was that they alone have control over what comes out of their gobs.
As mammy used to say, “When angry, count to 10 before you speak. If very angry, count to 100.”
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme