RELAX, don’t it, was the message to councillors, terrified they might end up in the High Court if meetings are recorded and livestreamed.
Regular viewers to the hit Limerick City and How’s Your Father probably anticipated that last week’s special meeting on recording plenary meetings was going to go rump over teakettle.
The whole debacle is more dragged out now after the tearjerking cliffhangers, hysterical leave-taking, and private workshops, than the excruciating final season of Stranger Things. In fact, every meeting in the Dooradoyle Council chamber lately feels more mind-boggling than being stuck in an unstable inter-dimensional wormhole.
Social Democrats councillor Shane Hickey-O’Mara was on hand to gather the troops around the campfire for a couple of verses of Kumbaya. He took the view that meetings would be a ratings hit with humble serfs keen to learn more about the workings of local government.
“There’s so many people that want to engage with us that feel locked out of it. You can’t just take a day off work to watch a Council meeting,” he cried.
And for councillors fretting over “Armageddon breaking out”, calling for delay buttons to remove salacious comments before they air, Cllr Hickey-O’Mara had a rudimentary solution.
“When it comes to being afraid of what you’ll say, I’ve got colleagues across the country who are doing this. It’s never been an issue for them. If you think you’re going to say something cruel or illegal, think before you speak, or just count to 10 before you say it.
“It just seems so ridiculous that we’re going round and round in circles because people are afraid they’re going to say something hateful or illegal. I mean, just don’t say it,” he exclaimed.
Priomh Chomhairleoir Cllr Catherine Slattery did not agree with this statement whatsoever, telling the room: “It’s easy for people to say count to 10. In the heat of the moment, that’s not often very easy for everyone.”
Fine Gael man John Sheahan was of the view that a delay button could help dig councillors out of an “Armageddon situation” (where they “speak their mind”), “which has happened in the chamber down through the years”.
However, Cllr Slattery was worried pesky sharecroppers might get to misbehaving with AI while binge-watching these exhilarating episodes.
“God knows what those recordings will be turned into. You see it online every day. They can have people saying things and doing things that never even occurred,” she fretted.
All I can suggest, councillors, is that you think before you speak, children can do it, and please, don’t say everything you think.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme