A proposal to live stream Galway County Council meetings almost ended in this week’s meeting being abandoned – even though the councillor who submitted the motion was not even in the chamber.
The County Cathaoirleach Peter Roche took the motion by Cllr James Charity (Ind) to broadcast meetings to improve the transparency of Council meetings and the accountability of elected members to voters despite the proposer being absent at the time – a move only deemed to be out of order after debate raged on it for nearly an hour.
Cllr Eileen Mannion (FG) said this same motion had twice come up for debate and twice the proposer was not present – she proposed it move off the agenda for good.
This prompted Cllr Noel Thomas (FF) to quip that the councillors could not blame Cllr Charity as he was educated and did not want to there listening to their bullsh**t, referring to Cllr Charity’s recent insistence that elected members should have professional qualifications or training in planning before standing for office.
County Secretary Michael Owens reminded councillors that under standing orders if a councillor is not present they must request in writing for somebody else to table their motion.
He also said he had informed Cllr Charity in writing that tenders had been sought for live streaming and it could cost in the region of €14,000, with additional cost associated with broadcasting it with a delay for data protection reasons.
Cllr Tom Healy (SF) said the meetings could be streamed live on audio only, which was very basic technology and would not require additional staff. His motion for the Corporate Policy Group to further examine the issue was unanimously agreed.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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