Pause pressed on proposal for live streaming of Limerick council meetings
Cllr Elisa O’Donovan called for live streaming of all council meetings
CALLS for Limerick City and County Council meetings to be live streamed were not met positively at last week’s meeting.
At last Monday’s meeting, Cllr Elisa O’Donovan, SD, called for live streaming of all council meetings.
The City West councillor feels making the decision to live stream would be “a great opportunity to showcase ourselves as a modern city council” and would be “an excellent way to keep councillors accountable to the people who voted them in”.
The detailed reply from council official Laura Flannery weighed up both sides.
She acknowledged the advantages, but pointed out the serious concerns about data protection, defamation, and the inadvertent disclosure of confidential material.
Ms Flannery's key point is that members of the public can stream the meetings online, if they email the council for access in advance.
People can also watch from the public viewing gallery, and can access the agendas and minutes of council meetings online.
Ms Flannery recalls a similar notice of motion raised by Cllr O’Donovan in the past, reminding councillors that, since then, meetings have begun to be streamed online, but the viewership “has rarely exceeded five members of the public”.
It was her recommendation that live streaming was not a justifiable action.
Fine Gael council leader John Sheahan pointed out that the Local Government Members Association is currently doing a review into the streaming of council meetings. He proposed a counter-motion to defer the matter until the outcome of the review is known.
This won the day.