Concern at proposal to exclude media from Mayo council committee meetings

CONCERN has been expressed about a proposal to exclude members of the press from attending council strategic policy committee (SPC) meetings.

Mayo County Council has six SPCs - housing; climate change and environment; roads and sustainable travel; economic and enterprise development; planning and corporate development; community integration and recreation. Councillors and sectoral/community representatives sit on each committee and their function is to debate policy and then bring it before a full council meeting.

Since they were first established, members of the media in Mayo have attended and reported on SPC meetings.

However, the council's chief executive, Kevin Kelly, has indicated they should be confined to committee members to allow them discuss policy in an open and frank manner. Draft policy would then come into the public domain at a later stage in the process, at full council meetings, with the press present.

Councillor Michael Kilcoyne took issue with this, saying he would 'totally reject' the proposal whereby the press would be excluded.

It seemed to him to be an attempt to curtail reporting back to the public.

Fellow Independent Councillor Mark Duffy also rejected the idea, saying we need to bring democracy closer to the people.

Fine Gael's Councillor Michael Burke said he could see where the CE was coming from. When creating policy, you didn't need media coverage for every stage.

They welcomed media coverage, but this would be like when they meet in committee or hold a workshop when people put their honest opinion on the table.

Policy, he added, has been weak coming from the SPCs.

Councillor Damien Ryan said how they conduct meetings is something they needed to consider further. The media have always been part and parcel of the structure of SPCs and he felt they can do that in a cohesive way.

He would like to keep the meetings public.

The point was made by Councillor Richard Finn that the SPC members from outside bodies should be allowed to discuss their proposals in public in front of the press.

The chief executive told members that across the country only 'a handful' of SPCs have the press at them.

It wasn't about exclusion, he added, but about facilitating the best discussion possible.

He wanted to see the SPCs functioning better and having more of a role for councillors in devising council policy.

Responded Councillor Kilcoyne: “The press are regarded as the guardians of democracy.”