Cork City Council ditches live streaming for first meeting back
To stream or not to stream? Cork City Council hasn't ruled out bringing back the cameras to broadcast its monthly meetings.
Cork City Councillors returned to City Hall this week as the first in person monthly meeting of all councillors was convened in more than eighteen months.
It was also the first time in months that the public could not follow proceedings as the hours-long meeting was not broadcast online.
The new normal?
Just under a year ago, Cork City Council broadcast its first monthly meeting online, and in the months that followed people across the city (and globe) could follow proceedings online as the lengthy meetings which tackled all manners of local democracy unfolded.
Last night’s meeting, in which redevelopment plans for Bishop Lucey Park, waste disposal and biodiversity were all discussed, took place behind closed doors.
In a statement released to Tripe + Drisheen, Paul Moynihan, an executive with Cork City Council, said the decision to hold a physical meeting was only confirmed last week and that due to “technical infrastructure limitations” they were unable to livestream last night’s meeting.
However, Mr. Moynihan added that “no decision to discontinue the live streaming of future council meetings has been taken.”
“Important for local democracy”
Pádraig Rice, a parliamentary assistant from Cork, said the decision to livestream ordinary council meetings was important for accountability and transparency, but also because it enables people to participate.
“Not everyone can go in and watch meetings live. People have care responsibilities, children at home, but to be able to tune in online enables you to participate in the discussion. Many of the things debated affect all of our lives,” Mr. Rice told Tripe +Drisheen.
By way of example, he pointed to some of the motions debated at the in person meeting on October 26 in which councillors, including the multimillion euro development of Bishop Lucey Park.
“The issues they discuss really matter and affect all of our lives and it’s important that we can participate in that discussion and see what decisions are being made and why they are being made as they impact all of our lives,” Mr. Rice said.
Local democracy matters, he said, adding that best way to care for and support it is to “involve people in those discussions.”
“More than one way to skin a cat”
Lorna Bogue, a councillor for the South-East Ward and a member of An Rabharta Glas, told Tripe + Drisheen that one of the first motions she raised on becoming a councillor was that meetings be livestreamed.
“The more access that people have to knowing what’s going on in their area the better,” she said, adding that City Hall is a trek for many people, whereas people could much more easily and comfortably tune in at home.
Ms. Bogue pointed out that there’s been greater attendances online than there would be in City Hall. Right now, meetings are off limits to the public, and as Ms. Bogue pointed out the galleries in City Hall are not that big. They’re also freezing she added.
If it’s a question of expense, Ms. Bogue suggested that the Council could easily and cheaply publish the monthly meeting as a podcast.
“People are already miked up anyway,” she said, adding that it wouldn’t require much else to record the meetings and publish them in a podcast.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat, but there’s a lot of little scéalíns (stories) being told about why we can’t do something that should be relatively trivial and easy,” she said.
The archive
Dublin City Council has a more robust online presence than their Cork counterparts. All meetings are livestreamed, and they’re also archived, allowing people to watch back even after the meeting has finished.
Although Cork City Council was living streaming ordinary council meetings, which are attended by executive members of the Council, none of the meetings were archived for playback.
Mr. Rice said it’s important to make that service available also.
“If a controversial decision is made, it’s important facility to be able to go back and watch that and see what was the discussion and why did it happen.”
As to how many people would actually tune into watch the proceedings of a local council meeting? As Mr. Rice pointed out, over 400 people turned up - online - to watch Cork City Council’s annual general meeting when it was held in Ballincollig.
A little bit of local council history was made in Ballincollig. And online.
