Livestreaming and recording of council meetings in Kerry has been put on hold by council management — amid fears that Kerry councillors would be impertinent and say more than they should.
Council minutes were not reflecting all that was said at meetings, councillors claimed, and two motions — both by Healy-Raes — have come before the council calling for rules to be changed and livestreaming to go ahead.
The recording of meetings would protect council and the councillors and make council business “more transparent”, Cllr Johnny Healy-Rae said.
Especially while meetings were being held online, recording and streaming of meetings should be allowed, Cllrs Johnny and Jackie Healy-Rae said. Other councils were allowing this and livestreaming would also bring Kerry into line with a number of other local authorities holding online meetings, the cousins said.
Both motions were supported by Cllr Charlie Farrelly who said the measures were “long overdue”.
We must stand over what we say, whether it is the heat of battle or not
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“Not for one minute are the staff anything but professional, but things do get missed,” Cllr Farrelly stated.
Cllr Brendan Cronin, mayor of Killarney, said recording would be beneficial for staff and for accuracy.
Moving his motion to allow meetings to be recorded and streamed live, Cllr Johnny Healy-Rae said elected members were responsible and would stand over what they said.
“We must stand over what we say, whether it is the heat of battle or not,” he argued.
However, CEO of Kerry County Council Moira Murrell said staff did not require meetings to be recorded and statutory guidelines for online meetings did not allow for it.
“The meetings administrator did not require recording and that is still the case,” she said.
Compliance with data protection regulations on recording voices and such required strong rules and regulations, Ms Murrell said.
She agreed that a small number of other councils were recording meetings “but my concern is we do things right in Kerry County Council,” Ms Murrell said.
Minute takers
Compliance with data protection in livestreaming meetings was currently being assessed nationally, and it would be “prudent” to wait the outcome of this process, a written reply to the councillors said.
In the written report, the council defended the skill and professionalism of the minute takers.
“The staff involved in this process have a lot of experience in this area with comprehensive minutes being prepared in a professional manner for review by the members,” the report said.
It also said that the minutes were “not a verbatim account" of what was discussed at any particular meeting.
“Rather they provide a record of the decision taken and a summary of the main points for and against the various issues that arise at the meeting,” it said.
Cllr Johnny Healy Rae agreed to allow the matter go to a subcommittee of the council but said things were being made more complicated than they needed to be.
“These are public meetings. I can’t see where staff would have a problem,” he said.
