Council debate over laptop ban

THE proposed enforcement of a ban preventing Clare county councillors from bringing their own laptops into the council chamber for statutory meetings should generate heated debate amongst members at their March meeting.
A proposal to broadcast council meetings live on a webcast is also likely to provoke differing opinions from elected members.
Official confirmation of a debate on whether laptops should be allowed in the council chamber has prompted Councillor Brian Meaney to table a motion requesting the broadcast of all statutory meetings on a webcast as well as retaining a digital archive of the entire proceedings.
Councillor Meaney, who is opposed to any restriction on the use of laptops, said the council should follow the example of their counterparts in Fingal County Council, where the contents of discussions are broadcast on a webcam.
He stressed that using a laptop at a council meeting is an essential tool for any councillor who wished to be kept up to date with all the latest developments in local and national Government.
Under existing standing orders, the use of any communication device such as a computer or a mobile phone during a statutory meeting is not permitted.
However, this rule is regularly flouted by councillors from all parties, who often take phone calls before leaving the council chamber.
It is expected that a debate on whether this particular standing order will be strictly enforced in future will be facilitated as part of the March agenda.
Mayor of Clare, Councillor Tony Mulcahy, stressed it would be up to councillors to collectively decide whether they wanted to have meetings broadcast live or to remove the standing order concerning the use of communication devices.
However, Councillor Mulcahy warned that councillors should consider the fact that, unlike Dáil Éireann, where deputies have full privilege and are protected by law, councillors only have qualified privilege to raise matters in the public interest without malice.
He added that some councillors had a difficulty with a member putting their own interpretation of national legislation by reading sections of documents off the Internet.
Councillor Cathal Crowe confirmed he is also opposed to enforcing any ban on the use of laptops as he found it very useful to be able to refer to information on his own computer during a meeting.
Councillor Patricia McCarthy dismissed suggestions that the proposal came from the Corporate Policy Group committee, which contains councillors from all parties.
Stating she had no problem with councillors using their own computers during a meeting, she also welcomed the possibility of recording all statutory meetings and broadcasting the contents around the world.
Councillor McCarthy recalled that debates were officially recorded in old council meetings in the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s and feels the modern practice of just noting decisions doesn’t give a proper account of what had transpired.