The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
MEETINGS of Clare County Council generally start at 3.45pm and finish well after 7pm, sometimes close to 8pm, with a small number of tired councillors still in the Chamber, the majority having departed earlier.
The fact that so many leave before the end is hardly a great endorsement of local democracy, but it’s also entirely understandable giving that the meetings are so long and finish so late.
Given the ongoing early departures and the length of the meetings, Councillor Pat Burke came up with an interesting proposal which was considered at this week’s meeting: starting the meetings at 10am.
He said he himself has a long drive after the meeting, and that he sometimes has to leave before it ends, while he said that there are advantages to starting earlier.
“Better business is done in the morning,” he claimed.
Councillor Burke said if meetings started and finished earlier, he would hope that all members would stay for the full duration.
Fianna Fáil’s Pat O’Gorman, who works in Shannon, said that while coming to a meeting for 3.45pm can be done without too much upheaval, it’s far more difficult to do so at 10am.
Independent Ian Lynch agreed, saying that if the meeting was at 10am “the whole working day is gone”.
He said that 2pm would be more reasonable, but that going much earlier is “just not practical for people who are working”.
Councillor Johnny Flynn spoke in favour of the motion, saying that there is a need to make local politics far more family friendly and accessible for the parents of young children.
Independent Gerry Flynn and Fianna Fáil’s Pat Hayes both recommended that the proposal go to the Council’s Standing Orders committee.
Sinn Féin’s Councillor Donna McGettigan suggested that 2pm would be a better time to commence than 3.45pm, and that at times the meetings are close to not having a quorum by their conclusion.
Councillor Paul Murphy said that the meetings should start at least a couple of hours earlier, and that he would favour going to 10am. “The brain is fresher in the morning,” he observed.
He also said that the night of a big funeral or some other event there can be very few people left when some important motions are on the agenda.
Fianna Fáil’s Pat Daly said that it was time for a change and that 2pm would be a reasonable time to start.
Prior to Monday afternoon’s meeting the members had heard a presentation from Shannon Group management and Councillor Daly said that it had to be rushed, because of the pressures of time due to the meeting being so late in the day.
Ultimately it was decided that the proposal would go back to the Council’s Standing Orders committee for further consideration.
On Monday the councillors had the briefing with Shannon Group at 2.45pm, and from then on there was only a break of a couple of minutes until they concluded close to five hours later.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
