THE Shannon Municipal District needs its own social media accounts, the July meeting of Shannon Municipal District heard.
Councillor Donna McGettigan (SF) said that the overall county council Facebook account isn’t enough.
“If you look at the Clare County Council Facebook page you have to scroll down really to find anything about Shannon in it,” she said.
“I’m not trying to be negative about the staff that monitor this, it’s just that there is so much information on one Facebook page.”
She said that the lack of freely available information about Shannon is causing some problems.
“There was one issue that happened in Shannon recently and it was made out that I was aware of what was happening beforehand and I wasn’t,” she said.
“That was the removal of the furniture in Pinewood. Then there was the issue around the N19, and in fairness to Tony [Mulcahy] he got a good response, the roadworks there and Irish Water.
“If we had our own space we could put up stuff.”
She said that it would make things far easier for councillors if information could be provided.
“It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just to get out more information so we’re not getting phone calls trying to scramble to find out about things,” she said.
Councillor McGettigan was supported by Councillor Mulcahy.
“There has to be some method to say ‘this is happening’,” he said.
The motion was also supported by Councillor Pat O’Gorman (FF) who said that people look at their local representatives pages for information that isn’t there.
“When you are on social media on a fairly regular basis, people will go to your page to find out information because you are the local representative, you are the face of the people,” he said.
“When something comes up like a burst main or an ESB outage, even though it mightn’t be a Council issue they will still come to your page looking for information.”
In a written reply to the proposal, Senior Executive Officer Anne Griffin said that the local authority is doing a lot in terms of communications already.
“Shannon MD will continue to strategically and actively use various communication channels to highlight the positive work and important issues within the MD and strengthen our strong and open relationships with the media,” the response stated.
“These communication channels include social media, the Council’s website, TV, local print media, and radio.
“Recognising the importance of promoting the positives of the towns, villages, and settlements in the Municipal District, as well as the projects carried out between the MD Office, elected representatives, and communities, the MD Office will further collaborate with the Communications Office to ensure an integrated approach.
“The Monthly Management Report, published on Clare County Council’s website, will continue to be vigorously promoted.
“The MD will ensure that the council’s website highlights the positive work carried out in the MD in a more prominent location and an MD Newsletter will also be produced in the Autumn.”
Clare County Council currently has more than 20,000 followers on Facebook.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.