Virtual councillors spotted on Wikipedia

TWO mystery councillors have managed to infiltrate Clare County Council without anybody noticing.

If you haven’t come across a Councillor John A Collins from Fianna Fáil or an unnamed Sinn Féin member of the council, then you won’t be the only one.
According to the popular encyclopaedia website, Wikipedia, these previously unheard of councillors joined the local authority after being elected in 2009.
This and other errors on the website’s page for Clare County Council were highlighted this week by Councillor Brian Meaney, who spoke out about the dangers of taking information from the internet without checking it.
At this week’s meeting of Ennis West Electoral Area councillors, Councillor Meaney urged the information relating to Clare County Council on Wikipedia be corrected.
The website has added two more members to the 32-member authority, adding an extra councillor in the Killaloe and Shannon area.
Councillor Meaney stated, “Anyone who opens this website would see that apparently we have a member of Sinn Féin and who is this mysterious John Collins who is supposedly from North Clare and is listed as a member of Fianna Fáil?  It’s annoying.”
He pointed out he could have looked for the entry to be amended but felt the issue needed to be highlighted.
“The veracity of information that people have access to on the internet needs to be verified and I would like to see Clare County Council actively engaged with this. This website is a huge, positive resource for Clare County Council but we need to make sure the information that relates to us is accurate. I would like to see the information technology section or others involved in making these corrections.”
Michael McNamara, senior executive officer, Corporate Services, Clare County Council responded, “Clare Local Authorities was not responsible for creating this website page and has no direct control over its content, as anybody can change the information on the Wikapedia website by simply creating a log-in and then clicking on the ‘edit’ links on the Wikapedia page.”