Council Affairs: Live, but not on the record

THEY say that all great change is preceded by chaos. We’ve certainly seen evidence of this throughout the bewildering debacle.

THEY say that all great change is preceded by chaos. We’ve certainly seen evidence of this throughout the bewildering debacle at Limerick City and How’s Your Father over the Mayor’s proposal to record full plenary meetings going forward.

There’s been more huff and puff out of councillors over this simple ask than any offshore wind turbine. And they probably don’t want those either!

Is Mayor Moran wasting his time on things he cannot change or influence? It would seem so.

As former Limerick mayor Jim Long, a great man for the Chinese proverbs, might have said, ‘When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.’ Wise words, indeed.

Of course, in Merchant’s Quay, when the winds of change blow, they invite it into a private meeting so it can pant and heave without anyone being any the wiser, especially if it’s hot air, and liable to blast out a scurrilous cyclone.

We all know plum sauce wouldn’t melt in our local councillors gobs and there’s no fear of any of them ever ending up in the High Court after talking out of turn. That wouldn’t be their style.

But still, better safe than sorry, so down with the recording of Council meetings type of thing. Instead, the party leaders, who are all about transparency, broke up their monthly meeting last week to hold a behind-closed-doors summit with his excellency. Secret handshakes is the way forward for local government, it would seem – don’t mind your bloody live-streaming.

Seriously though, instead of fretting over what could go wrong, turn those frowns upside down and start getting excited about what could go right.Poor Mayor Moran must be absolutely withered from them, and you really couldn’t blame him.

There we were, all sat at the monthly biscuit eating contest, waiting to see how the Mayor’s motion on recording meetings would work out. And before you knew it, transparency was locked up with our first citizen in the Fine Gael party torture chamber until they got to a juncture where the decision could only go one way.

I mean, why even live-stream Council meetings, don’t mind recording them, when most of the hollering is now taking place behind closed doors? There’s adjournment upon adjournment at every meeting these days. It’s all about as transparent as the black hole of Calcutta!

Sure look, if it’s change you are after, you’ve come to the wrong place. There will be no recording of plenary meetings. Not that you’re missing much anyway!