FIANNA Fáil general election candidate Cllr Cathal Crowe has called for all Clare County Council meetings to be live video streamed.
Cllr Crowe has written to Pat Dowling, Chief Executive of Clare County Council asking that his proposal be actioned on.
“It’s time that Clare County Council follow the lead taken by other Councils and embrace 21st century streaming technology” said Cllr Crowe.
“In the age of political transparency it’s only right that the public should be able to see the goings-on at our Council meetings. Councillors do a huge amount of great work in the communities but our constituents are often oblivious to our contributions in the chamber.
“The live streaming of meetings would have many benefits. It would provide a factual, unfiltered account of speeches for the public. It would also take some pressure off reporters as they would be able to report on elements of meetings that they may not be in attendance for. The live streamed videos could be uploaded to the Council’s website and archived for any-time viewing.
“If Pat Dowling goes with my suggestion I would envisage a plethora of Council meetings including plenary monthly sittings, committee meetings and Municipal District meetings to be streamed.
“I estimate the total cost of installing cameras in the main Council chamber in Ennis and the 4 Municipal District chambers to be less than €800. This would be a very small outlay of money to achieve transparency” concluded Cllr Crowe.
