Mayo council PR requires more clarity

AN elected representative wants to see council officials quoted in communications personally named as opposed to being described as a spokesperson.

People are struggling to know who are the key personnel within Mayo County Council, explained Councillor Peter Flynn at the monthly meeting of the local authority.

There seems to be a trend in recent times that when communication comes out from the council, it says 'a spokesperson said'.

As councillors, when they make a comment they do so as named councillors, and he proposed that future communications from the council should have the person's name and title alongside it.

It would give clarity around who the person is and what department they are part of, and it would give better interaction, said Councillor Flynn.

“We are a small local authority on the west coast of Ireland and we should know who our people are. And having unnamed spokespeople, in my view, is not a good thing. We need to get closer to the people,” he commented.

Chief executive Kevin Kelly took his point in general but said sometimes several people feed into communications and he would not give the commitment asked for.