Mayo Community Safety Partnership a 'secret society' - demand to lift press exclusion
A DEMAND is being sent to the chairperson of the new Mayo policing forum - the Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) - that the Press be invited to attend all of their meetings.
Since the partnership was formed, the local media have been excluded from attending and reporting on meetings.
Describing it as a 'secret society', Councillor Michael Kilcoyne said the message from Castlebar Municipal District (MD) councillors is that they are 'appalled' that the LCSP is meeting behind closed doors.
He noted how a letter from the editors of the four news organisations in the county was sent to LCSP chair Councillor Michael Loftus on Wednesday criticising the committee.
And the point was made by Councillor Donna Sheridan that the government provided €6 million funding for local media last year under local democracy and courts reporting schemes, yet a decision had been made in Mayo to preclude them from the LCSP, which she did not agree with.
Three members of the Castlebar MD are among the seven councillors on the 30-strong committee - Al McDonnell, Michael Kilcoyne and Donna Sheridan.
Councillor Kilcoyne told the monthly MD meeting there is widespread disillusionment that it is being 'conducted as a secret society'.
A letter had been sent that day to the CSP chairman by the editors criticising the committee and as an MD, they should make their voices heard and say these meetings should be heard in public, he said.
Putting a blanket across it was the kind of thing they do in Russia, he remarked.
The former chairperson of the old joint policing committee, which the LCSP replaced, Councillor McDonnell, said that committee had met in public and it went well.
Councillor Kilcoyne proposed that they write to the chairman stating the MD members are appalled that these meetings are being held behind closed doors and demanding that the Press are invited to attend all meetings. Councillor Blackie Gavin seconded the proposal.
Councillor Sheridan further proposed that they write to the council's chief executive to ensure the media are invited to all of the council's strategic policy committee (SPC) meetings too as they are being excluded from some.
Meetings should be transparent and the media should be there. For democracy as a whole, it is vital they put their foot down now, said Councillor Sheridan.
Councillor Cyril Burke said he understood the LCSP wanted to hold a few meetings to settle members in and get a handle on issues, which he didn't have a problem with, but he didn't see any reason for it to continue indefinitely.
He also agreed the Press should be invited to SPC meetings.
The point was made by Councillor Kilcoyne that when new councillors are elected, they don't get a year to settle in. From day one the Press are there.
During the days of the towns councils, all nine members sat on the policing committee, Councillor Gavin said, meeting regularly with the gardaí and any issues they had with anti-social behaviour were resolved.
At the moment nothing is being resolved because they don't know what's going on, he said, and the Press are the only ones that bring this out into the open, and it is critical they are at all meetings.
Ahead of this week's LCSP meeting, members of the group were asked to respond to a 'completely anonymous' poll 'in order to establish an informed level of consensus on the matter' after Councillor Sheridan and Councillor Kilcoyne made a submission calling for all meetings to be open to the media.
Councillor Kilcoyne has threatened to resign over the exclusion of the press.
* Funded under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme