If Mayor Padraig Conneely really believes in the idea of ‘open government’ then he should allow city council meetings be recorded for broadcast on YouTube.
This is the view of Green Party candidate for Galway City East James Hope who made a second attempt to record a city council meeting on Monday. Letters were sent by email and post to all 15 councillors, seeking formal permission, and explaining both why the council meeting should be recorded, and that the film would be uploaded to YouTube.
However Mayor Conneely was opposed to Mr Hope’s request to video the meeting, stating that he would not be facilitating any debate on the issue.
Speaking afterwards Mr Hope said: “The people of Galway have a right to see how well their representatives perform at meetings. Very few people are free at 4pm on a Monday, and the chamber is very small. The vast majority of Galway people simply have no way of telling how well their councillors are representing them.”
Mr Hope believes that recording the meetings and making them available via the internet “provides open access” and “is the best way to realise the ideal of open government”. He then criticised Mayor Conneely, saying he “seems interested only in paying lip service to this ideal”.
