Mayo's new policing body is a 'secret society'

Members of Mayo County Council have called on the recently established Mayo Community Safety Partnership to lift its embargo on the local media reporting on its meetings.

Journalists from the main local media outlets in Mayo - the Western People, Connaught Telegraph, Mayo News and Midwest Radio - have been barred from attending meetings of the new policing body since it was established earlier this year. The decision was taken after an anonymous ballot of members.

Reporters had previously covered the Mayo Joint Policing Committee, which was replaced by the new Community Safety Partnership. Several members of Mayo County Council are serving on the new partnership, including Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne who placed the motion before last week's council meeting. The motion was seconded by Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn and also signed by 14 other councillors, namely Donna Sheridan, Neil Cruise, Ger Deere and Cyril Burke (all Fine Gael), Al McDonnell, Blackie Gavin and John Caulfield (all Fianna Fáil), John O'Malley, Richard Finn, Patsy O'Brien, Joe Faughnan and Harry Barrett (all Independent), Gerry Murray (Sinn Féin) and Chris Maxwell (Independent Ireland). The motion also called for members of the press to be invited to report on all meetings of the council's strategic policy committees (SPCs)

Noting that the media had always covered the meetings of the Joint Policy Committee, Cllr Kilcoyne said the new partnership was "operating as a secret society".

"We are elected by the people and are accountable to the people. Two-thirds of councillors have already voted in favour of these meetings being open, but instead, they are closed. One open meeting a year is allowed and other than that they will operate as a secret society. 

"Some of the excuses the [council] executive gave is that the new Safety Partnership is settling in and people are getting to know each other. This is a public body and when councillors are elected here, they are accountable to the public from their first meeting, and the Press is there to do their reporting on it. 

"I am a long time around and have worked in many organisations where democracy is very important and decisions are taken by vote. I have never seen in my time a ballot deciding, an anonymous poll, that you say yes or no to the Press attending meetings. That is not the way you were elected, Cathaoirleach, and these votes should be taken at a meeting when the various representatives of organisations are accountable or there is a roll call or a show of hands.

“Many are of the view the Press should be there as they are here today and at every meeting. I accept that SPCs can decide to have the Press there but that is not what is happening either, as just some meetings are alerted to the Press and some are not, and they were excluded altogether two years ago unless councillors let them know a meeting was on. They were not refused entry as such but not telling them a meeting is on is not allowing them to go.” 

Cllr Kilcoyne welcomed the fact that the editors of the four main local media outlets in Mayo had submitted a letter to the Safety Partnership on the matter but noted that the letter was "never even considered by the committee".

Cllr Donna Sheridan, who is also a member of the new partnership, stated that there needed to be more coverage, not less, of its meetings. 

“I want these meetings to be broadcast live also because democracy is under threat from fake news and so-called citizen journalists putting out false stories. We are so lucky to have such professional Press and media, and we need to protect that. We have over 16 names on this petition, which makes more than half of us deciding we want the Press there. 

"The argument was made that certain individuals on the committee, other than councillors, aren’t used to the Press being there, but all of you on the management top bench here also have to attend meetings with the Press here. Are we going to set a precedent of starting to bar the Press from meetings we don’t want them at? If they don’t want the Press, let them come out and say it, these representatives from these organisations on the Safety Partnership Committee, and let other people be nominated. Are we really going to start a process such as this, because what happens if the Courts Service or the Gardaí then start saying the Press can’t be at meetings or sittings. We have a duty here to fight for democracy and freedom of the Press and I think we are setting a really bad precedent here.” 

Cllr Blackie Gavin added: “I fully support the motion for the embargo to be lifted on the local media. I served on the JPC for many years and the media were never excluded. 

"This is a very serious matter. Any problems we had in this town down through the years, we met with the Gardaí and the local media, we discussed anti-social behaviour and we nipped it in the bud. We have a lot of anti-social behaviour in estates now and I feel nothing is being done about it. I think every member of this council should be on the Safety Partnership Committee and shame on them for deciding the Press should be excluded and from covering different events happening in our towns and villages. 

"I ask the chief executive of this council to lift that embargo and let the media report incidents that are happening. It is very important for our democracy that the general public be informed about what is going on.” 

Chief Executive Kevin Kelly responded: “For the purpose of clarity, the Community Safety Partnership is a separate entity. I don’t have any control over that."

In relation to the SPCs, Mr Kelly said he understood that the media are covering these committees but told Cllr Kilcoyne that if there are meetings the Press are not being alerted to, “let me know the details as I am not aware of that".

Cllr Damien Ryan said he had been a member of the council for almost three decades and there had never been a problem with members of the Press having access to meetings. 

"We can’t compel a committee to make a decision, but we must strike a balance between confidentiality and dealing with things in a certain way. I have often said here I would appreciate if the Press don’t report on something said and they have always honoured that. There can be workshops to thrash things out before meetings also, so whether it be SPCs or general council meetings, it is very important they are reported accurately and in a balanced way, as the local media have been doing, especially given the threat from social media and AI. 

"I don’t want to see us going down a cul de sac of everything happening in committee because that will be no use to the public at large. Everybody in all these forums is doing their level best to represent the views of their constituents and I don’t want to see it ever diminished, because our media are very constructive and very fair.” 

Cllr Paul McNamara said he wanted to support the motion and “acknowledge what the Press do covering every event; they do a massive job in reporting on meetings".

Cllr Richard Finn added: “We had a procedure the last umpteen years in relation to the Press and they always worked with us - anything that should not be discussed and that is personal information, they do not report on. The Press should be allowed into all meetings and it is up to the Chair then to decide if something is contentious.” 

It was agreed that the motion had the unanimous backing of the council, although the chairperson of the Safety Partnership, Cllr Michael Loftus, made no comment throughout the discussion.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.