In Fingal, a trio of councillors proposes reopening strategic policy committee meetings to media and the public

Almost 10 months ago Fingal County Council adopted new rules banning media from attending its strategic policy committee (SPC) meetings.

Three councillors are now looking to reverse this.

Before the change last December, members of the media and public could access these meetings by request, says Paul Mulville, a Social Democrats councillor, and one of the trio.

“They were always open to the public,” he says. “Are we saying SPCs didn’t function prior to that?”

While the standing orders with the restriction were voted through by councillors, some have said they didn’t clock that particular change at the time.

It may have been an oversight by some councillors, Mulville says. “But this is an oversight that we want to correct.”

Alongside Mulville, Joan Hopkins of the Social Democrats, and David Healy of the Green Party have put their names to a proposal to bring more transparency back to these meetings.

The proposal is due to be put before the council’s Organisation, Procedure and Finance Committee on 9 September, Mulville says.

Most of the council’s 40 councillors didn’t respond to a query asking if they planned to back or oppose the proposal.

Under review

Fingal County Council’s current standing orders – the rules by which meetings are run – were adopted on 11 December 2023 after a 10-month review.

Members of the Organisation, Procedures and Finance Committee first agreed to review the old rules back on 13 February 2023, heavily redacted minutes from the meeting show.

The review was to ensure that the standing orders were fit for purpose, with attendants agreeing that they needed to look at amendments surrounding the use of mobile phones and photography, the minutes say.

Three amendments were proposed to the standing orders by councillors at the next meeting on 12 June 2023, none of which related to media access, minutes from the meeting show.

Four days later, on 16 June, an email was circulated to members of the council’s Corporate Services by Liz Hartigan, the administrative officer for the People, Corporate and Digital Services.

This was to kick start their review of the existing standing orders, Hartigan wrote.

On 4 September, the Dublin Inquirer reporters started to attend the council’s strategic policy committee meetings.

On 18 September, the proposal to end media access to strategic policy committee meetings was included in a lengthy breakdown of potential changes, emails from the council’s Corporate Services show.

Councillors were then furnished with a copy of the draft Standing Orders on 16 October 2023 by Corporate Services, with the revisions highlighted, emails show.

The new standing orders said in a section on media access that accredited media “will be” facilitated at the annual meeting, budget meeting, monthly meetings and any special meetings that are held.

Media “may be” present at the area committee meetings, they said, but it didn’t mention strategic policy committees.

Following a request by a reporter from Dublin Inquirer to attend an SPC on 5 December, an email sent by a council communications officer to Corporate Services noted “there have been a number of articles written on the back of SPCs in recent months”.

So councillors should be reminded that media are there, it said.

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council didn’t answer a query as to why standing orders were changed to limit media access. They didn’t say who proposed the amendment.

Who put forward the change is irrelevant, because councillors ultimately voted them through, says independent Councillor Jimmy Guerin.

“Each of those standing orders came before the members, and adopting them is entirely a responsibility for the members,” he said.

Will others back it?

Hopkins, the Social Democrats councillor, says that SPCs are an important part of local government. “The council is run by an executive and elected reps have such little power.”

These committees inform policy. They are also where members of the Public Participation Network can actively participate and bring forward motions, she says.

Chairs of these committees are paid and they can drive an agenda or force policy changes, she says. “It might not suit them to have the press in questioning or observing, but it makes for better, more transparent local democracy.”

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said that the standing orders are adopted by a majority of the full council, and similarly any amendments must follow the same procedure.

There are 40 sitting councillors.

Of 37 councillors – all minus the trio behind the proposal – emailed to ask whether they would support members of the media being permitted to attend SPCs again, six replied to say they were in favour, and one against.

Sinn Féin Councillor Angela Donnelly said journalists should be allowed into the meetings. “I think transparency is always welcome in democratic institutions and in my opinion, an absolute necessity.”

Media and the public should have access to them, says Solidarity-People Before Profit Councillor John Burtchaell. “The more transparency we have into the functioning of the council, the better.”

Councillors Mary McCamley of Labour, Luke Corkery of Fine Gael, and Dean Mulligan of Independent4Change said they had no problem with media attending SPCs.

Independent Councillor Tania Doyle says she believes that the public are entitled to get a comprehensive outline of the business and discussions undertaken on their behalf within the council.

Sure, certain items must be taken in private sessions, she says, but “we must endeavour to provide disclosure to the very best of our ability within the constraints of natural justice and appropriate confidentiality”.

But independent Councillor Jimmy Guerin said that while he may have supported media access to SPCs five years ago, his position has changed today.

Members can be far more frank and less restrained in their contributions when the media or public are not watching, he says.

“I wouldn’t be known for the bedside manner. But I do appreciate where members can have some say at a forum without fear of being misrepresented,” he said.

He pointed to a failed proposal to build a new tramway in Howth back in 2018.

There was a robust discussion around this during an SPC meeting, he says.

“Everyone could exchange views and were very open and forthright. But then it came up at a council meeting, and a lot that were vociferous at the SPC, were cautious at the full council meeting where it was webcast,” he said.