Councillors' meetings and votes.

ejmaztec

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, but how public is the decision-making of the elected representatives on local town and county councils? Are any decisions made by them outside the public eye and do we know which member voted for what, or whether any of them abstained on a particular issue?

is_that_so

Your local council should have details on their website along with minutes, meetings etc. I believe that a good number of county council sites are <countyname>coco.ie, otherwise Google them. AFAIK most councils have a public gallery as well but with limited space.

Joey the lips

^^^^ Is right you can go to the public gallery or get a copy of the minutes, but politics like life has its way around things. Its a well known fact that pact shareing goes on so councillors will agree to vote in one thing if another gets voted down

How do you think bin charges get voted in otherwise???

The Raven.

ejmaztec wrote: »

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, but how public is the decision-making of the elected representatives on local town and county councils? Are any decisions made by them outside the public eye and do we know which member voted for what, or whether any of them abstained on a particular issue?

That is a very good question, Ejmaztec. It is not stupid at all, and is one that persistently frustrates local democracy. I can only vouch for the county in which I live. The councillors are elected by the people in good faith. Subsequently, they make decisions behind closed doors, with no public record as to who voted for what, other than who proposed and who seconded the minutes. These minutes are available on line, usually very much out of date.

The names of local politicians and councillors are frequently seen in objections and submissions to planning applications and development plans. Some of these are valid and sincere. Others are totally hypocritical lip service, since the same politicians and councillors were involved in the inappropriate rezoning of the lands in question, thereby serving only the interests of avaricious developers.

This blatant lack of accountability needs to be addressed. The public should be entitled to know precisely which individuals are responsible for every decision made. At present, the council decides whether or not ‘further information’ on huge developments is ‘significant’ enough to invite public submissions. The situation is a disgrace.

The Raven.

is_that_so wrote: »

AFAIK most councils have a public gallery as well but with limited space.

Yes, I forgot about that.

Members of the public may attend County Council meetings and area committee meetings. The first half an hour of each area committee meeting is held "in committee". Kildare Co. Council.

Does "in committee" mean only members of the committee?

ejmaztec

I see various individuals attached to various political parties, but from what I've heard, the opinions of some of these people just don't match the policies of the parties which they are supposed to represent. In fact, the opinions of some of them, usually with regard to a prejudice of some kind, are completely off the wall.

I'm just trying to find out what the public is supposed to know, as compared with what is kept under wraps.

I think that we should know what our representatives vote for, to a man, so that we can be certain that they do represent the people who elected them.

ilkhanid

Remember that, for a lot of time, what happens in the council chambers is a charade,a display for our benefit. The real decisions are taken in the pubs restaurants/houses where the councillors (usually FF and many FG )meet with their developer buddies.:mad: