Controversy over ongoing closure of Public Gallery at Council meetings

Controversy has arisen regarding the ongoing closure of the public gallery during Derry City and Strabane District Council meetings.

Speaking in advance of Council's special sitting today (Friday) to discuss lack of delivery of the £600 Energy Support payment, Derry Against Fuel Poverty spokesperson Sinead Quinn said: There are many discussions and debates going on right now about the lack of support for households in Northern Ireland.

"We saw a failed Assembly recall this week on this exact topic. Our own local Council are holding another such debate today at 4pm. With the public gallery closed, many local people won’t be able to be present in this meeting.”

"One of our activists, and an activist in his own right, Paul Hughes, has been in constant contact with Council on this exact issue. The line from Council is that the public gallery is still closed due to the threat of Covid.

"We are being constantly directed to the YouTube live stream. We held a protest last week outside the Guildhall where another meeting was being held to highlight this very issue," said Sinead Quinn.

She added that Derry Against Fuel Poverty had sat outside in the cold for hours broadcasting the audio from the YouTube channel across the Guildhall Square.

"We wanted everyone to hear what was being said about us without us being in the room.

"This action resulted in us being welcomed into the public gallery on that specific occasion. Councillors were reminded by the Chief Executive John Kelpie that members had voted to keep the gallery closed. Councillor Brian Tierney proposed we be brought into the room and this was seconded by Councillor Conor Heaney.

“When it comes to Youtube, not everyone is tech-savvy. Not everyone can afford broadband. Local libraries aren’t open every evening late into the evening. But this issue goes to the heart of accountability not just transparency. It is much more difficult for Council officers and Councillors to make proposals and decisions about peoples’ lives whenever they see their very faces sitting across from them in the room.

"We are the people that elected them. The decisions they make involve the use of ratepayer and taxpayer money. We believe Councillor and council officials alike need reminded on a constant basis that they serve the public not the Council itself and we are very willing to do that. We have every right to be active participants in governance not observers or bystanders.”

Sinead Quinn acknowledged the threat of covid had not gone away.

She added: "However, no other world of work can afford to offer the same level of protection as Council does to staff and members.

"Council has already facilitated members being able to stay at home and participate virtually if they have specific health vulnerabilities.

"This suggests to me that it isn’t about covid at all. Things have gotten awfully cosy within local Council meetings and that needs to change. If members can propose and second a motion to invite people into chambers on a one-off, they can do the same to ensure the public gallery is open every single time. It is up to Councillors to change this now. Nothing about us without us." 

Sinead Quinn also pointed out that at Council's Governance and Strategic Planning Meeting of November 29, Chief Executive John Kelpie said: "Members will recall that the current operation of the committees is a hybrid method which is to be reviewed in January, and as part of that agreement members agreed that members of the public would not be agreed to the chamber during this period.

"This meeting is of course an open meeting. It is being broadcast on YouTube. It is not a confidential meeting at this stage, it is an open meeting. However, should it be members’ desire to invite someone in to the Chamber, there is no reason why members can’t propose and second that today and if it was unanimous or a simple majority on that issue then it can be accommodated.”