Ms Eva Dowling:

I will be brief. It has been great to hear the debate on hybrid meetings continue and contributions on the topic coming from councillors across the whole Dublin region. To come back to the point made by Councillor Tuffy regarding having one meeting a month or a year facilitated totally in person, we have had this debate in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Why would we do this? Would it be to combat people taking advantage of a system? Every system is open to exploitation. If a councillor is going to take advantage of a system, it is not up to us to police it. Ultimately, it is the members of the electorate who will hold those councillors accountable.

If the intention is to host a better meeting, then I would suggest using the carrot rather than the stick. At our last AGM, our then cathaoirleach, Councillor Mary Hanafin, wrote to all councillors asking us all to attend in person and 38 out of 40 councillors did so. One councillor could not attend due to severe morning sickness. As a woman, if you miss your vote at your AGM because of severe morning sickness or, as in my case, if I have missed the county development plan meetings because I was breast-feeding my child, you just quietly resign from the council. This is a much bigger problem. What problem is it that we wish to solve here? The problem that having hybrid meetings solves is one of the most fundamental problems facing the future of local democracy. We need to look at this context and see what problem we are trying to solve here. I thank the committee.