Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation - James Freeman Clarke

I was rather excited to read that Fingal County Council have started to offer webcasts of their meetings, especially because it’s my local county council.

In my opinion it’s a fantastic way to learn about politics. Politicians are forever complaining that the youth of today don’t care any more and are turning away from the ballot box in their droves. I think the real reason why people aren’t voting is because you don’t know what the person you’re voting for actually does.

The same candidates come around every election time telling you how they’ll do this and that during their next term, or all claim responsibility for whatever was achieved over the last few years.

In Ireland, we have county councillors, TDs and senators. With the exception of TDs, I think I’d struggle to define what any of those roles entails. When it comes to introducing policies or laws I wouldn’t have the first clue how any of that is achieved. So naturally enough when someone calls to may door promising this and that, I tend to switch off because I don’t understand how they can achieve any of it.

That’s why something like the webcast is great. I can watch them to see if the person I helped elect actually did anything, is any use at his job or even attended meetings. Above all, I get to learn how the system works.

There’s only one webcasts available at the moment, but it was amusing to watch nonetheless because everyone was trying to get used to being recorded. There are some comical moments such as the chairwoman’s mobile phone going off towards the beginning of the webcast. It happens to the best of us I guess!

Unfortunately though there are a couple of drawbacks. You could already get webcasts of Dail and Oireachtas sessions, but there’s no way to subscribe to them. The whole system is crying out for RSS, especially in light of the launch of the video iPod. What politician doesn’t want to be on Apple’s latest invention? What better way to be ‘down with the kids’?

All the same it’s nice to see that people can start connecting with their local representative in the digital era. I think a lot more needs to be done to educate the public about how the political system works if you really want to say to people that voting makes a difference. This is a good start in the right direction.

Technorati Tags: Ireland, Piaras Kelly, Politics, Fingal County Council, Webcasting