From the back of the chamber - a journalist's view of Naas UDC
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Naas UDC in non-rancorous mode - at its centenary last year.
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NAAS, 4 July, 2001 (Independence Day): OPINION by Brian Byrne. It wasnt so much a case of shooting the messenger, just taking poorly-aimed potshots at him. Last nights performances at Naas UDC were all too familiar.
But thats what journalists are for. Set them up, shoot em down. If you can stop the hand shaking.
Thats one thing about sitting at the back of Naas UDC. You can see the hands shake. You can almost smell the apoplexy coming to the boil. It really cant be very good for the health, sitting as a councillor in Naas UDC these days. And if one wasnt in the whole of ones mental heart, sitting there as a journalist might be a terminal risk.
But we do it. Because thats our job. Part of it anyway, reporting on the proceedings. But our job is also more. Apart from what we hear at a local authority meeting, we also find out other things. And we tell other people the things we find out. Thats our job.
Quite often there are people who dont want journalists to find out the things we tell to other people. Mostly, it is the political body which doesnt like things being revealed.
Because secrets are power. And every secret that a politician loses to the public domain diminishes his or her power. Maybe if theyre not in control of the issuing of secrets, they get afraid that benefit will accru to somebody else without them being able to claim credit. There are other reasons for keeping secrets too, but if we start getting into all the complexities, well lose focus.
And thats the other thing you see from the back table at Naas UDC. People losing focus. People straying from the core of the job to be done and getting sidetracked into thinking how much more important they are than they are. If you see what I mean.
You see - and hear - councillors metaphorically taking off and launching crude political bombs just for the sake of scoring over colleagues. And in these sorties, just like in a real war, its the poor civilians on the ground who are paying for it and not getting any benefit from the aerobatics of some of the Biggleses around the council table.
With some notable exceptions of individual members and officials and occasions, and maybe on non-contentious matters, you can hear copius quantities of waffle, piffle, bullsh, bilge, drivel, twaddle and blather. The fluffing of political feathers too regularly drowns out rational queries when they most often need to be answered.
And at the back end of the chamber, while politicans prattle, scribes scribble. Often trying to make sense of nonsense. Sometimes attempting to dig behind the uttered words to find out whats left unsaid. Always trying to at least get out the facts in an intelligable form to their readers. To the politicians electorate. Who, poor sods, only have a once in five years chance to get a say of their own.
For the other four years and three hundred and sixty-four days, we poor journalist sods are in between. And for the last two AGMs in the current Naas UDC, weve been the target of potshots from people who dont like us doing our job. Unless were doing THEIR public relations job. Which is NOT our job anyway.
Money wouldnt pay you to put up with it. But then, nobody pays me in KNN to do it. Think of it as public service journalism.
And at least I dont have a shake in my hand. Yet.
(And I wish the new chairman well in his efforts to improve matters.)