Bundoran Town Council bars press and public after woman is suspected of recording

Bundoran Town Council yesterday barred the public and the press from a meeting last evening because a woman was wearing a T-Shirt with a graphic equaliser, leading members to believe she was recording the proceedings.
Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein councillors all agreed that the meeting be held in committee.
The woman in question denies she was recording the meeting.
35 year old Patricia McCafferty, formerly a Bundoran street parking warden, regularly drives vehicles accusing politicians of corruption, and attends council meetings in Bundoran and Lifford.
She says th graphic equaliser on the T-shirt flashes in reaction to sounds, and doesn’t record voices.
However, Fine Gael councillor Denise Connolly, who reported the breach, insisted after the meeting that McCafferty was recording although she refused to say by which means.
Gardai were called at the July meeting of the council after members took exception to McCafferty videoing inside the chamber.
Town officials are considering what legal action can be taken against what members claim is a pattern of disruption of meetings by Ms McCafferty.
Chairperson Sean McEniff said today’s meeting had to go into committee to get business finished or be abandoned. He said the council was powerless to ban members of the public unless they went into committee and, unfortunately, that meant the Press were also excluded under committee orders.

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