{"id":292578,"date":"2026-02-11T15:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T15:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/292578\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T15:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T15:25:08","slug":"wicklow-councillors-vote-to-prevent-media-from-attending-committee-meetings-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/292578\/","title":{"rendered":"Wicklow councillors vote to prevent media from attending committee meetings \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the media will be prevented from attending and reporting on Bray Head Management Committee meetings, after a vote held by Wicklow County Council<\/a> on Monday. <\/p>\n

At the first meeting of the new committee in January, independent councillor Joe Behan had proposed inviting media to future gatherings, which he says was unanimously agreed upon at the time.<\/p>\n

However, the council\u2019s director of corporate affairs flagged a potential issue, suggesting that councillors were entitled to get information from its subcommittees before members of the public or press. <\/p>\n

\u201cI strongly disagreed with this ruling and therefore proposed at the full council meeting [on Monday] that we agree that the media be invited to future meetings because of the huge public interest in the cliff walk and the long delays in reopening,\u201d Behan told The Irish Times. <\/p>\n

Seven councillors voted in favour of Behan\u2019s motion, with 13 voting against. Three councillors were not present, while eight abstained. <\/p>\n

One of those who abstained was the Green Party\u2019s Erika Doyle, who chairs the Bray Head Management Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my personal perspective, if the media is present, the media will report on all aspects of the meeting and I think that that would be incredibly useful,\u201d she said at Monday\u2019s council meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of respect for my fellow colleagues here who are concerned about hearing second-hand versions ahead of any official communication, I completely empathise. I think I have no choice if there is a vote on this but to abstain as chair of that committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle added that she has been contacted by people who are \u201csick hearing about the circus that seems to be attached\u201d to the cliff walk, and appealed for a \u201cconsensus on issues\u201d to work towards the reopening of the route. <\/p>\n

Behan said he was \u201cbitterly disappointed\u201d that his proposal was defeated, not just because of the votes against it, but also because of the number of abstentions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly cannot see why councillors who are sent to the council by the people to represent their interests could find anything wrong with allowing the media to witness the discussions on this very important topic,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd more importantly, to gauge how effectively, or not, the council is working to reopen this magnificent natural and national treasure as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle noted that \u201cimmediately following each meeting of the Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk Management Committee, the committee issues a statement with any relevant information and updates stemming from the presentations\/discussions and advising on actions and next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the statement is issued to all elected council members, committee members, TDs and press.<\/p>\n

Wicklow County Council recently revealed it expects the Bray to Greystones cliff walk to remain closed for the next three years<\/a>. Though it was initially signalled as a temporary shutdown, the route has been inaccessible to the public for five years.<\/p>\n

Amid criticism levelled at the council for inaction around the walk\u2019s reopening, the committee was extended in January. It comprises of elected members from both Bray and Greystones, as well as external representatives from businesses pillars and local interest groups. <\/p>\n

A member of Friends of the Cliff Walk, a local activist group, condemned the decision to exclude media from the committee meetings, labelling it \u201ca retrograde step for local democracy and accountability\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n

Asked for a comment, Wicklow County Council said: \u201cThe Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk Management Committee is a committee of the council. As such, the elected members of Wicklow County Council should be informed of developments of the committee before it goes to the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a meeting of the full council on February 9th, 2026, the matter was debated and voted on by the members who voted against the media being in attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the media will be prevented from attending and reporting on Bray Head Management Committee meetings, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5981,5983,61,60,43,41219],"class_list":{"0":"post-292578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-bray","9":"tag-greystones","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-wicklow-county-council"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}