Sinn Fein Councillor accused of ”some neck” at Municipal District meeting

A Sinn Fein Councillor was accused of having ”some neck” at last Thursday’s meeting of Tullamore Municipal District when she expressed concern about privacy issues regarding the use of CCTV.

Tensions arose when a discussion on the installation of closed circuit television for detecting illegal dumping was being discussed during the course of an environment report.

Councillor Aoife Masterson said she had a ”huge interest” in the subject as her background was in law and human rights. She said she used to work with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and CCTV was a ”hobby horse” for her. ”I appreciate it’s not everybody’s cup of tea and how frustrating it can be if you have people like myself rabbitting on about it,” she added. She asked when a report from the oversight committee would be available and what was the proposed timeline for the implementation of CCTV.

”At least Councillor Masterson is consistent in this regard,” said Councillor Neil Feighery. Reading from a post on her Facebook page dated August 15 last, when there had been an IT glitch at the Bank of Ireland allowing people to withdraw €1,000 whether they had it in their account or not.

Cllr Feighery quoted Cllr Masterson who he said posted: ”Many Bank of Ireland customers took out money in good faith and belief that they had this money and will now face high costs, unauthorised overdraft fees and upcoming bills going unpaid until it is cleared. Bank of Ireland must positively engage with customers to avoid undue hardship and distress. If you are in the Tullamore area and need advice or assistance engaging with the banks please reach out and I would be happy to talk through it with you and help.”

”Now that really took some neck,” said Cllr Feighery. ”I for one am glad that we are now going to be able to use the CCTV that is available to local authorities and the Garda Siochana and that we will be able to use this in the criminal justice system, so that chancers who are clearly doing a mean act can be caught and we can protect the ordinary decent people and make sure that there civil liberties are protected.”

Responding, Cllr Masterson said; ”It’s ironic that Cllr Feighery talks about chancers. I think we all know bringing something up about the banks when we are talking about the environment is a fair stretch, so good luck. I appreciate that Councillor Feighery might not have the same appreciation for civil liberties that I do. I am concerned about people who experience domestic violence and who might not know how much they have in their bank account. People who work cash in hand, they might not know, others who might experience coercive control who don’t have access to their bank account, these are the people I deal with. Cllr Feighery might not understand that people who live on the margins might not always be in control of their bank account,” she said.

Cllr Masterson went on to say she was not opposed to CCTV but she wanted it ”done correctly” with the proper procedures in place. ”Cllr Feighery is from the law and order party, we have to respect law and order,” she said.

Fianna Fail Councillor, Tony McCormack, said he didn’t know whether he was at a Tullamore Municipal District meeting or a Dail Eireann meeting. ”I think we need to remember where we are. We are in Tullamore MD and not the chambers of the Dail. I do agree with Cllr Feighery, I saw the queues that were at the Bank of Ireland in Tullamore and most of those people, at least 99 percent of them hadn’t got a €1,000 in their bank account, but they were taking a chance that they might get a €1,000 and wouldn’t have to pay it back. I agree wholeheartedly with Cllr Feighery on that one. You can go on about the minority and the vulnerable people in society and I absolutely agree with you, if you are in that boat. But the Bank of Ireland took every case individually and they knew who was in that situation and there were very few of them,” he added.