‘Chivalrous’ Cheevers skips walk down aisle with Classy Clodagh!

Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley

Christmas may be a time for peace and goodwill but there wasn’t much of either in evidence on Christmas Eve during the City Council’s annual outing to Midnight Mass at Galway Cathedral.

Eight of the 18 elected members didn’t make it this year, possibly due to Covid-19 restrictions, and two of those who did – Alan Cheevers and Clodagh Higgins – had little goodwill for one another at the beginning of the ceremony.

Regular readers will recall that Cheesy Cheevers and Classy Clodagh, despite representing different parties – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, respectively – had been ‘besties’ since they were elected to City Hall in May 2019.

That was until Classy Clodagh and her FG colleagues snubbed FF and formed a mayoral pact with a Dolly Mixture of councillors when the original Rainbow pact broke down last September.

Cheesy Cheevers took rejection badly and it seems he hasn’t forgiven, or forgotten, being led on by the Blueshirts.

At Midnight Mass, the councillors, in all their robed finery, had to form pairs on their way to the altar before taking to their pews.

It was working out that Alan Cheevers and Clodagh Higgins would be paired off but the former doubled back, a move that prompted an “It’s Christmas Eve, Alan!” shriek from the latter.

Shunning a walk down the aisle with Clodagh, Alan instead rowed in beside his party colleague, Cllr Imelda Byrne, while Clodagh dropped back and paired off with the Greens’ Cllr Martina O’Connor.

Although one observer said that it was “just chivalry” on the part of Alan – Chivalrous Cheevers, anyone? – others present felt it was a pointed and deliberate snub. “It was shocking carry-on on Christmas Eve,” snorted one Council colleague. Another said: “There were nearly slaps at the Cathedral – you wouldn’t see it in Croker!”

Could be a portent of what’s to come when the Council settles back in 2021.

(Photo: Councillor Clodagh Higgins)
For more Bradley Bytes, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.