Colette’s cycling ‘cabal’ puts ruling pact in peril 

Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley

Danger here! Galway City councillors, not a month back from summer recess, and already the ruling pact is in peril of falling apart. Or as one wag put it, “it’s in tatters – again!”

Unsurprisingly, plans for a temporary cycle-lane along the Salthill Prom are causing friction.

Or, rather, the decision by the ruling pact – or some members of the ruling pact – to opt not to have a debate about those plans at last Monday week’s Council meeting has caused ructions. The fall-out continues.

Having read the previous Friday’s Galway City Tribune, where journalist Denise McNamara had elicited all 18 Councillors’ views on how they intended to vote on the cycleway motion, Mayor of Galway, Colette Connolly (Ind) called a Zoom meeting of councillors. Not all of them though, just a select few.

It took place prior to the official City Council meeting, but excluded two councillors in the pact – Independents Terry O’Flaherty and Donal Lyons – who had indicated to the Tribune that they would be voting against the Mayor’s motion.

Cllr Niall McNelis (Lab) had splinters lodged in his backside from sitting on the fence when he told the Tribune that he would be abstaining in the vote; he too did not receive an invite to Colette’s cosy cabal.

As it transpired, Terry and Niall voted for the Mayor’s motion, and Donal stuck to his guns and voted against.

What has irked them, though, is they were not invited to the Mayor’s unofficial pact meeting by virtue of the views they had expressed in this newspaper days before the vote.

Former Mayor Mike Cubbard couldn’t make Colette’s cabal but it’s understood the others – Fine Gaelers and Greens – were there. The excluded trio felt that it was decided by the ‘pact within a pact’ to vote for the Mayor’s motion without debate. Not very democratic.

To make matters worse, at least two councillors who are not in the pact – including one from Fianna Fáil – was invited, while the trio who voted for Collette to become Mayor were excluded.

The King of Knocknacarra, Lyons, is miffed and has threatened to walk from the pact. McNelis, who had to hold his nose when backing the former Labour councillor to become First Citizen, confirmed he was considering his position, too.

“I’m deeply, deeply disappointed and I’ll be seriously considering my position with the pact. For a Mayor that preaches to the rest of us about transparency, and about how to run meetings, to turn around and exclude me and others from a meeting; to exclude people who supported her is deeply, deeply disappointing,” McNelis told us.

A bit rich from someone whose loyalty is best summed up by the nickname his colleagues gave him, ‘Three Pacts’. But he has a point. And with Donal nearly overboard, Owen Hanley outside the circle and Niall contemplating his position, the pact is in peril – again!

(Photo: Labour Cllr Níall McNelis who is “deeply, deeply” disappointed’ at being excluded from a meeting organised by Mayor Colette Connolly on the Salthill cycleway debate, says he’ll be “seriously considering” his position in the Council’s ruling pact)

This is a shortened preview version of Bradley Bytes. To read more, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.