Councillors ‘shafted’ by lack of invite for royal visit

Outspoken city councillor Padraig Conneely has lashed out at what he feels was a snub to the civic leaders of the city during the royal visit.

The Fine Gael councillor said that during other historic visits to the city such as the visits of Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton and Nelson Mandela saw the local councillors invited, yet this time, no such invite was extended.

“When the Prince went to Sligo, he met the Chairperson of the Council, as well as the councillors and even in Belfast, which is a different jurisdiction, he still met the Mayor of the City and the Councillors” said Cllr Conneely.

He said he felt “shafted” by the invitation that never manifested itself.

“We should have been there, as the civic leaders elected by the people.

“There were a wide array of categories that were to represent Galway, such as Sport, Agriculture and Art to name a few. The snub seems utterly baffling when you look at Sligo and Belfast’s list of attendees.

“I contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy and they’d no problem with our attendance, so I don’t know who did,” he said.

He added that the attendance of Gerry Adams detracted from the event in the city.

“His involvement 100% took over, I saw the news on the BBC, Sky and the story was of the Prince and Gerry Adams.”