Handbags at dawn as tradition of Mayoral rivalry continues

Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

There’s a long-standing tradition in Galway of rivalry between the city mayor and county mayor. The city mayor usually has notions about their importance; the county mayor an inferiority complex. Both usually have massive egos and don’t like the other stealing their limelight.

They’ll turn up at the opening of an envelope and expect to be treated as A-list celebrities. But like brides at a wedding, there’s only room for one. And when the other prima donna turns up, with a sparkly chain, it all kicks-off. It’s great entertainment.

Who will ever forget the jostling and elbowing between city mayor Pádraig Conneely and county mayor Liam Carroll when they were first citizens?

The man-marking between the pair was quite spectacular. There were all sorts of shenanigans; attempts to upstage each other, hog all the attention, and stick their mugs into any and every photograph.

Skulduggery and one-upmanship was a full-time blood sport back then.

We thought all that had died down but not a bit of it.

Colleagues of city mayor, Donal Lyons (Ind), and Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council (the role is no longer known as a mayor), Mary Hoade (FF), report that the duo are just as bad at trying to outmanoeuvre each other.

Lyons, like mayors before him, apparently doesn’t appreciate the county Cathaoirleach getting too much attention on his ‘patch’. The latest twist is that Hoade did not attend one of the big celebrations in the city last month.

Mayor Lyons was presiding as Billy Lawless became a freeman of the city. There was no sign of Hoade, fuelling speculation she wasn’t invited. A councillor from Cork apparently was on the guest list but not Hoade. Her absence certainly got tongues wagging.

Donal and Mary were also throwing daggers at each other during the visit of Prince Charles to NUIG. Mary won this bout given that her smiling mug as she stands behind Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams as he shakes hand with Prince Charles, made it into nearly every newspaper in the county and Britain. Donal was apoplectic apparently.

Enjoy the bun-fight while it lasts, lads, because there’ll be a new mayor and new Cathoairleach elected in the coming weeks. Hopefully the incoming mayors, the city’s Frank Fahy and county’s Pete Roche, keep the tradition going.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.