Bradley Bytes
Praying for divine intervention – to pick up bar tab
Bradley Bytes with Dara Bradley
Though the invite was very late arriving by fax, we thought it rude not to attend the new mayor’s party last week. We, like most attendees, went out of politeness and a sense of duty . . . nothing at all to do with the free bar.
In fairness to the newest first citizen, City Councillor Pádraig Conneely, ‘twas a good auld party out the back of O’Connell’s Bar, Eyre Square.
The sun was shining, the barbeque was going ninety, the pints were flowing, Don Stiffe was rattling out the tunes and the craic, as they say, was mighty.
Even Galway West Fine Gael TD Seán Kyne, who can often look uncomfortable at these types of social events, appeared to be enjoying himself.
What, we wondered, was the secret to such a successful mayoral bash? “I went to Mass that morning down at the Poor Clares’ and prayed for fine weather and that it would go well,” revealed Pádraig.
Now if only the Poor Clares could pray hard enough to make his bar tab disappear . . .
Insider story of Mayor’s Party
We could fill several columns with the goings-on at the mayoral bash but we won’t bore you, and will keep it to a dozen observations.
Sight of the Night: Outgoing mayor, Terry O’Flaherty showing off bruises on her leg, still visible through her dark-coloured tights. The scars were picked up when she fell climbing Croagh Patrick.
Functional Fashion of the Night: Terry, again. Now that she has no mayoral car to chauffeur her round, she wore flat shoes in case she had to walk home to Mervue.
Conspicuous Absentee of the Night: Independent City Councillor Donal Lyons. We wondered why Donal wasn’t there. “He hasn’t gone to one in ages,” snorted one of his colleagues, who declined to elaborate.
Most Unwelcome Invited Guest of the Night: Too many to mention – the host has many political enemies!
X-Factor Moment of the Night: No contest here. Labour Party City Councillor Nuala Nolan wins hands-down. The Bacardi and Coke, we reckon, gave Nuala the ‘Dutch courage’ to grab the microphone off Don Stiffe and regale us with her crowd-pleasing rendition of the Tennessee Waltz.
Party Animals of the Night: No contest here either. St Michael’s GAA Club members . . . still on a high after beating Killererin in the senior championship.
Sour Pusses of the Night: The rest of the Labour Party councillors in attendance . . . apparently not enough champagne or smoked salmon for these ‘socialists’.
Quote of the Night: “They’re either here for the free drink or my seat is in trouble!” – Fianna Fáil City Councillor Ollie Crowe as he watched scores of whom he thought were supporters of his, and committed ‘number ones’, file into his constituency rival’s, the Fine Gael mayor’s party.
Worried Look of the Night: Ollie again, as he muttered the above words.
Most Relieved Look of the Night: Pádraig, when the barmen cut-off the gratis booze.
Early Leavers of the Night: Independent City Councillor Declan McDonnell and new City Manager, Brendan McGrath, were both spotted slipping away early. Not together, we hasten to add.
Late Arrival of the Night: Director of Services Ciarán Hayes, a nemesis of the host (the pair have regularly clashed, publicly) arriving at the top of the queue for the BBQ to be told all the burgers were gone. Apparently Seán Kyne got the last one . . . no wonder the normally deadpan Moycullen man managed to crack a smile.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.
Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley
Galway Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly’s ears must have been burning last week.
City councillors didn’t mention her by name, but it was clear who they referred to. And they didn’t spare her.
Cllr Declan McDonnell (Ind) attacked her as a “one-term senator”; a slur he withdrew after Mayor Clodagh Higgins (FG) rebuked him.
There was “no need for that”, she snapped. But Classy Clodagh was not happy with Pauline either.
Declan fumed that a certain Green Party senator had gone on national radio and social media, misrepresenting what councillors had agreed at the previous meeting.
“It’s a disgrace,” he squealed. The unnamed senator (Pauline O’Reilly) hadn’t been at the previous meeting and had interpreted their vote arse-ways, was the gist of his rant.
Classy Clodagh agreed. “We all know what we agreed but the public needs to know; Twitter doesn’t know, Twitter needs to know,” she thundered.
There was more righteous indignation from Cllr Alan Cheevers (FF). The Chief Executive, Brendan McGrat,h needed to unleash the might of City Hall’s Press Office and issue a statement. Set the record straight.
He moaned about “misinformation” and “false information” spouted on the Wild West of social media, Twitter.
Pauline, as is her wont, clearly got under the skin of councillors when she criticised them last month.
On April 18, she tweeted: “The end of the Renmore Ballyloughane cycle lane happened last night. It beggar’s belief that another cycle lane in Galway has been voted down by all but two councillors. It is claimed that it would ‘block off access’. What this really means is that it would reduce car parking.”
This referred to a motion at the April meeting, tabled by Cllr Terry O’Flaherty, seconded by Cllr MJ Crowe.
The motion that was passed, read: “We propose that Galway City Council reject the proposals set out in the Ballyloughane Road/Renmore Avenue Active Travel Scheme in its present format.”
It passed by 14-2, with one abstention. Both Green councillors, Martina O’Connor and Niall Murphy, opposed it.
Councillors at the latest meeting complained the vote was misrepresented. They were angered by Pauline’s tweet and the national media coverage it had garnered her on RTÉ Radio One.
Councillors argued that the phrase “in its current format” meant it was not “the end” of the scheme, as she’d claimed on social media. Instead, the Council executive could come back with more palatable proposals.
Brendan McGrath concurred. He “didn’t see the need” to issue a statement to articulate the decision they made. It was “wrong”, he said, if that decision had not been communicated or interpreted correctly. But it was “abundantly clear” to management what councillors had decided.
Meanwhile, Pauline’s ‘offending’ tweet remains up.
(Photo: Pauline O’Reilly at the Mayoral Ball with Green councillors, Niall Murphy and Martina O’Connor).
This is a shortened preview version of this column. For more Bradley Bytes, see the May 19 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.
Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley
Fine Gael is getting desperate to find a candidate in Galway City East.
After a number of potential candidates turned-down requests to contest the Local Election in 2024, including pharmacist Barra Nevin, the party returned to the drawing board.
Sources have confirmed that FG is currently weighing up two ‘left-field’ options to run in this electoral ward.
One suggestion is to lure Pádraig Conneely back out of retirement. The corridors of power at City Hall have been quiet since controversial Conneely stepped away from electoral politics prior to the last Locals.
City councillors, many of them former colleagues of Conneely, have been whispering in recent weeks that his return to front-line politics may not be as far-fetched a notion as it was, say, two years ago.
At first it was said jokingly. But talk of the former mayor (or Mayor Emeritus as he refers to himself) making a comeback is growing legs.
A Marmite candidate, he has plenty of enemies, having attacked various policies and people during heated outbursts at Council meetings and in media interviews down through the years.
But he still retains a sufficient number of admirers inside and outside FG who grudgingly support his views, even if they’re a little uneasy at his abrasive method of articulating them.
That the former City Central rep is living on College Road, just inside the City East boundary, where there is a FG vacancy, has fuelled speculation that he could be welcomed back.
That’s a controversial call and one that will be resisted by many.
And it has led some in the party to look elsewhere for fresh blood. One high-profile man with impeccable credentials who is being sounded out is Galway senior footballer and St James’ legend, Paul Conroy.
It’s understood the Fine Gael organisation plans to approach Conroy to persuade him to put his name forward and will dangle the carrot of guaranteeing a shot at the Dáil, if he were to run in the Locals and take a seat.
A brilliant ambassador for the GAA, for his club and community, and for the Irish language, FG – and other parties – could do worse than to have Paul Conroy’s name representing them on the ballot paper.
There is an element of kite-flying by Fine Gael in touting Conneely and Conroy as possible election candidates to help win back the seat lost by John Walsh in 2019.
But if either could be coaxed onto the ballot paper (and it’s a big ‘if’), they would be serious contenders in a six-seater where Fine Gael has a natural support base.
It’s bound to be a topic of debate as the great and the good gather for Mayor of Galway Councillor Clodagh Higgins’ Mayoral Ball in the Ardilaun this weekend.
(Photo: Padraig Conneely)
This is a shortened preview version of this column. For more Bradley Bytes, see the May 12 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.
Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley
The haste shown by Galway City councillors in approving a €45.5m loan to buy Crown Square was unusual, as has been noted previously in this column.
That they approved a loan three days after they received an official report which detailed options, including a recommendation to move City Hall to Monivea Road, was atypical of an organisation that rarely rushes to do anything.
It has reverted to type, though.
An updated Crown Square report for city councillors, prepared by the Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath – who is one of the main proponents of the move – has been on the Council agenda since January of this year.
Four months and as many ordinary Council meetings later, elected representatives have still not debated its contents.
It’s taking them so long to get to the report, a cynic might suggest that they don’t want to discuss the Crown Square move because a number of councillors have had second thoughts on it, despite initially voting in favour.
Among those gone cold on the idea is Green Party councillor in City West, Niall Murphy, who said on Facebook that he had voted for the original plan “in the belief that there would be reduced parking at the Crown site”.
Cllr Murphy said McGrath “nearly had me in tears of joy”, when the CE “gave his best speech ever” about the local authority leading by example on reducing car-parking spaces at its brand new HQ. His tune has changed, though.
Niall’s reverse ferret came days after the Galway City Tribune revealed, through documents released under Freedom of Information, that the Council had struck a deal to buy 200 car-parking spaces, not 100 as originally planned. It “agreed to purchase 200 exclusive underground car-parking spaces at €3,087,500 exclusive of VAT”.
For Cllr Imelda Byrne (FF), it took less than a week after voting in favour of the loan to change her mind, after she claimed that councillors were “hoodwinked” about what the City Hall site would be used for once it was sold.
Other councillors, while still in favour of the move, are concerned that they were not given the full picture before they voted for it, and now they are vulnerable to criticism for approving something they clearly were not fully informed about.
Will councillors finally get to discuss the report that has been on their agenda since January, when they meet this May, or will it be long-fingered again?
(Photo: Green Party councillor, Niall Murphy).
This is a shortened preview version of this column. For more Bradley Bytes, see the May 5 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.
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