‘Sorry’ easy to say when Mayoral chain is on line

Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Today, ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to give you some insight into how politics works.  And in particular, we’ll look at the murky world of electing a city mayor.

You could be forgiven for thinking that mayors are elected on merit.

That city councillors are bestowed the honour of first citizen because their colleagues, who elected them, think they’re the right man or woman for the high profile job.

Not a bit of it.

Mayoral elections are the underbelly of local politics; the carbuncle on the backside of local politics.

They’re all about back-scratching and dirty horse-trading.

After local elections, a majority of councillors from different parties and none, club together to form a ruling pact. This pact decides who becomes mayor for the next five years; they divvy up the spoils.

Those who don’t get a mayoral chain, might get deputy mayor, or chair of a committee – each position brings prestige, responsibility – which gives them a sense of importance and of course more money.

Regular readers will recall that Fine Gael was to get one mayor out of the five in the pact in the current council. As Pádraig Conneely had already donned the chains, and Sean Walsh and Pearce Flannery were newcomers, Frank Fahy was a shoo-in for the chain.

But then all hell broke loose.

Pádraig got angry with the Oyster Festival tent; Frankeen said he was only mouthing off because Pádraig didn’t get any free tickets to the event.

Pádraig ‘I’m no freeloader’ Conneely took umbrage. Then he got even: apologise or else.

The ‘or else’ implication being that without an apology, Frankeen wouldn’t get Pádraig’s support for mayor; and Pearce Flannery, who has ambition not necessarily matched by ability, would slither into the mayoralty through the back door.

Hell would freeze over, we thought, before Frankeen would apologise. But the pull of the chain proved too much.

And now, in a Bradley Bytes World exclusive, we can confirm Frankeen has apologised. And better still, we have the apology:

“I refer to comments made by me and published in the Galway City Tribune on October 3, 2014 regarding my colleague, Councillor Pádraig Conneely. I wish to unreservedly withdraw those remarks and apologise to Cllr Conneely for any offence caused to him by their publication.

“They were not intended in any way to reflect badly on Cllr Conneely’s good character and reputation, and I regret that they may have been construed in that way.”

In that great old Irish tradition of ‘getting on’ in politics – if you see an arse above you, lick it; a face below you, kick it – Frankeen did a bit of kissing of Pádraig’s rear, and now his elevation to mayor is back on track.

But like Neville Chamberlain hailing the Munich Agreement as “peace in our time”, more storm clouds are gathering in the Fine Gael internal war between Frankeen and Pádraig.

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