IF it is satire you are after, there’s no better place to find it than in the corridors of power down in Merchant’s Quay.
The May monthly meeting of the Metropolitan District, one of the most efficient branches of the local authority at the best of times, was certainly good for a giggle last week.
One of my favourite evaluations of politics is that of writer Ernest Benn, who described it as ” the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies”.
There was blows, punches, jolts, and snaps aplenty as the young bucks took their seats in City Hall for their monthly soiree. And the fact that his Lordship John Moran wasn’t present made it even livelier. They usually like to take a good hop off the man when he’s not in the chamber. They do it when he’s there as well, but it’s usually spicier when he’s elsewhere.
I told you there was trouble in paradise! Mayor Moran is stealing their thunder and councillors just don’t like it. They can’t accept it. They won’t accept it. A head it is coming too, and casualties there may yet be.
The Independents are eating out of the directly-elected Mayor’s hands, while the old guard in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael can no longer contain their disdain – not that they ever made much of an effort.
“That’s the problem with the directly-elected Mayor and all these committees that have been set up, the councillors here have been ignored and it’s about time the media realise that as well. It’s just not good enough,” Cllr O’Hanlon hooted, claiming that “the Mayor is setting up these committees and totally ignoring the representatives from the Metropolitan District.”
As a rule, I reckon, we should have voted for the mayoral candidate who promised the least (you know who you are!).
Earlier on in the same meeting, Cllr O’Hanlon was also having a go at RTÉ.
“They didn’t suit you,” as Larry Gogan used to say.
“RTÉ would want to move out of Dublin and realise what’s going on in Limerick. I was listening to RTÉ radio … and they were doing a roundup of what was on around the country. They didn’t mention Limerick or Riverfest, which was the biggest festival on,” the former mayor claimed.
“I think the sooner RTÉ move out of Dublin the better. I’m sure a lot of people were disappointed they weren’t in Limerick that weekend.”
As it turns out, Drivetime on RTÉ Radio One, the show in question, didn’t give a toss either way what was going on around the country over the May Bank Holiday Weekend – there was no “roundup” of events. I know because I listened back to the entire show.
Also taking aim at the media was Fine Gael councillor Peter Doyle, who expressed disappointment at the lack of press coverage for the National Famine Commemoration in Kilmallock. The same public ceremony was broadcast on RTÉ News Now channel.
The big guns hadn’t even started firing at the Metropolitan District meeting at this juncture.
Cllr Sarah Kiely, another Fine Gael-er, wanted the pair of cannons at the old Harbour Commissioners Office at the Ted Russell docks to be given to the people of Limerick. God knows what they are supposed to do with them.
“We have a long military history in Limerick. We are a garrison city and we still have a barracks here. There is no reason to keep these cannons at the docks where nobody can see them,” Cllr Kiely argued. “These canons belong to the people of Limerick.”
Cllr O’Hanlon’s eyebrows took an upturn with that last line.
“Did you say they were owned by the people of Limerick? And were they taken off the Russians?” he asked in total disbelief.
You can keep your Paul Weller at King John’s Castle. The Metropolitan District meeting? That’s entertainment.
