WORDS left empty as the wind are best left unsaid, a wise old Greek lad once said. Homer must of had the pleasure of an Adare-Rathkeale area meeting.
The irony of last week’s monthly soirée was the fact that much of the heated conversation was indeed about blowing wind — turbines, at least.
And if it’s huffing and puffing you’re after, Rathkeale on the first Tuesday of every month is your only man. I’m talking gale force winds from the bluster and ostentatious jabber that would make a Sherpa tremble.
Don’t get me wrong, this was indeed a serious matter up for discussed, a matter worthy of ‘exhaustive’ debate.
The showbiz concept of leaving your audience wanting was clearly lost on the Adare-Rathkeale posse.
To be fair to Cllr Stephen Keary, he doesn’t mince his words, he gets straight to the point and can’t be blamed for the windy conditions. The Fine Gael man has a good handle on the notion of ‘less is more’ and I have no doubt I shall receive a precise telling off at next month’s knees-up for these here column inches.
You would have needed your winter woollies though for the breeze out in the Rathkeale office last week.
Over the last few years, there’s been no show at local authority meetings to match the performances of West Limerick’s finest entertainer, Cllr Adam Teskey. The young blueshirt studied his draft… I mean craft… under master barnstormer Kevin Sheahan — the greatest Council performer of them all in his day.
Teskey, who comes off like a tribute to Linda Martin and Johnny Logan such is his stage presence, can ham it up to Denny and Matterson proportions.
As it turns out, he is also a big fan of US political showman number one, Donald Trump.
Teskey, a former car salesman, last week called on Council management to give consideration to planning applications for turbines in relation to noise disturbance, shadow flicker, and air quality. Embracing The Donald of it all, he blew freely about the future impact on residential areas being looked at with “proposed designs” for future wind turbines.
“The Trump administration has banned this outright in America. They said no, and for all his problems, I think the man could be right with this,” Teskey exclaimed.
“I am shocked and perplexed that we’re basing our knowledge on 2019 guidelines. We’ve been waiting six years and there doesn’t seem to be any appetite from government to pick up the mantle and deal with this.”
One wonders when ‘Making Adare-Rathkeale great again’ will pop up on the monthly agenda.
And while Cllrs Ger Ward and Tommy Hartigan played the quiet men, Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Bridie Collins was on hand as the meeting’s voice of reason. All this as Independent Ireland Cllr John O’Donoghue got swept up in all Teskey’s cackle.
As Teskey waxed lyrical on noise disturbance and shadow flicker, O’Donoghue went the whole hog in deeming turbines as “monstrosities”.
It was like a live re-enactment of Twister with O’Donoghue the Helen Hunt to Teskey’s Bill Paxton.
There can be 30 items or more on the agenda for any given monthly metropolitan district meeting, and yet business is dealt with in a speedy manner. Perhaps the wind just blows a little more leisurely out west?
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
