MOCKERY might very well be the lowest form of wit, but you’d be at your wit’s end with some of the political carry on in recent weeks.
So, whoever it is in the local media upsetting local councillors with their mocking tone and meandering tripe, keep up the good work.
And until our elected representatives stop handing it to us on a plate, making a burlesque out of their elected position, it is the duty of us “bright boys” in the press to keep pointing out where the holes in the ship are.
You get the sense at Limerick Council meetings lately that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are being disruptive purely for the sake of being disruptive.
If some of our councillors feel mortified by their own party members’ machinations, might it not be time they find a way to do their business in a way that doesn’t make a skit out of their democratic mandate?
It would also appear, for all their outrage and interruption over the past 18 months, that Mayor John Moran isn’t going to run away with his tail between his legs anytime soon. Time now councillors, Mayor. and executive all, to just get on with it. This whole fiasco has been mortifying and the current tactics have clearly failed resplendently.
Cllr Daniel Butler, a no-nonsense politician that leaves the tomfoolery to the class clowns, might disagree with me.
Cllr Butler kept his powder dry over the last year-and-a-half, and behaved, as is his nature, in a truly professional manner, both inside the Council chamber and out. He last week predicted that the press would see the current stalemate as “councillors throwing a hissy fit”.
Cllr Butler takes the view that to pull themselves up out of the quagmire, meaningful leadership is needed to have everyone singing off the same hymn-sheet. He considers Mayor Moran as no more than a civil servant lacking in political leadership experience.
He does not hold out much hope for better days ahead under the current regime.
“At the moment, all I’ve seen is a reallocation of power from a chief executive to a mayor who doesn’t want to share it,” Cllr Butler opined.
As far as he’s concerned, the buck stops with Mayor Moran.
“This is not working. I have no confidence that things are going to change, I really don’t believe they will. You have pointed fingers really well, but never at any point have you said ‘I got that wrong’. I’m laying responsibility at your feet,” the Fine Gael man told the Mayor.
He’s right in one way. A fine civil servant Moran might be, but it’s now time for our directly-elected Mayor to step up, lead the way, and take ownership. As Ronald Reagan so eloquently put it, “when you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat”.
After last Thursday’s toxic display, it’s clear our DEM does not have an easy task. But don’t give up the good fight. The media, a double-edged sword, are watching the sometimes shameful obstacles put in his way and report it as clearly and accurately as we are able. If some don’t like the beat, they best change the tune.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme