THE sequel to the recently abandoned meeting of Limerick’s own West Side Story will take place at 3pm next Monday – if you are at a loss for some totally screwy distraction.
Just to bring you up to speed: at the last meeting, Príomh Chomhairleoir Catherine Slattery came over all Lanigan’s ball as she stepped out of the chamber during a meeting she was chairing following an exchange with the Mayor.
While the rival factions in The Jets (FF) and The Sharks (FG) got their jazz hands on at Slattery’s grand exit from proceedings, eyebrows were raised by the Independents.
Cllr Michael ‘Riff’ Collins, leader of the pack, soon banished all this nonsense.
“The Príomh Chomhairleoir has asked for an adjournment. She’s obviously visibly upset so I think we should afford her that,” he declared.
With Slattery stepped out again, it was time for Collins to step in and call for another interval in this stop-start display.
With the issue raised of comments from Mayor John Moran to Cllr Slattery before her exist stage left, putting his boot right into it, the gang-banging Fianna Fáil-er fell down in a faint and cried, ‘Holy murder!’
“Mayor, will you repeat the comment you made to me off the mic? This comment made me feel disrespected and demeaned to an extent that I had to abandon my role as Príomh Chomhairleoir and leave the chamber,” Cllr Slattery claimed.
The Mayor had enough of the amateur dramatics and decided, yes, you guessed it, that it was time for him to step out again.
Of course, the buachaillí agus na cailíní in the syndicate didn’t know whether they were coming or going, and worked themselves right up into doing all kinds of nonsensical dances all around in a whirligig, fingers clicking in a line as they went.
Green Party councillor Seán Hartigan wanted proof that Mayor Moran is in fact Rod Hull, and Cllr Slattery his Emu.
“Is the Mayor a ventriloquist?” Hartigan asked.
Cllr Adam Teskey, born for the stage, aired his concerns about the whole fiasco taking up Miriam O’Callaghan’s precious screen-time on the telly.
“We’ll be back on Prime Time again,” Cllr Teskey warned.
Boys oh boys ’twas a terrible hullabaloo, I tell you.
Don’t miss, the follow-up next Monday. This time, as the man says, it’s going to be personal, if they can give over the musical chairs!
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme