IT would seem the drudgery of local authority meetings is too much now for some councillors to bare unless there’s a pitch battle or a walk-out.
They find it impossible to suffer through a session in the chamber these days without fireworks, waterworks, roadworks, or ventriloquism displays.
And the way things are going, they’ll be expecting a half-time annual budget meeting performance from Elton John just to keep them roused.
Never a man to mince his words, Cllr Stephen Keary was of the humble opinion last week that Limerick Council’s Economic Development, Enterprise, Tourism, and Planning Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) meeting was way below par.
Speaking of golf, he had some choice words for Council management on their place in the planning of Ryder Cup 2027 in Adare.
A tough enough gig at the best of times, there were, if anything, too many bells and whistles for Keary’s liking, and boy did he come out swinging.
When SPC members suggested a briefing at the next meeting on the Ryder Cup to liven things up, the Fine Gael man took the view that the local authority were not the right people to be delivering it.
“Ye’re input is very limited. I’ve been at meetings and ye’re only talking about trivia,” he claimed. He’s a tough audience, Cllr Keary.
Last Monday’s SPC meeting, he also believed, was a real let down. Where were the dancing bears? Pyrotechnics? Band parade?
Never a man to sit on the fence and not tell the Council executive how he really feels, Keary wanted more discussion on policy issues, constructive talks, and “not rubbish from Riverfest”.
After a presentation on Limerick’s flagship festival, he was left totally bulling, asking: “What’s the bloody Riverfest got to do with policy?”
According to chair of the SPC, Cllr Peter Doyle (FG), the previous item on the agenda, dealing with the SME Action Plan, was policy related – so now for you!
“We discussed that previously,” Keary returned.
Party colleague Dan McSweeney confessed that he would have stayed at home if he had known the assembly was going to be so boring.
“If the SME is policy, ye went out of the room and created the policy document without us. That’s what seems to be going on,” McSweeney blasted.
Lads, we’ll have to move all these local authority soirees up to the 3Arena going forward and have them chaired by Panti Bliss.
If councillors want more bang for their buck at meetings, could Pat Daly organise a live band at these shindigs to jazz up proceedings? Come on, dazzle us!
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme