Civic reception snub leaves ex-mayors out in the cold
Joe Considine was an exemplary civil servant. An employee of Galway City Council for many years, he held various roles, and carried out his duties to the best of his ability. One of those duties was to maintain a civic list.
Bradley Bytes - A Sort of Political Column By Dara Bradley
This is the list of people in the city, who are entitled to be invited to big events, such as civic receptions, Freedom of the City ceremonies, St Patrick’s Day parades and other set-piece events. Joe Considine, we’re told, was scrupulous with the civic list – if you were on the list, you got your invite. If you weren’t on the list but should have been, then Joe would sort it. There are concerns among city councillors, however, that since Joe retired, the civic list A) either isn’t being used or B) hasn’t been updated. Former mayors who served the city should be included on the civic list. And that means they should be invited to civic receptions. But there has been an absence of former mayors at civic ceremonies recently. Tom Costello, the former Labour Party City Councillor, for example, was not invited to the mayoral reception for Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel in the Galmont Hotel. This despite Tom being mayor in 2007/2008, when he travelled to Chicago and officially unveiled the Gráinne sculptor outside Old St Patrick’s Church, where all Irish emigrants first called when they arrived in the Windy City. The sculpture was a gift from Galway to Chicago, our sister city. Even leaving aside the civic list, would it not have been appropriate for Tom to have been asked back to attend that particular civic reception? There was a notable absence of former city mayors at the civic reception to honour former NUIG president Dr James Browne recently as well; and at last month’s Freedom of the City honour bestowed on Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh. Tom, we hear, didn’t make the cut for those ‘dos’ either. Former Green Party mayor, Niall Ó Brolcháin, has confirmed to Bradley Bytes that he wasn’t invited to the events either. Who else was left out? Did former mayors Catherine Connolly and Hildegarde Naughton, both now TDs or Brian Walsh, now gone from politics, get invites? And if not, why not? While you may not like the protocol of the civic list, it is there for a reason and should be honoured.
For more Bradley Bytes, see this week's Galway City Tribune