‘Do as I say, not as I do’ damages Covid-19 unity

In this column last week, we questioned city councillors’ leadership qualities during lockdown.

Heading over to the Westside for a photo opportunity at the opening of new social housing – welcome and all as that project is – was hardly an ‘essential journey’.

The homes were built, the families could have moved in, and the fanfare of handing the keys over should have waited until the lockdown restrictions had eased.

The ‘stay at home’ public health advice that so many of them preached for weeks on social media, didn’t appear to apply to elected members of Galway City Council.

Well, they weren’t the only ones preaching, ‘Do as I say, not as I do’. Their country cousins were at it too.

Municipal District meetings for different parts of County Galway resumed last week. At the beginning of one such meeting at County Hall, two county councillors were spotted shaking hands. Seriously, shaking hands during a pandemic and national health emergency?

The layout of the Chamber and seating arrangements were such that two-metre distancing could be maintained, and hand sanitiser was provided. But those precautions aren’t much good if two councillors insist on shaking hands as if the coronavirus hasn’t killed hundreds of people in Ireland.

During the Tuam Municipal District meeting last Thursday, one senior official, in response to queries, said that landscaping was not considered an ‘essential’ service under the then Government guidelines. That’s why, he said, that landscaping had not taken place at the new social housing development at Gilmartin Road in Tuam, which had become overgrown. Once restrictions were lifted – this week – it would be included on a list of works the County Council’s outdoor staff would get to.

And he said it with a straight face; and councillors accepted it. Nobody pointed out that, on the way into that meeting, and on the way out, workers with hedge trimmers and leaf blowers were busy working outside at Prospect Hill.

So here we had an official saying landscaping was not an essential service, and couldn’t be done until lockdown restrictions were lifted, but as he spoke those words, outside of the building, was a gang of gardeners trimming hedges and sprucing up shrubbery at County Hall. Pat Shortt couldn’t make it up for Killinaskully! This is a shortened preview version of this week's Bradley Bytes. Please remember that without advertising revenue and people buying and subscribing to our newspaper, this website would not exist. You can buy a digital edition of this week's Galway City Tribune HERE.