Powerless politicians’ pointless promises and propaganda
Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley
During a Spring clean of the desk, we stumbled upon a gem of a glossy pamphlet. It belongs to City Councillor Michael John Crowe.
There is no date on it but we reckon the four-page promotional material, packed with puff-pieces about how great a politician MJ is, was circulated to constituents in 2010 when he was Mayor of Galway.
It was just before the disastrous General Election for Fianna Fáil, in which the city councillor failed to secure a Dáil seat and his running mate, former junior minister Frank Fahey, also lost out.
Mike can hardly blame the pamphlet though, which was a top drawer, professional production.
One ‘news’ article in the leaflet caught our eye in particular.
Headlined “Mayor Crowe confirms ‘Rent a Bike’ scheme for Galway”, it quoted MJ “announcing” that Galway City Council was finalising plans to introduce a bike rental scheme in the city “in time for next Summer”.
He gushed: “I am working hard to ensure it is in place as soon as possible, hopefully for next Summer”.
The “next Summer” he referred to was the Summer of 2011 . . . but, alas, it will be at least this Summer, Summer of 2014, before the scheme becomes a reality.
The delays in rolling out the bike scheme aren’t MJ’s fault, of course, but it just proves a general point: The propaganda contained in politicians’ election leaflets should be taken with a pinch of salt.
And with the local elections approaching, when many of these leaflets will be stuffed through your letterbox, it’s a timely reminder of how all city councillors – even the Mayor, and even Michael John Crowe – are powerless to deliver on many of their promises, no matter how genuine they are when they make them.
For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.