Pedestrian Brian Lenihan takes his life in his hands

Date Published: {J}

You wonder if Brian Lenihan knew he was taking his life in his hands by joining the pedestrians in Galway on Tuesday evening of last week – the day when many took to ‘shanksmare’ for the afternoon as the closure of a few hundred yards of roadway turned Galway into a giant parking lot.

Yes, I was one of the thousands trapped in their cars in that moving traffic jam which resulted when they shut down a stretch near the Headford Road junction. And there was Finance Minister Brian Lenihan passing us by going at speed .... on foot!

The Finance Minister was half-trotting along the footpath near University College Hospital, all decked out in a blazer and light-coloured trousers as he fled down the footpath waving hellos to all and sundry as motorists gave him a nod and a wave while he passed the endless line of cars stretching back to Nile Lodge and Lower Salthill.

I thought for a moment that Mr. Lenihan – surely one of the most popular politicians in the country and a definite successor to Brian Cowen, if the Lenihan health picture was different – had added power-walking to the hill-walking in which he engaged during the summer.

But then I spotted the telltale Merc hundreds of yards back, with the driver stuck in the middle of the endless traffic jam. The minister was merely trying to make some progress in getting about.

The incident made me think that Fianna Fáil bods must be wondering if there is some sort of curse on them when it comes to Galway. I have been warned to stay away from politics in this column ... but sure it’s no harm to do a piece about the hazards of being a pedestrian in Galway, and the equally hazardous business of being a Fianna Fáil politician in Galway!

Far be it from me to do any damage to the tourism business in Galway-Salthill by warning Fianna Fáil to stay away ... but they must be wondering about all the dreadful publicity they got for ‘the Fianna Fáil tent’ at Galway Races, and then ‘the curse’ struck again last week when along came that business of whether Brian Cowen was a bit under the weather when he did that radio interview.

Someone pointed out that quite a few of the scribes from the papers and various other brances of the media, might have been a bit under the weather themselves on that Tuesday morning after the FF knees-up on the Monday night in the Ardilaun. In fact, I met some of them shortly after 11am on the Tuesday as they struggled into the FF ‘media centre’ in the Ardilaun to tut-tut about Brian Cowen.

Some certainly looked the worse for wear after all that Fianna Fáil entertainment. But, as one of the scribes so cogently pointed out, though still in a haze of hospitality, they were not going on the national airwaves at 9 in the morning!

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.