Veteran councillor pays record price for cattle
He rode into town last Saturday – not with a Big Iron on his hip, but with a bulging wallet – and when he left shortly after high noon, there was scarcely another bidder standing.
This South Galway cowboy had steers on his mind – to tuck into the lush summer grass at his Ardrahan ranch – and by last Saturday evening, 60 top drawer Limousins and Charolais were grazing away peacefully.
Cllr. Michael Fahy, only slightly disguised with a cap, made it a hot day for one and all at Loughrea Mart on Saturday, paying up to €1,650 for a 780kg Charolais – but that was just one of many, many purchases.
When the dust settled and ‘all the shootin’ was over’, Michael Fahy eyeballed Loughrea Mart Manager, Jimmy Cooney, and wrote out a cheque for €92,900.
There were no blinks – and no worries about the cheque either – as the top class animals were transported back to Michael Fahy’s meadows before sundown for a seven months grass holiday on his farm.
“Jimmy Cooney reckoned to me that I broke the Guinness Book of Records for a single farm purchase in the one day and I’m not finished yet either – there’ll be 30 more on the way over the next week or two,” Michael Fahy told the Connacht Tribune.
These are indeed better times for Cllr. Fahy, who served time in Castlerea Prison back in 2007, for an alleged fraud in relation to funding obtained from Galway County Council for a fencing project – his conviction was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2011.
In his earlier political career, he had been widely known as ‘The Stroke’ having being ‘christened’ by the current day local equivalent of the Rocky Mountain News [the late Connacht Tribune editor, John Cunningham], following an audacious addition to the Fianna Fáil General Election ticket back in the 1970s.
Later, as events transpired and the court case rolled out, he ‘dechristened’ himself from his nickname and asked that in future he be called by his proper name, so there wasn’t even the remotest notion of ‘The Stroke’ appearing at the bottom of his €92,900 cheque last Saturday.
Last year, he ‘bamboozled’ fellow councillors at a morning conference in Cavan when he told them, that before he left his Ardrahan farm at around 7am, he had fed meal to 70 cattle before riding North.
Loughrea Mart Manager, Jimmy Cooney, said that there wouldn’t have been many – if any – marts across the West of Ireland who would have been able to accommodate such a demand from one buyer.
“In fairness, he only buys the best of Charolais and Limousin cattle. We did have to make sure that we had the type of stock he wanted and he’s coming back on Saturday for 30 more,” said Jimmy Cooney.
All in all, busy and better times for the Ardrahan councillor who hasn’t lost his Council seat in 35 years of elections. The next big showdown for the sprightly 63 year old bachelor will be in the O.K. Corral of Galway East in early Spring of next year, when he’ll be gunning for a seat in Dáil Eireann.
By then the cattle will be ‘well gone’ for another year and Cllr. Fahy will be hoping to be headed towards pastures new as he rides off into the sunset (well not quite) and that big saloon on Kildare Street. All other cowboys up there, please take note!