Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley
We always thought the Mayor of Galway City, Pádraig Conneely, was a fan of Gays – sure didn’t he officially open celebrations at Galway’s gay bar down the West!
But the Fine Gael City Councillor engaged in a spot of Gay bashing last week.
And it was no ordinary Gay – it was Ireland’s most popular Gay that the bould Conneely gave a dressing down to.
In an unprovoked rant worthy of a scorned drag queen on speed, Cllr Conneely gave Gay Byrne a bit of a, ahem, spanking, at the latest Galway City Joint Policing Committee (JPC).
He said Gay Byrne, chairman of the Road Safety Authority, and former RTÉ radio and television presenter, was “clueless about rural Ireland”.
Gay, he thundered, “had never travelled a rural road in his life”.
Pádraig poked fun at Gay’s pad on Howth Hill in Dublin’s leafy suburb, and even suggested he had a chauffeur . . . which is a bit rich coming from Pádraig, who does enjoy that particular perk of the chain.
What, you may ask, did Gay do to Pádraig that got him all in a tizzy?
He had the audacity to suggest Justice Minister Alan Shatter’s closing of rural Garda stations and policing cutbacks had led to an increase in road deaths. Cheek of him!
But the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (flag) is . . . not all JPC members are anti-Gay.
Byrne now has a new champion – Fianna Fáil’s pink Peter Keane, his knight in shining armour, rode to his rescue, claiming Conneely’s oral outburst on Gay was “unbecoming”, and pointed out that he fulfils the role at RSA free gratis.
Another case of handbags at dawn at the JPC.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.
