Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley

Mayor of Galway, Eddie Hoare (FG), is settling in nicely to the new role.

Since taking the chains he’s attended several local functions in an official capacity in recent weeks, including the launches of the Galway Film Fleadh programme, the premiere of the new JFK documentary and the 2023 Galway Races Summer Festival.

They’re decent gigs for someone who loves Galway and who enjoys highlighting positive stories about the City of the Tribes.

But it’s not always possible to get to every launch and function that the mayor is invited to during the 12-month term of office. And on those occasions, the First Citizen has a deputy to call on to stand in.

This year, the Deputy Mayor is Donal Lyons, the long-serving Independent city councillor in Galway City West.

Eddie can call on the ‘King of Knocknacarra’ to deputise at City Council meetings and at functions when he’s unable to attend.

Or Mayor Hoare could use a ‘secret weapon’ and could ask his almost identical, younger (by three minutes!) twin brother, Michael – or Molly as he’s affectionately known – to fill in for him!

The resemblance between the two is so close, nobody would suspect a thing . . . Eddie would have cracked the art of bi-location, making Donal’s deputy role redundant!
This is a shortened preview version of this column. For more Bradley Bytes, see the July 7 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.