Council Affairs: O’Hanlon’s hopes for Mexit

Rise up General O’Hanlon and take back Merchant’s Quay and the Metropolitan District with it, bringing forth the Mexit.

AS our American cousins celebrate their 4th of July weekend, it would be no harm for Fianna Fáil councillor Kieran O’Hanlon, who was busy trying to instigate a coup d’état in City Hall last week and insure the Metropolitan District’s exit (Mexit?) from the sovereign states of Limerick, to remember that freedom is never given.

Rise up General O’Hanlon and take back Merchant’s Quay and the Metropolitan District with it. I mean, when a man can’t even have fancy dress and floral bouquets at his AGM, it’s enough to make you want to take up arms.

Your future, councillors, depends on what you do today. If you want an independent Metropolitan municipality, you are going to have to go to war for it, or you will never have that recipe again. Reminiscing about the good old days, isn’t going to cut the mustard.

A volley of rockets was fired last Monday from a breakaway City East Fianna Fáil faction towards a missing in action mayor, a man who, as a rule, isn’t tasked with attending the Metropolitan district meetings. Not his circus, not his clowns.

Either way, he was clearly considered an easy target, as talk of revolt and happier times filled the chamber in his absence.

O’Hanlon was worryingly eager to bring back the role of ‘Mini Mayor’ and see an autonomous Metropolitan republic set up, free of Moran’s tyrannous reign.

“Since the amalgamation, and since the introduction of a directly-elected mayor, the role here in this chamber has been diminished and reduced, and I think it’s an absolute disgrace,” O’Hanlon cried, lost in flashbacks of the Council’s milk and honey heyday.

“I can go back this time 30 years ago, when we were electing the leader of Limerick City. On the night we would have the maces and flowers, the chamber would be decorated, and the gallery would be packed, because the people of Limerick came out.

“You actually had to get a ticket to come in because there was so many people. It used to be quite exciting.”

The Fianna Fáil councillor is all about the bling and called for the red robes and maces to be brought back to City Hall along with the nods, winks, secret handshakes, and whatever you’re having yourself.

“This is the capital, not alone of Limerick, but of the Mid West. I hope that the Government will restore some of the powers that were taken away from us here, and I would like to see a situation where we actually become kind of an independent Metropolitan Council, because I think that’s better for the city,” he opined.

There you have it, the campaign to bring back ‘Mini Mayor’ starts here. Red roses and robes for everyone!