Cavan town’s hall of shame
Cavan Town Council have established an exhibition to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the construction of the Town Hall, which didn’t open until January 1910. It goes without saying that I wasn’t invited, but then as the semi-literate jackass was going to be in attendance I wouldn’t have gone anyway. But I was in good company, for while the usual suspects (the councillors, the town clerk and the county manager) were invited, the plebs, the hoi poloi (that’s your actual Greek that is), the fuckers and whingers of the electorate were not.
The people of Cavan should reflect on this and bear it in mind when these people come fawning on them looking for their votes in the coming elections, like second-hand double-glazing salesmen or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Who am I to expect an invitation? Well, I wrote a booklet about the council ten years’ ago. But then maybe the town council and councillors didn’t know about it. They should do – they asked me to write it. Then I wrote an article for the Cavan Echo about the building of the town hall. At least one man, who is in possession of a trowel used on the original construction, gate-crashed the event.
And then of course there was an item on RTE’s Nationwide program. I’ve been on that three times – and never got paid once. If they wanted somebody who knew what he was talking about, and could do it in an entertaining and light-hearted way, they could have asked me, but then a Tim O’Leary wannabe in a wheel-chair wouldn’t set the right tone would he? Were they afraid that I might be indiscrete? That I might make a pass at the gorgeous Mary Kennedy? I might have referred to the story long current round the town about the sumptuous “Town Hall Ball” held at its opening, when, according to some wags the food was so rich that some of the Cavan lads were still on the jacks at the outbreak of World War 1! Maybe they were afraid that I might mention the opposition on the council in the early years of the twentieth century to the building of the town hall on land donated by Lord Farnham, and how this could be interpreted as placing the council and its members fairly and squarely in the pockets of the landed aristocracy. But they didn’t stay there for long, for it was not rebelliousness against the injustice of the landlord system that prompted the council to use the then Lord Farnham’s land for the celebrations accompanying the return of the victorious 1947 team to Cavan without his permission. No, it was just plain bad manners.
If only I had known about the exhibition on Tuesday evening when my house in Cavan was visited by the first cock-suc…. council candidate, an out-going member. As it happened I hardly bade “it” the time of day, being somewhat appalled by its unctuous manner. Fool that I am I regretted my brusqueness. I might consider it a form of pond-life but I thought it had a grudging respect for me. Then I heard about the exhibition launch and the Nationwide feature, and I came to the conclusion that he doesn’t respect me, so all bets are off. I find “its” actions insulting and disreputable. It is seeking the electoral support of the people of Cavan, a lot of whom are facing financial difficulties and unemployment. What’s does “it” say? No doubt crocodile tears and sympathy, while arranging for one of “its” nephews to be taken on “temporarily” as a council employee – and like military juntas of old “temporary” can become permanent. The lad is very able ad well qualified, but when it comes to employment with organs of local government in Cavan (and no doubt throughout the rest of the country) the only qualification that matters is a familial relationship with a council member.
So here’s a message for all out-going members of Cavan Town Council who are seeking re-election, regardless of political affiliation. Don’t’ come near me or any member of my family. (I hope Councillor Conaty who has long been a good friend of ours respects what I’m saying), but as for the rest – they are worthless, self-aggrandising scum, a human form of algae.
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