The most unnecessary yearly event has happened again a few days ago. A new mayor was elected for Dublin! I know, I know, you probably have no idea who the previous mayor was (It was Brendan Carr from the Labour Party.) and you also have no intention to remember the name of the new mayor, because – again – he will be gone before you will have heard anything of importance from him. Well, for he record, I will mention his name. The new guy is called Micheal MacDonncha.
The time when Dublin’s mayor really steps forward is when the Christmas tree needs to be lit. He has no powers and is just a representative roles. Sounds cynical? It is! See, this is now the 348th Mayor of Dublin, so there have been a LOT of them around and because they are power less and the city is run by a non-elected bureaucrat, hardly any of them made any impact. I was talking to some of them over the years and oddly some of them are convinced that they are hugely important, but I guess they try do as much as they can within a framework of powerlessness.
See, it is not the fault of the Dublin City Mayor that he has no power and is elected in such a nonsensical charade. A few years ago, there was a plan to change the local government structures and to go forward with ONE directly elected mayor WITH RESPONSIBILITIES and POWER for whole Dublin, but thanks to the dimness of the councillors in Fingal (North County Dublin), that sensical new idea was voted down.
In some dealings with one of the previous mayors it always amused me how he was soooo madly keen on wearing that silly golden chain even when there are no photographers around, but then I realised that the only thing that gives the mayor the appearance of having an important role is that golden chain and otherwise nobody will ever recognise him. Without a doubt you have not seen a golden chain on the Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn. Why? Because he is important and therefore people recognise him.
Oh and one more thing: I know that the official title is “Lord Mayor” but come on, he is not even a proper mayor, so the “lord” makes the joke even bigger, so I will stick to “mayor”.
