One thing is sure following Monday night's City Council AGM that saw the elevation of Galway City Councillor Padraig Conneely to the office of Galway City Mayor, it's going to be an interesting year in local politics.

The seasoned finger pointer, regular irregularity uncoverer and enthusiastic council official basher has been narrowly voted in as the next mayor of Galway city and will shortly be the voice of the city.

Perhaps most unnervingly for his city council official colleagues, Cllr Conneely will soon be in charge of Galway City Council meetings, which have erupted into little more than an exercise in name calling and mud-slinging on more than one occasion over the past three years in no small part to his own, ahem, 'contributions'.

'Holy feigned outrage, Batman, how are we going to get out of this one alive? Will Mayor Conneely save Gotham from the dastardly city council officials? Will he clean up Gotham once and for all? Will he be able to restore order at city council meetings? And will he be able to represent Gotham on a local, national, even international stage?'

Like him or loath him, and it's rare that you will find someone who doesn't mind him, our new first citizen is never boring. He shoots from the hip and, rather annoyingly for city council officials, he generally has his finger on the pulse of the city. Cue flash back of the man who predicted the Eyre Square debacle; the man who called for heads to roll following the various water crises and the man who most recently saved Galway from a seedy sex cinema operating in our midst. Batman he may not be, but the man certainly has an ability for exposing the city's underbelly.

However, it will take an altogether different skill-set on Mayor Conneely's part to represent the city and to restore order at city council meetings. His fellow councillors would be forgiven for using his time in the chair to give him a very insipid taste of his own medicine. One major advantage he has over his predecessors, of course, is that he doesn't have his formidable self to contend with.

Cllr Conneely is to be congratulated for putting his money where, dare I say it, his considerable mouth is. Time will tell whether he will be able to set his penchant for exposing irregularities aside and work with, as opposed to against, his city council official colleagues. Stay tuned.

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