Despite the Government imploding around him and his party facing a hostile electorate in February, it is the lesser horseshoe bat that is occupying the mind of the Green’s John Gormley the most.
The little creatures - one of the world’s smallest bats, weighing only 5-9 grams, with a wingspan of 192-254mm, and a body length of 35-45mm - were the subject of much discussion, bewilderment, and quite a bit of hilarity, at Monday’s city council meeting.
At the meeting, councillors discussed the Manager’s Report on the consultation process to amend the Draft Galway City Development Plan, which included plans for the future of Menlo Castle.
The renovation/ preservation of the castle has been the subject of intense debate in council over the last decade. Originally there were plans to renovate the castle, but many councillors objected to the developer retaining a top floor apartment to himself.
More recently Labour councillor Derek Nolan proposed that the site be preserved as a ruin and that the surrounding grounds be made into a new city park.
However it was later proposed that the castle be “restored for public usage, excluding private residential use, to allow for new uses, in particular cultural/recreation uses, compatible with the restoration of the building”.
The Manager’s Report noted the submission of the Department of the Environment on Menlo Castle which said any work should be subject to the Habitats Directive “given that the site is an important roost for the lesser horseshoe bat”.
Fine Gael councillor Pádraig Conneely was bewildered by this and was determined to find out more about the enigmatic little creature. However all services to the controversial councillor have been withdrawn due to what officials consider as his “gratuitously offensive behaviour” towards city council staff at a recent meeting.
As a result, officials are not responding to the councillor’s questions until he offers an apology. Cllr Conneely nonetheless had some fun with the issue to the great amusement of his fellow councillors.
“Can somebody tell me what is a lesser horseshoe bat and how does he ‘roost’? If we are to protect him what is he? We need an answer,” he asked.
Cllr Conneely finished off by having a dig at the former minister for the environment John Gormley saying: “This mention of the bat is from John Gormley who spent €180,000 on a report on how many frogs were in Ireland!”
