BRADLEY BYTES: Farewell, a chairde - the 613th and final Bradley Bytes column in the Tribune

It was flagged on the front page of that Tuesday’s newspaper, with two photo by-lines including psychotherapist Carmel Sheridan who wrote about mindfulness in ‘Mind Matters’.

Bradley Bytes appeared on page 15, at the start of a new Living section, introduced by the excellent editor of The Sentinel Brendan Carroll as part of a revamp of the popular tabloid that began printing in 1927.

Its title, coined by The Connacht Tribune editor, Dave O’Connell, reflected that the column would contain bytes of biting commentary weekly.

It was not a political column in the traditional sense; Harry McGee and the late John Cunningham had that market cornered.

But the clunky ‘A sort of political column’ tagline, later dropped, reflected that the column’s broad subject matter was political because everything, from the arts to education, is political.

The Sentinel was loved by generations of Galwegians, and is still missed by many.

Before social media and clickbait, it was first with the news from Monday’s City Council meetings and the previous weekend’s key sporting moments, captured by incisive sports editors Keith Kelly (soccer) and John McIntyre (GAA/horse racing).

It was also jam-packed with crime stories by Francis Farragher, a talented writer who had the inside track with local Gardaí.

It was a small paper – 32 pages, 24 after a bank holiday – but it was big on opinion.

From nuggets of gossip or complaints by The Sentinel’s deputy editor Bernie Ní Fhlatharta – a force of nature – about goings on around Galway in About Town; to Enda Cunningham’s Cinema Review musings about movies; to Declan Tierney’s caustic takes on The Late Late Show or The Sunday Game in TV Review, The Sentinel was fertile ground for differing views.

Ireland’s economic crash coupled with a news industry in turmoil contributed to the demise of The Sentinel, which printed its final edition on November 25, 2014.

That could have been the end of Bradley Bytes, too, but the mischievous and fearless editor, Mike Glynn happily made a home for it in his baby, The Galway City Tribune.

The nature of opinion, and of writing a ‘sort of’ political column like Bradley Bytes – particularly in a relatively small place like Galway – is that you’ll rub powerful and influential people up the wrong way.

That wasn’t an accidental by-product of Bytes; that was the point of the column – its philosophy was ‘just to annoy them’, afflict the comfortable, hold power to account.

Galway City Council, the HSE, Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture, GMIT and NUIG all featured regularly.

Various Bytes attracted numerous complaints but the support from editors Mike Glynn and Brendan Carroll was unwavering despite pressures from disgruntled outside forces and sometimes from within.

Colleagues in the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), locally (Stephen Corrigan et al) and in Dublin (Seamus Dooley), also stood up for journalism – and free speech – on more than one occasion when defending Bradley Bytes.

This is the 613th and final Bradley Bytes column in the Tribune. Rather than reminisce, here are a few predictions.

Queen of the Claddagh, Catherine Connolly, will contest – and win – another Presidential Election with Maria Steen among her opponents.

Queen of Galway Jill Murray, will climb to high office, too, with fellow creatives Craig Flaherty, Lisa Regan and Tobes on her campaign team.

At least six city councillors will be gone by the next Local Election; four will retire or leave politics, and two will be unseated.

Two of the retirees – Donal Lyons and Declan McDonnell – will be replaced by family members.

Another family dynasty will emerge; Mike Cubbard will be joined on the Council by his son Ryan, the first father-son duo to both serve as Mayors of Galway.

At least one more of the 18 will leave politics – MJ Crowe or Peter Keane – to become a judge; Níall McNelis will fulfil a lifelong dream as an extra in Harry Potter.

Several more (Eddie Hoare, Classy Clodagh Higgins, Alan Cheesy Cheevers, Helen Ogbu, Alan Curran, Shane Forde) will become TDs or senators.

Mark Lohan and Niall Murphy will make comebacks; two more whose contrarian voices are needed at City Hall unfortunately won’t – Mayor Emeritus Pádraig Conneely and Collette Connolly.

Eoghan Gallagher and Kevin O’Hara will make breakthroughs in County Galway; Our Nuala Nolan will challenge Tommy Roddy for the Tribune’s letters to the editor crown.

All that’s left to say is thank you to colleagues past and present, those mentioned in this column and those not mentioned due to space.

Thank you to Tribune arts editor, Judy Murphy, a sub-editor, and very decent colleague, who had the misfortune of editing the first draft of Bradley Bytes every week. Her meticulous subbing and eye for grammar/spelling mistakes spared many blushes.

Thank you to Ireland’s best photographer Joe O’Shaughnessy, a gentleman, who was always obliging in sourcing pics to accompany the words.

Most of all, thank you to you, loyal readers who complained, complimented, gave tip-offs and feedback every week.

Slán go fóill.

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