POPULAR Fermanagh SDLP councillor, Brendan Gallagher, took a bit of stick at Monday nights meeting, his first since breaking his arm in a fall whilst on honeymoon.
“It must have been some honeymoon”, joked the chairman, Alex Baird.
However, the reality was far from funny at the time, the first time that Brendan, a noted gaelic footballer with Devenish (Garrison) broke a bone.
“Myself and Marion (his bride) were heading down to Killarney for a few days and saw the signs for The Cliffs of Moher, so we decided to slip down. Basically, I slipped on steps at the (tourist) centre and broke my right arm.
“It’s a clean break right across and, going by the x-ray, hopefully it should be a straightforward enough break.”
However, being right-handed means Brendan, a systems analyst with Liberty Insurance in Enniskillen, will be out of action for another month, and, in fact, he was about to take up a new post in the department.
But, speaking this week after his first council meeting since his mishap, he was in a philosophical mood, and was still enthused at how well the big day went, the reception being held in the Radisson Blu Farnham Estate Hotel, Cavan.
“It could have been worse, and the my mother (Ann, widow of the late Councillor Gerry Gallagher) loved it. But, everybody who was there (all 230 guests) seemed to enjoy themselves. It’s a lovely hotel.”
His wife, Marion is also employed in Enniskillen, in SMC Services. They recently moved into a new house in Garrison.
The couple have known each other for the past nine years.
Brendan, who is the leader of the SDLP grouping in the council, is standing again in the May elections for Erne West. Other party candidates are – Richie McPhillips (Erne East), Patricia Rogers (Enniskillen), and John Coyle and Paul Blake (Erne North).
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