Its my statue, my town.. Cllr J Gilligan

Swiper the fox · 27-09-2012 3:38pm

Stab*City wrote: »

And FAIR PLAY TO YOU! You urge people to watch the video in its entirety yet you dont yourself and decide then to judge other posters! Typical Gilligan attitude. :rolleyes:

You obviously have an axe to grind as the thread starter, are you that aggressive English guy? Love your name by the way:rolleyes:.
What are you talking about? I said I watched it in its entirety, which is more than I think a few of the commenters did.

Your response to my post is idiotic to say the least, I don't even know where to start in response to it. Please try to express yourself a bit better.
I have absolutely no connection with Gilligan, in fact any comments I have made in the past would have been quite unfavorable, in this case I have no problem?

Lingua Franca · 27-09-2012 3:44pm

Swiper the fox wrote: »

He kept his cool throughout while he was being abused all round.

Did you watch a different video to me? I watched the link in the OP, if it helps.

Itsdacraic wrote: »

If they were filming the whole thing why didn't they include the clips of what exactly they were doing on the statue?

They did. It's the last few seconds of the video.

Swiper the fox · 27-09-2012 3:55pm

Lingua Franca wrote: »

Did you watch a different video to me? I watched the link in the OP, if it helps.

They did. It's the last few seconds of the video.

Don't know how I got myself into this position as defender of John Gilligan but I can't just let it lie. At no stage did he lose his cool, he seemed a little flustered alright but at one stage the English guy was shouting in his face in a really aggressive manner. The OP suggests that it was a bunch of kids that were being attacked by the councillor, to be fair that couldn't be further from the truth, there may have been kids involved but all I saw was two large adults and some older teenagers and they didn't do themselves any credit. Lots of people jumped on this topic when it started but they are all quiet now, I'd be interested to see what the reaction is from Facebook or wherever it is being watched. Plenty of people will assume the worst without watching it, this is what I did before I saw it. I don't want to get involved in a row here but I am giving my honest impressions.

Lingua Franca · 27-09-2012 4:00pm

I'm getting some pretty disgusted reactions on facebook from other performers. Most of my friends are arty types (as am I) and entertainers and have done some variations of busking, street theatre, flash mobs etc. I can't post their reactions here though, it'd just be a load of asterixes.

Insect Overlord · 27-09-2012 4:07pm

Swiper the fox wrote: »

he didn't act in an aggressive manner to any kids, all I saw was two grown muscular men,

Whatever about the kids, but he was certainly aggressive towards the adults. Just after 1:20 on the video he gets right in the face of the camera-man, pointing his finger and quoting his title as Councillor. He then incorrectly accuses them all of vandalism.

Around the 01:30 mark he walks up as close to the second man a he could possibly get without physically touching him. He says he can "track them down". That's a fairly menacing thing to say to a total stranger at the side of the road.

He then spends 3 minutes repeating "Stay off the statue" as if it's his own property. Surely if he felt the statue was in danger then the local Garda station around the corner should have been his first port-of-call. I'll point out more when I get a few minutes to dissect the video in more detail later.

celticcrash · 27-09-2012 4:17pm

It seems that John Gilligan was trying to protect the Dockers Monument.
The two men were the agressors here. One of them started screaming at him.
I bet if you asked the two bearded men what the monument stood for, they would not have a clue.
Fair play to John Gilligan we need more people like him.

aN.Droid · 27-09-2012 4:19pm

celticcrash wrote: »

It seems that John Gilligan was trying to protect the Dockers Monument.
The two men were the agressors here. One of them started screaming at him.
I bet if you asked the two bearded men what the monument stood for, they would not have a clue.
Fair play to John Gilligan we need more people like him.

We need more people who see red and incorrectly judge people?

Sounds like the dream alright.

juneg · 27-09-2012 4:36pm

I was in Paris recently and as we went to a lot of parks with children we noticed all the statues / public art / memorials were not really accessible to public as they had ropes or railings around them. I would agree with this method of protecting public statues and I think Irish local authorities should include the cost of this initially.

The Limerick dockers worked hard and mainly died young. It's really not ok to jump/ dance on any monument. It is more respectful to have a look but dont touch approach.
Put it this way, if I were walking past the dockers statue with my children and one of them jumped on it I would give out to them, get them off it and explain that we dont risk destroying public property. I wouldnt like to see anyone jumping on it.

seachto7 · 27-09-2012 4:38pm

Would it have been different if the Ali G lads were hanging off the O Connell monument, or the Richard Harris one?
Or if they were swinging off statues out in UL between the library and concert hall.

They more than likely weren't damaging the statue at all and were doing no harm to anyone, but they come across as twats and Gilligan comes out of this looking like a buffoon.

whatdoicare · 27-09-2012 4:39pm

I'm confused - were the dancer guys jumping on the statue?
If so, I'd be livid if I was the artist who created that art work. They could do damage to it.
I'm only 30 and I'd have yelled at them too if I saw them jumping all over a monument. It belongs to Limerick city - that doesn't mean it can be danced on if anyone feels the need to.

Swiper the fox · 27-09-2012 4:46pm

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Whatever about the kids, but he was certainly aggressive towards the adults. Just after 1:20 on the video he gets right in the face of the camera-man, pointing his finger and quoting his title as Councillor. He then incorrectly accuses them all of vandalism.

Around the 01:30 mark he walks up as close to the second man a he could possibly get without physically touching him. He says he can "track them down". That's a fairly menacing thing to say to a total stranger at the side of the road.

He then spends 3 minutes repeating "Stay off the statue" as if it's his own property. Surely if he felt the statue was in danger then the local Garda station around the corner should have been his first port-of-call. I'll point out more when I get a few minutes to dissect the video in more detail later.

You've lived a fairly sheltered life if you consider Gilligans behaviour threatening, I assume he pointed out that he was a councillor to ensure the lads that he wasn't just some crank, same as anyone would have done in the situation, the only threatening behaviour I saw was from the English guy, the carry on of the young fellas behind the camera was an embarrasment.

smcgiff · 27-09-2012 4:59pm

The crew were wise to the PR potential from the get go.

Gilligang was, ahem, a little the worse for wear. It's a pity he couldn't articulate himself better, and all we see from the crew's antics were their own final shot. We don't see what angered Gilligan.

I don't think anyone comes out of this glowing.

Itsdacraic · 27-09-2012 4:59pm

Swiper the fox wrote: »

You've lived a fairly sheltered life if you consider Gilligans behaviour threatening, I assume he pointed out that he was a councillor to ensure the lads that he wasn't just some crank, same as anyone would have done in the situation, the only threatening behaviour I saw was from the English guy, the carry on of the young fellas behind the camera was an embarrasment.

You could almost sense their delight at getting their big "you tube" moment.

Itsdacraic · 27-09-2012 5:03pm

Lingua Franca wrote: »

Did you watch a different video to me? I watched the link in the OP, if it helps.

They did. It's the last few seconds of the video.

Exactly one nicely edited in clip lasting a couple of seconds. Why didn't they show the full episode leading up to when Gilligan came across to them?

I'd be pretty pissed off if a memorial to a relation of mine was being used as a dance studio.

aN.Droid · 27-09-2012 5:11pm

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Exactly one nicely edited in clip lasting a couple of seconds. Why didn't they show the full episode leading up to when Gilligan came across to them?

I'd be pretty pissed off if a memorial to a relation of mine was being used as a dance studio.

It was being used to promote the city. Just because something seems in bad taste to you does not mean it is.

People have different ways to show respect.

Swiper the fox · 27-09-2012 5:20pm

Limericks wrote: »

It was being used to promote the city. Just because something seems in bad taste to you does not mean it is.

People have different ways to show respect.

Who were they promoting the city to and how are they hoping to do that? What were they doing and why was jumping around on public monuments such a vital part of their plan? Genuine question.

jonski · 27-09-2012 5:26pm

I would like to see the Video of the dance , knowing the statue I doubt very much that it was a dance troupe using it as a stage .

Either way he should have approached it in a more civil and diplomatic manner .

Off topic , the first time my wife saw that statue she said " ha , a statue of people throwing rubbish into the docks "

Itsdacraic · 27-09-2012 5:27pm

Limericks wrote: »

It was being used to promote the city. Just because something seems in bad taste to you does not mean it is.

People have different ways to show respect.

Explain how somebody who happened upon a scene where people were jumping up and down on a memorial statue would know that they were doing it to promote limerick?

How does it even promote Limerick?

jonski · 27-09-2012 5:29pm

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Explain how somebody who happened upon a scene where people were jumping up and down on a memorial statue would know that they were doing it to promote limerick?

How does it even promote Limerick?

They were jumping up and down on it ? really ? , I didn't see this anywhere ?

langdang · 27-09-2012 5:31pm

Limericks wrote: »

It was being used to promote the city. Just because something seems in bad taste to you does not mean it is.

People have different ways to show respect.

If I danced on your car, in good taste, would it be OK with you?
Clue - You REALLY don't want to see me in a wife beater giving it Gangnam Style on your car's roof.

I'm gonna give the guy the benefit of the doubt here, the city would be a lot better off if more people would stand up for public and private property.
He mightn't have made the best job of it, but tis better than slinking away and pretending you saw nothing.

Itsdacraic · 27-09-2012 5:35pm

jonski wrote: »

They were jumping up and down on it ? really ? , I didn't see this anywhere ?

What was the kid doing in the clip at the end?

Chavways · 27-09-2012 5:36pm

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Explain how somebody who happened upon a scene where people were jumping up and down on a memorial statue would know that they were doing it to promote limerick?

How does it even promote Limerick?

Maybe if Gilligan listened to what they were saying when they said many times that they were using it to promote the city he would have know but he just kept coming back with the same stupid response.

He'd be doing a favour for Limerick if he took his confrontation to the scumbags who hang a around Cruises Street all day scaring away potential customers but he's probably afraid of them so he wouldn't do that.

aN.Droid · 27-09-2012 5:39pm

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Who were they promoting the city to and how are they hoping to do that? What were they doing and why was jumping around on public monuments such a vital part of their plan? Genuine question.

They were making materiel to promote the make a move festival.

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Explain how somebody who happened upon a scene where people were jumping up and down on a memorial statue would know that they were doing it to promote limerick?

How does it even promote Limerick?

He was told multiple times that it was to show how nice the city is and it was for promotional material but still went on with his preconceived ideas that they were vandals and that "their kind" shouldn't be doing what they are doing.

aN.Droid · 27-09-2012 5:41pm

langdang wrote: »

If I danced on your car, in good taste, would it be OK with you?
Clue - You REALLY don't want to see me in a wife beater giving it Gangnam Style on your car's roof.

Cars are made out of sheet metal, the statue is not.

jonski · 27-09-2012 5:44pm

Itsdacraic wrote: »

What was the kid doing in the clip at the end?

Jumping up and down ? I don't think so , thats not what I saw , to say they were jumping up and down is an exaggeration .

Kess73 · 27-09-2012 6:02pm

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Who were they promoting the city to and how are they hoping to do that? What were they doing and why was jumping around on public monuments such a vital part of their plan? Genuine question.

They were part of the Make A Move festival that took place in July this year. A festival that had Limerick City Council as one of it's funders and one would also presume that as a funder LCC would have had knowledge in advance of what the funding was going towards and also where the advertising filming etc was taking place.

The video in question was being made to advertise the festival, and had snippets from what those involved regarded as famous Limerick landmarks.

The full length video is in this link and as far as I know Limerick City Council gave permission for the video to be shot in the areas that fell within city limits.

http://makeamove.ie/

So it would appear that Gilligan was having a go at people who were partially funded by Limerick City Council and who were filming in areas they had permission to film in.

Doom · 27-09-2012 6:07pm

Stab*City wrote: »

Guys trying to show the city in a good light and then this bafoon comes along.. He actually thinks he owns Limerick. Its fools like him who have ruined Limerick. A counsellor calling kids ******s and claiming the statue as his!

And your name promotes the city in a good light too.....:rolleyes:

whatdoicare · 27-09-2012 6:11pm

Kess73 wrote: »

So it would appear that Gilligan was having a go at people who were partially funded by Limerick City Council and who were filming in areas they had permission to film in.

I doubt they had permission to climb over the monument and run up the side of king John's castle. They most likely had permission to dance near or around the areas.

celticcrash · 27-09-2012 6:14pm

Chavways wrote: »

Maybe if Gilligan listened to what they were saying when they said many times that they were using it to promote the city he would have know but he just kept coming back with the same stupid response.

He'd be doing a favour for Limerick if he took his confrontation to the scumbags who hang a around Cruises Street all day scaring away potential customers but he's probably afraid of them so he wouldn't do that.

John Gilligan is probaly the only councillor to stand up to the Limerick drug gangs in person, face to face. And called them scumbags on national TV.
So that proves that his not afraid of them. Never mind a few kids on cruises St. Hes a councillor not a door man for private bussinesses.

He has worked hard to get that monument for the people of Limerick.
A monument that respects the history of the working class in Limerick.

And for an Englishman to dance on our monument and roar at a representative of the people of Limerick is not on.
John Gilligan has worked hard for the people of Limerick for the last 18 or more years. The people of Limerick city are very fond of John.

mayordenis · 27-09-2012 6:19pm

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Who were they promoting the city to and how are they hoping to do that? What were they doing and why was jumping around on public monuments such a vital part of their plan? Genuine question.

Anything at all that is is street based (Skating, BMXing, Rollerblading, Parkour, Breaking) relies on different locations, different settings, different objects, to make their sport interesting, and if it does absolutely zero damage, then the people should be reasonable enough to respect that.

I would go so far as to say, people with his frame of thought would rather a few scangers stand around near the status shouting, spitting, genuinely being little knobheads.

He was a dog with a bone in that video, he made no point with anything resembling a shred of facts, 'vandalism'? Give me a break.

Its my statue, my town.. Cllr J Gilligan

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