The mayoral horse giving way to his natural functions provided an unforeseen insight for shoppers into Limerick's great pre-20th century "car-free days".
The Mayor, Cllr Dick Sadlier, had arrived in the horse-drawn carriage to inspect William Street, which was closed to cars for the day, but he unwittingly added to the light-hearted atmosphere.
His defecating horse prompted one wag to shout: "That's all we expect from the corporation, a load of s**t." In fairness to the local authority, it had gone to a lot of trouble in negotiating with street traders and organising street musicians, face-painters and jugglers for the occasion. This gave shoppers an impromptu taste of the pedestrianisation plan which is in the pipeline for the city-centre. Along with William Street, its diminutive relations, Little William Street and Little Catherine Street, were also closed.
"It all went lovely", one garda said. Bus ╔ireann ran a free service for the day and the reduced noise levels were monitored on what usually forms part of the main road to Tipperary.
"It took people a while to become accustomed to the closure. You could see for the first half-hour that pedestrians were sticking to the footpaths. But, as the morning progressed, they began to use the road", one corporation observer said.
Ms Br∅d Hayes, a senior executive officer with Limerick Corporation, said that the city was limited in what it could close off because the main street, O'Connell Street, forms part of the N20 to Cork. "There was criticism last year that too large an area was closed off", she said.