What a bunch of blarney.
Irish eyes were glaring Saturday morning after legendary laggard Mayor de Blasio showed up a half-hour late to the Rockaways St. Patrick’s Parade. He blamed a late-running meeting at Gracie Mansion.
“Out here we have a name for him: de Assio,” said Carol Jones, 63, a lifetime resident of Rockaway Park.
Thousands of bagpipers, marchers and shamrocked spectators waited for 10 minutes past the scheduled 1 p.m. start, but finally started festivities without the time-challenged Democrat.
For 14 blocks, the banner trumpeting “Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio” was carried down Newport Avenue — its namesake nowhere to be found.
When Hizzoner finally arrived and waltzed into the procession at 116th Street — missing half of the 28-block parade route — he was greeted with chants of “Worst mayor ever! Worst mayor ever!”
“He’s always late,” said long-time Rockaways resident Mike Murphy. “It’s very disrespectful, not only to the Irish but to everyone in Rockaway.”
Peeved parade watcher Tricia McGee suggested the mayor “spring ahead an hour and a half” — instead of the hour required for the rest of us under daylight savings time.
Construction worker Eddie O’Hare blasted de Blasio’s habitual tardiness as “a disgrace.”
“We all have to get up and go to work in the morning, and the mayor can’t get up and be on time,” he seethed. “I’d lose my job if I showed up late.”
Locals pointed out that de Blasio was so late to a Flight 587 memorial service in nearby Belle Harbor last year that he missed a moment of silence for the victims.
He first blamed a late police launch, and then admitted he’d had a “very rough night.”
De Blasio blamed his late arrival Saturday on an education meeting that delayed his departure until 12:30, according to his spokesman Phil Walzak. He then took a police boat from the Upper East Side to the Queens neighborhood.
“We had some meetings at Gracie Mansion today that took awhile,” the mayor told reporters.
And even though one impatient parade-goer yelled “Give that man a watch!” it’s obvious Hizzoner ignores timepieces anyway. In November, after the muffed memorial service, The Post gifted de Blasio an alarm clock.
The parade organizers were unapologetic about starting the march without the mayor.
“It starts when it starts,” said John Murphy. “We’re not going to wait for anyone. We had a lot of elected officials that had a schedule to keep.”
Other officials, including Public Advocate Letitia James, city Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli had no trouble reaching the event on time.