Castlebar - County Mayo - Connaught Telegraph

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Local Papers Commentary
Connaught Telegraph - 12th March 2003
By PJ
12, Mar 2003 - 15:20

Grace O'Malley special for Discovery Channel
The legendary Mayo Sea Queen, and sometime pirate, Grace O'Malley or Granuaile, is to be one of the subjects of a Discovery Channel documentary on celebrated "Warrior Women". Granuaile will share the spotlight with such other female luminaries as Joan of Arc, Bodicea and Mulan. The Granuaile segment of the programme, produced by London based October Films, will be filmed on location in Mayo during the next month and a half and will base the story on Castlebar author Ann Chambers biography of Grace O'Malley. It is expected the series will be transmitted on the Discovery channel in autumn.

Junketing councillors criticised
Castlebar councillor Johnny Mee has criticised the practice of councillors embarking on foreign junkets for the St. Patrick's Festival. Cllr Mee said the festival was being turned into a laughing stock considering nearly every Mayor and County Council Cathaoirleach in the state would be out of the country for the St Patrick's Day celebrations, funded in their travels at the rate payers expenses. He added that, the way things are going, there may soon be no public representative to march in local parades. This year Mayo County Council will have two representatives in Sydney, Australia and three in New York while a number of members of Castlebar and Ballina town councils are also abroad in the USA and France.

Dispute over demand for cheaper bins
Mayo County council have come under criticism for their resistance to requests for replacement 140 refuse bins in exchange for the larger 240 litre ones. It has been revealed that the council are refusing to exchange the larger bin for the smaller one, citing the financial implications for the council of doing so. Council Member Michael Ring TD told a meeting of the authority that he'd received complaints from people that were told they had to stick with the larger bin and pay the higher charge whether they liked it or not. Director of Services for the Council, Mr Seamus Granahan said that they hoped that residents would stick with the larger bins for the time being, as sufficient recycling facilities were not yet in place. The cost for the larger bin is €320 compared to €250 for the smaller one.