From Castlebar - County Mayo -

Local Papers Commentary
Connaught Telegraph - 9 April 2003
By Jaundiced Eye
13, Apr 2003 - 17:49

St. Geralds do it again

'St. Geralds book final spot with emphatic victory' – reads the headline for Aiden Henry’s article in the Connaught covering the All-Ireland Colleges B Semi-Final. St. Gerald’s College, Castebar beat Knockbeg College Carlow by 1-11 to 1-8. St. Gerlad’s did the business against the highly fancied side from Carlow at Hyde Park, Roscommon. The final will be against Lurgan College on Sunday 20 April and is likely to be held in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Knockmore Suburbanisation of Lakeshore countermanded

An Bord Pleanala have upheld an objection to the granting of planning permission for a house, sewerage system and percolation area 100m from Lough Conn on a steep slope. The Inspector said the Fisheries Board had provided ‘compelling evidence’ that rural housing was contributing to phosphorus inputs to surface waters such as Lough Conn. The report also expressed concern about incremental ‘development creep’ and cumulative effects. There was plenty of suitable land within the Knockmore village area and the risk to public health, damage to the rural environment were also cited as reasons for refusal in sensitive near-lake area. Lough Conn has lost its entire stock of arctic char in the mid to late 1980s due to phosphorus pollution and more recently its trout stocks have also declined seriously.

Lahardane Post Cutback

Colour photos from Michael Donnelly show those protesting at Lahardane Post Office against the loss of their postman. Michael Dowd retired last September as Lahardane’s last postman - the village has had its own postman for the past 150 years. The post is now being delivered by a postman who lives in nearby Bofeenaun. The protest included the blocking off of letterboxes so that the new postman cannot actually deliver the mail. A crowd of almost 30 is shown in the photo. The ironic aspect of the whole thing is that Mayo County Council are treating Lahardane as a growth centre and are commencing the building of a full-scale sewage treatment works which will allow the village to expand by some 200 houses. For those who don’t know Lahardane it is located under the shadow of Nephin on the Western shore of Lough Conn in a most beautiful part of Mayo.



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