The weather seems determined to remain discouragingly dry. As I look out of my window I feel a growing sense of gloom. There are plenty of clouds – in fact, the sky is wonderfully grey and full of promise – but the rain continues to hold off. [….] Until we get a flood, you see, the salmon in the river pools will be lethargic and reluctant to move. The fish are there alright but almost impossible to catch. […] Who wants salmon anyway? Of what possible benefit could wild fish be, now that we can produce countless thousands of tonnes of farmed salmon in cages? Think of all the time that could be saved, when anglers have nothing to angle for. […] Awards could be given according to the extent to which they prevent wild fish from even attempting to return to our rivers. Could this way of thinking ever catch on? It seems somebody has already out-thought me on this one. Across the Country in Tubbercurry three thousand fish were killed on the River Moy. Most of these were juvenile salmon and trout but a significant number of mature fish were also affected. […] But there will still be those who will insist on doing their utmost to keep rivers clear. Pesky environmentalists, who like to look at birds, who prefer to waste their time walking along riverbanks rather than watch endless reruns and remakes of television soaps, who will travel miles to see otters, or to walk in the last of Ireland’s shameful native woods, or who would even stoop so low as to let their children play in clean streams, if such were available.

Some snippets above from this week’s Country Diary the regular column written by Michael Lewis for the Connaught. I like the way he thinks. He’s right of course – most of us don’t see the point of protecting nature. We complain when tourists don’t visit us in sufficient numbers because they don’t like what we do to our environment. Most tourists prefer to see Spanish haciendas in Spain – so why on earth would they come to Mayo to see them blighting our green landscape? Perhaps they endure our offensive housing blight and visual disaster because they have a chance of still catching a few salmon and trout. So anglers still come to Mayo and spend wads of money here (even when the river is too dry to fish). They still visit the pubs and restaurants in the evenings and stay in hotels and B&Bs. But to see dead fish littered all over the bed of the Moy River at Banada last week must be soul-destroying for a visiting angler. Our clean green image gone in one fell swoop for the angler unlucky enough to see the ultimate angling horror – belly up salmon and trout littered along the bed of the Moy.

Fine Gael Deputy Michael Ring has welcomed the publication of expenses incurred by elected members of Mayo County Council. He praised the Connaught Telegraph for taking the lead in informing the public on how much the councillors were paid for doing their work and attending conferences. However, it was his view that the expenses incurred by officials of the council should also be put into the public domain.

So why doesn’t he just ask for them? According to the CT an ‘unnamed’ elected councillor in Castlebar has already put in Freedom of Information request for expenses paid to County Manager, Des Mahon. Mr Mahon said he had no problem with this.

But folks there is a big difference here which Mr Ring will not disclose. All public officials have to sign a conflict of interest declaration. If they owned land anywhere close to planning application that they were dealing with they are required to step back and immediately declare their interest. Not so with the elected politicians. Will Michael Ring, Auctioneer, step back from all planning decisions declaring his interest?  Unlikely.

We saw the conflict of interest raging last week in Dunleer where a local FF chairman benefited to the tune of millions by virtue of a rezoning pushed through by his political colleagues on the council! But of course this couldn’t happen in Mayo! Nod. Nod. Wink. Wink.

We all know that the expenses paid to councillors even at 70,000+ euros per annum are a pittance compared to the real advantages of deciding on the planning direction of the council. If you are an auctioneer what better place than to be able to decide on rezoning issues? If you own a land bank what better place than to be one of the majority on Mayo County Council (16 of 31 that is) that have a real financial vested interest in seeing the price of land go up? Whether you sell land on a percentage commission or own ‘farm’ land that may some day be rezoned for housing every new rezoning that goes through will put money in your pocket either today or someday in the future. Your cash crop will yield dividends - especially if you just happen to be one of those who rezones.

So next time you vote check the occupation of all the prospective councillors that you are thinking about voting for in advance. Are they auctioneers and/or a land-owners (farmers) who may be farming a ‘cash crop’ of building sites in the course of the next five years while he or she is in control of Mayo’s planning disaster as a result of your vote?  If you add in plant hire contractors the majority with a vested interest in property 'development' goes even higher on Mayo County Council. Remember that the Mayo County Council website does not always tell the real truth about their true occupations - so check it out carefully. You vote em in so you deserve the consequences!