THE INDUSTRIAL Development Authority (IDA) is paying €160,450 per annum in rent for a factory in Mayo which has been lying idle for twenty years, it has been revealed. What has been condemned as ‘a scandalous waste of public money’ was uncovered by Westport-based Fine Gael Deputy Michael Ring. He has been furnished with information which shows that the I.D.A. has been leasing the building at Kilmaine Road, Ballinrobe, since January 2nd, 1983, without it even been occupied. Deputy Ring was further told by An Tánaiste, Deputy Mary Harney, that the IDA was locked into a leasing agreement with a private company until January 1st, 2018 --- a period of 35 years. Under the terms of the lease, rent reviews take place every five years and the IDA is currently paying €160,450 per annum for the empty facility. Up to January 2003, the rent was €92,481 per annum.

You can’t have it both ways nor have cake and eat it, etc. Mr Ring would be the first to complain that a prospective company did not set up in Mayo because there was no suitable IDA facility available when they chanced to do their tour of suitable remote western locations that might suit their needs. Of course as an auctioneer Mr Ring would have a certain perspective on the renting of property that the rest of us wouldn’t appreciate – all those tax incentives that are available to the rich, etc. Surely the complaint should be that the IDA have not managed to fill the location rather than the fact that they maintain such ‘advance factories’ in readiness. The idea is to attract and ease the way for the prospective manufacturer or call centre or whatever investment it may be when they tour the country looking for a location to set up in business. Obviously there is a cost to maintaining advance facilities in readiness.

Councillor Bourke won’t back Bev as independent
ONE of Deputy Beverley Flynn’s closest supporters during her time in Fianna Fail has revealed he will not be supporting her as an independent. Councillor Sean Bourke told a meeting of the Michael O’Morain F.F. Cumann, Castlebar, on Monday night that he will be backing the party’s candidate in the next general election and not Deputy Flynn if she stands as an independent.

Did anyone really expect that there would be a Blaney-style independent FF sub-party here in Castlebar? I don’t think so.

"AT HALF TIME I felt bad, real bad. What more can I say. If you want me to be totally honest I felt the game was gone at that stage. It was damage limitation stuff." John Maughan was brutally honest at a press conference at Knock International Airport as his team arrived home on Monday afternoon. But feelings of despair and what might have been soon dissipated when the cheer went up in McHale Park as the team filed onto stage. An estimated 5,000 supporters decked themselves out in the green and red to console their heroes who gave them so much fun and enjoyment throughout the summer months.

Time to take the flags down. The sad Sam 1951-2004 green and red banners still hanging along the N5 route from Dublin to Mayo are a heart-breaking reminder of the failed 2004 campaign at this stage. The whole thing is so sad – they shoulda’ won! But that’s what sport is all about. The victory wouldn’t be so sweet if the loss was not so grim by contrast. Did you know that Mayo beat Kerry 0-13 to 0-3 in the 1948 semi-final and Kerry didn’t score a single point in the second half?