A RENEWED planning application for a waste treatment facility at Turlough in Castlebar is again set to be met with vehement local opposition. It is believed that McGrath Industrial Waste Ltd are to lodge the planning application with Mayo County Council this week for the erection of the plant at Gortnafulla in Turlough but a spokesperson for the local Residents Association has indicated that they once again intend to oppose the development. Permission was granted for the facility by Mayo County Council on January 31st 2002 but subsequent appeals by the residents and An Taisce saw the matter referred to An Bord Pleanála, who overturned the original decision later that year in October.

Oh my goodness a recycling plant near where I live. Oh nooo! Not in my back yard. And if that makes me a nimby I don’t care? Everyone knows that recycling is bad for the planet. It’s much better to dump everything in a landfill just like we’ve always done.

Landfills – Good;

Recycling Centres - Bad.

This recycling lark is just getting a bit too much now isn’t it? Imagine recycling in Turlough. Sure no one lives in Turlough. Why would they need recycling?

SENIOR planner with Mayo County Council stated at a meeting last week that the planning guidelines on rural housing announced by Minister Martin Cullen recently would not have a huge impact on decisions taken by planners in the county. Ian McMyler told last week’s meeting of the Castlebar Electoral Area Committee that a close inspection of Minister Cullen’s proposals reveal an even greater emphasis on the protection of water and the environment. The issue arose while the councillors discussed the recommended refusal of a single dwelling house application made by Martin Mulroe at Shanvalley, Tourmakeady. Mr. McMyler stated that the application was likely to be refused because of the high level of water in the trial hole and because the building would be an obtrusive feature on landscape which is designated a special area of conservation. He added that permission for the dwelling could also set a precedent in the area. Responding to a query from Cllr. Al McDonnell on the implementation of Minister Cullen’s guidelines, Mr. McMyler said that planners still had to adhere to recommendations that were recently adopted in the County Development Plan. In this case, the landscape in question was completely undisturbed on one side of the road.

Hey wait a minute – what about all the promises that faecal coliform getting into our drinking water would be ruled safe by the Fianna Fail Government? What did we elect them for if they can’t stop bacteria and viruses from septic tanks making us sick when we drink them? Surely they can just pass a law that makes it illegal for e-coli to make us sick. If they can change the laws of the land why not change the laws of nature? It is a Fianna Fail Auctioneer Local Authority. Surely they can do something to put cheeky people like that McMyler fellow in his place? (PS on a serious note I love the bit about the landscape on ‘one side of the road being undisturbed’. It’s like driving from Galway to Carna and saying that the thousands of houses built between the road and Galway Bay do not affect the landscape on the other side of the road! )

PRESSURE on the health services in Mayo became abundantly clear last Thursday when seventeen patients were left on trolleys waiting for beds at Mayo General Hospital, one of whom had been waiting since Monday night. All had been seen by A&E medical staff and were deemed to require admission. In a statement released to the media following a number of queries from "The Mayo News", the Health Board stated: "The A&E department at Mayo General Hospital has been extremely busy over the last 48 hours and continues to be so. Every effort is being made to accommodate patients appropriately in the hospital. We are again asking members of the public to think before they come in to our A&E department. As always, if you have a genuine medical emergency you should come in straight away and you will be looked after. However, if your complaint is not urgent we would ask you to consider contacting your GP."

I see some discussion about this on the Castlebar.ie Bulletin Board too. Apparently a Fianna Fail candidate stated that trolleys should not become a political issue. So in the next election no political party will make any promises about shortening health service queues and eliminating over crowding in A&E Departments of hospitals. Look boys if you make promises and don’t keep them you can’t expect people to vote for you next time round. Rubbishing people who point out that you haven’t kept your promises just won’t wash. Overcrowding in A&E Departments is most definitely a political issue.