45 extra beds for Mayo General Hospital
The Government has announced that it will provide funding for an extra 45 beds for Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar. The extra beds will bring the total bed count to 320 and this brings the size of Mayo General Hospital to that of all the bigger general hospitals in the country. Dr. Tom Moffatt, T.D. and Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, said that he is doing all he can to get the new orthopaedic unit running as soon as possible.

Castlebar delegation to visit Peekskill New York
Cathaoirleach Cllr. Pat King, Senator Paddy Burke and Cllr. Michael Kilcoyne are going to Peekskill New York for St. Patrick's Day this year as representatives of Castlebar UDC. The delegation are also going to visit the IT sector of Volex while they are out there. It is thought that the trip will boost tourism. A delegation has been to Peekskill twice before on other St. Patrick's Days.

Shock statistics for young driver accidents in Mayo
From 1996 to 2000 twenty-eight young drivers from ages 17 to 24 were killed in road accidents in Mayo. There was a total of 284 accidents that resulted in injury, 76 of which were classified as serious injuries. The figures were high all over Connaught. In Galway there were 39 fatal accidents, 409 serious injury accidents. In Sligo the figures were 9 fatal accidents and 138 serious accidents, in Roscommon there were 15 fatal and 124 serious injury accidents and finally in Leitrim there were 5 fatal and 69 serious accidents. The statistics also showed that 25% of road accidents involved young drivers. The road fatality rate for young men was higher than for young females.