Equality Law Rapped
Publicans in Ballinrobe and Ballina are being brought to court in what could turn out to be an election issue. A member of the travelling community was recently awarded €1,651 because he was discriminated against in two different bars. It has also been recommended that eight traveller women should be awarded €762 each because they were humiliated when refused a drink at a hotel and served water instead. Some other cases have been taken against publicans on discriminatory bases. In each of these cases taken by the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations, the "Equal Status Act 2000 has been breached by refusing to serve alcohol to members of the travelling community"

Legal Challenge to Proposed Church Closure Goes on
Fifteen months ago the Western Health Board said that the Church at St. Mary's Hospital was to be shut down because "it was deemed to pose a threat to the health and safety at Mayo General Hospital." The closure of the church, which is over one hundred years old, and the proposed conversion of the church into a library for students studying nursing at the Castlebar campus of the GMIT has been opposed by Canon Paddy Curran, Parish Priest, Castlebar who has issued a legal challenge. The Western Health Board says that the church may cause problems in keeping the ambulance entrance clear of cars and traffic. The case in now in front of the Castlebar Circuit Court.

Work Begins on Badly Needed Roundabout
A new roundabout is being built at the junction beside McDonalds Restaurant and Hopkins Way and New Distributor Road. The roundabout will be two metres and work is expected to last three months. The roundabout will result in the re-alignment of the route leading to Tesco and Dunnes Stores carpark; a new link road will also connect the Old Westport Road and the new roundabout. Regan Contractors of Ballinasloe are the contractors for this project.