Elective Surgery to Recommence at Mayo General Hospital
Mayo General Hospital is to start non-urgent surgery again after many non-urgent operations were cancelled due to an outbreak of gastro-enteritis in the hospital. However, no new outbreak of the virus has been reported in the hospital in seventy-two hours. In the Sacred Heart Hospital one new case has been reported. The Western Health Board has thanked the public for their co-operation and asked them to co-operate for a few more days.

New Castlebar Pool is "Three Years Behind Schedule"
The new swimming pool planned for the Lough Lannagh Holiday village will not be built for another three years. The €6 million pool is seriously behind schedule and will not be in place until 2005 at the earliest. The initial plan was to upgrade the existing indoor swimming pool on Pool Road but then it was decided that a brand new indoor swimming pool complex should be built. The Department of Tourism and Sport had allocated £2m for the upgrading of the current swimming pool but this money could not be made available for the building of a new pool. The County Council hopes that funding for this project will be in place by 2003.

Students take a "sickie" as pop sensations Six visit Castlebar
An estimated 3,000 young people took to Main Street last Wednesday morning when Ireland's newest pop sensations visited Castlebar. Amazingly enough on the same morning the number of "dental appointments" reached a record level for the students of the three secondary schools in Castlebar. The popstars themselves were astounded by the numbers of fans that got out of school to see them. They said that this was the largest crowd so far that had come out to see them.