Fair play to our own PJ for putting pen to paper and getting a half page in the Connaught for his comments on the recently reported Castlebar Traffic Plan. Just some of the many points in this fine commentary - you may not agree with all of them and if you don't why not do as PJ did and pen your own comments? These and many more are discussed in some detail:

• Those queues at rush hour either side of the Spencer Park roundabout.
• Linenhall Street traffic lights - a disaster
• Why not a USA-style 'right turn on red' at some of our lights - or presumably 'left turn on red' in most cases
• The funnelling of housing estate traffic right into the town centre is not good - Main Street, New Line, etc. are jammed
• The new access road at Barrack Bridge will help but there's also a need for a river crossing further back out the Turlough Road
• Chaos from 8:15 to 9:00am at Rathbawn
• The Marion Row rat race
• How to deal with the new traffic from the new industrial estates on the Breaffy Road
• Car Parks full - even those that are already charging
• Enforce parking regulations - clamp down on the 'blinkers-on parkers'
• The propensity of gas pipeline convoys to pass through the town centre last year (and what are they going to do with the pipes now we wonder?)
• Poor signposting within the town leading to confused visitors

There is much more - get it and read it or maybe Peter can be persuaded to upload his article to Castlebar.News.

Nice one PJ!

FCA numbers in Mayo are to be cut by over 50% over the next year according to a front page item in the Connaught. Part-time army members in Mayo will be cut to 310 from 680. The FCA summer camps held in Castlebar Barracks will be a thing of the past. Mr Brendan Conwell a leading FCA member in Mayo said that health and safety concerns were at the root of the closure. The electrical system was deemed unsafe and the centre was no longer acceptable for catering. So the loss of 2000 FCA visitors that came to Castlebar last summer for example will result in a major loss of income in the town. Mayo FCA are now fighting for the Castlebar military barracks to become the new central barracks for the western command. A small fraction of the €43M spent on Curragh Barracks would suffice said Mr Conwell.

Tom the Pope

Tom Shiel has a back page piece dedicated to the folklore scheme which has just been wound up. Meitheal Mhaigheo have been running a Fás scheme which gathered up tales and lore from old folks right around the county. One story illustrates what they were at: At the time of the incident house dances were banned by the bishops (1930s?). The dance is in full swing when the parish priest pushed in the door. Everyone scarpers trying to get out as quickly as they can without being seen by the priest. The priest spots a big keg of porter and pulls the plug on the evil liquid letting it drain onto the floor. The man of the house, however, was not impressed. "Now Father, that porter was paid for and it's going to be drank," he says turning the tap off again. The priest replies "Only the Pope can disagree with the bishops." The upshot was that the man of the house was for ever after known as Tom the Pope - and his son after him was also Tom the Pope harking back to the eventful night when he defied the bishops!