Local Papers Commentary
Connaught Telegraph- 20th. March 2002
By Castlebar Observer
Mar 21, 2002, 12:53

Mayo Firefighters visit ground zero

A fifteen strong delegation from Mayo County Council visited the site of the September 11th terrorist attack. “Some 343 fire fighters lost their lives which was over twice the number of firemen we have in Mayo” said Seamus Murphy, Mayo Chief Fire Officer. The purpose of the trip was to pay tribute to those who died and to establish links between the fire services in Mayo and New York.

Five Councillors to be axed.

Five elected members of Mayo County Council will be instructed by their parties to resign their seats from Mayo County Council in an unprecedented post-general election purge. The five councillors, Beverly Cooper-Flynn, Michael Ring, Paddy Burke, Ernie Caffrey and Frank Chambers have been informed that if they are re-elected to the Oireachtas that they must give up their seats in the County Council Chamber. This will lead to a scramble among the main parties for the vacated positions. The purge has been initiated by Minister Noel Dempsey, Minister for the Environment, who is determined that there should be no dual mandate for councillors who are also sitting members of the Dáil. The campaign has faced stiff opposition from independent deputies supporting the outgoing government and from some of the sitting councillors, but it is believed that the changes will be implemented by the end of the year.

Youth misuse of drugs and drink is a countrywide issue, warns Carty

Councillor John Carty has stated that the figures produced in Castlebar last week for drink and drugs experimentation amongst the towns 1,400 or so second-level students should start the “alarm bells” ringing for all parents of youth in Mayo and that nobody should be under the illusion that drink and drugs were a problem only in the cities and larger towns such as Castlebar and Ballina. He also stated that “The statistics show a worrying level of drink and drug misuse among the second-level students in Castlebar. Yougsters all over Mayo are being subjected to the same pressures and temptations as teenagers in Castlebar. Anybody who thinks otherwise has their head buried, ostrich-like,in the sand.”
Councillor Carty said that there was evidence to suggest that drug-pushers were operating at some level or other in towns where there were discos or youth functions. Alcohol was a bigger scourge than drugs for Mayo youth and often lack of parental control was the problem. He called on parents to establish where their children were going and when they would be back and added that they should take an interest in where they had been and whom they had been with.

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