What it Says in the Castlebar and Mayo Papers

June 6th, 2001

Connaught Telegraph

The Mayo News

The Western People

IDA to grant-aid Volex in fibre-optic move! The Connaught Telegraph this week.

An investment by the Government in a West coast broadband communications system is vital if jobs in the region are to be sustained and increased. In particular, such a commitment, would safeguard the future of the Volex plant in Castlebar, where 120 staff have been put on short-time and a further 150 workers - mostly temporary - have been let go.

Now Castlebar Dail Deputy Enda Kenny has called on the Government to immediately sanction the broadband infrastructure so that the Volex bosses can develop the Castlebar operation into their world-wide centre for research and development. The British-owned company has applied to the IDA for grant-aid to shift their main emphasis to fibre-optics. According to Deputy Kenny the grant-aid application will leave the IDA system next week and will probably go before Government for formal endorsement.

Mr. Kenny stated: "The indications are that the IDA are strongly backing the company. This is the direction they want Volex to move in. This would give a whole new dimension to the Castlebar plant. Volex plan to shift their workforce into fibre-optics and continue their research and development in the leading edge of fibre-optics. In order to allow them to do business world-wide they need backup facilities like broadband. They intend to be a company that will continue to change and be at the leading edge of this competitive technology. Broadband is necessary to allow them take the volume of calls world-wide if this is going to be their centre of development."

Loveable Vera from "Coronation Street" has Mayo connections The Connaught Telegraph this week.

The people of Belcarra, near Castlebar, may not think they have much in common with fictional "Coronation Street" but they do - Vera Duckworth. Ancestors of the "Street" veteran, Liz Dawn - who plays loveable loudmouth Vera in the TV series - hailed from the Belcarra area, it emerged this week. Staff at the South Mayo Family History Research Centre uncovered Vera's Belcarra links while hunting details of ancestry in response to a request from her relatives. Last week, the actress and Bill Tarmey were honoured with the Best Screen Partnership Soap Award for their portrayal of the Duckworths.

In her private life, Vera, whose hometown is Leeds, is known as a tireless fundraiser for local hospitals. Last year she was honoured for her volunteer work with an MBE decoration handed out in person by the Queen. Now the local community in Belcarra is hoping to make contact with Ms. Dawn and invite her to the area. "I'm sure everybody would be delighted if Vera were to visit here", said Cathy O'Toole as she attended to customers at the local Post Office.

Mayo and Sligo should be another close encounter. - Willie "The Shoe" McNeely The Connaught Telegraph this week.

Mayo football is currently on the greatest roll in its history - National League Champions, All-Ireland club champions, under-21 Connaught champions and through to the All-Ireland final, Connaught junior champions last Sunday and the minors through to the Connaught final. That is some list and we are just past Whit weekend. Mayo will no doubt enter next Sunday's game in confident mood and why not.

After losing to the Yeats County in Sligo last year, Mayo should not need too much by the way of motivation. Personally I believe Mayo have come on so much since then that comparison with last year is pointless. The first of those changes has come from team management itself. Pat Holmes was only starting out on his managerial career and that was his first championship game of note. It must have been a hard defeat to take, but take it he did, bit his lip and became twice as determined to mould his own team. Taking over a team that was coming to the end of a great few years under John Maughan was never going to be easy and maybe when I look back in hindsight that defeat might have been the best thing to happen. Why? Because Pat Holmes, Michael Collins and Billy Kerans set about introducing their own players, mostly under 21s. They reshaped the squad. The went to America and the bonding there laid the foundation for the league campaign that resulted in Mayo's first National League title in over thirty years.

I think that it is fair and honest to say that in twelve months Pat Holmes has matured into one of the best and most astute managers in Gaelic football. One thing I love about Pat Holmes is that when things are not going right in a certain department, he will act. He does not wait until five minutes from the end. This also speaks volumes for the squad he has assembled as he has numerous options if changes have to be made. So lets hope that Pat and his back up team have a good seventy minutes on Sunday. I reckon they will.

£40m gas-fired power plant for North Mayo The Mayo News this week.

Rolls Royce Power Ventures Limited (RRPV) announced plans on Monday to construct a gas-fired power plant at Bellacorrick, next to the existing peat-fired power station.

The highly efficient plant will generate up to 68MW, enough electricity for the whole of County Mayo, taking its fuel from the Corrib gas field pipeline. It will also significantly improve the fragile electricity supply network, enhancing the region's capacity to attract new business and industrial investment.

Approximately 130 jobs will be created during the two-year construction period, with 15 permanent jobs at the operational plant and up to a further 45 jobs with companies supplying goods and services.

A series of staffed public exhibitions will be held in the next few weeks, where members of the project team will be available to provide further information. Details are being sent to local councillors, TDs, businesses, residents and other organisations.

The plant will be architect-designed with a building no higher than 18 meters, a single 34-metre exhaust stack and a modern low-level cooling tower. It will be smaller than the existing power station and require less than half the land.

Exhibition dates are as follows:

Wednesday, June 20, 2-8p.m., Musical Bridge Inn, Bellacorrick, Thursday, June 21, 2-8p.m., The Dolphin, Ballina Street, Crossmolina, Monday, June 25, 2-8p.m., The Ridgepool Hotel, Barrett Street, Ballina, Tuesday June 26, 2-8p.m., The Parish Hall, Bangor Erris.

Green flags for Mayo's eco-friendly schools The Mayo News.

St. John's National School in Breaffy, and St. Joseph's National School in Cong, were among forty-six schools nationwide which received Green Flag awards in An Taisce's Annual Green Flags presentation ceremony. 850 schools throughout the country are registered as ECO-friendly schools, and the Green Schools Programme is a European-wide environmental education programme to promote and acknowledge whole school action for the environmental project in Europe.

In congratulating St. John's and St. Joseph's, Dr. Michael Woods, Minister for Education and Science, commended the commitment to the environment demonstrated by both schools. "Environmentally-aware pupils will shape and protect the environment for future generations," he said.

Dept. giving "sweet damn all to Mayo" - CEO of Mayo VEC The Mayo News this week.

Members of Mayo VEC are up in arms with the Department of Education at the lack of progress on a number of major building projects at schools in the county.

"Locked" in the planning process are long-awaited projects such as the Davitt College sports hall in Castlebar, the extension to a totally overcrowded St. Brendan's College, Belmullet, the major extension at Lacken Cross where Ballycastle secondary school has closed, a sports Hall at MacHale College, Achill, and minor works in Westport and Crossmolina.

The frustration showed in CEO, Mr. Joe Langan who told a meeting in Castlebar, "It is time we had it" in a reference to the go-ahead for the sports hall in Davitt College. He continued: "We are getting sweet damn all out of the Department at the present time. There is nothing happening on Lacken Cross and nothing on Belmullet." He added that a small electrical contract at the Westport school and a heating contract for Crossmolina were also held up. "We are coming into the summer months when these works should be carried out so that there will be no disruption to classes," he said. "I am very concerned. The Celtic Tiger could leave all of a sudden and we could be left high and dry. I am wondering when the money will begin to flow to Mayo."

Mayo famine cottage for US memorial site The Western People this week.

As Attymass brothers Tom and Chris Slack watched their original family home crumble away with time it never occurred to them that the simple ramshackle fieldstone cottage would one day come to represent powerful symbolism to Irish Americans. But that is exactly what is about to happen. The old Slack homestead at Carrodoggan in Attymass, about four miles from Ballina, predates Famine times and has been selected to become a central feature of a £4.3 million Irish Hunger Memorial which is currently being developed at Battery Park in Manhattan, New York.

The Slacks have donated the house to the memorial project. The derelict part-roofed cottage is being dismantled by a team of experts and will be shipped to New York where it will be painstakingly reassembled in its derelict form to help recreate the air of desolation which pervaded Ireland for many years after the Famine, which mercilessly decimated the native population through death or emigration.

Tom Slack, his brother Chris, and their late sister, Mary, were brought up by their parents, Tom and Margaret Slack, in the old three-bedroom famine cottage. Indeed the historic building was home to the Slacks for many generations, stretching right back to before the Great Famine, which began in 1847. The majority of Tom Slack Senior's siblings emigrated to the United States in the 1930s and 40s. It was New Yorker Brian Clyne, a first cousin of Tom Jnr., and Chris Slack, who showed and old photograph of Carrodoggan cottage to the Famine Memorial artist, Brian Tolle. Tolle jumped at the idea of shipping the authentic homestead over to Manhattan. When reassembled at Battery Park City, the Slack cottage will stand as a ruin on a specially constructed platform overlooking the Hudson River. Irish wild flowers, grasses and potato furrows will feature in the surrounding landscape to add to its authenticity.

Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon bottom of roads' cash league The Western People this Tuesday.

Three Connacht counties come bottom of the table for the allocation of monies per kilometre from the Department of the Environment for non-national roads. The situation has been described as "blatant discrimination" by Fine Gael public Enterprise and Tourism spokesman, Deputy Jim Higgins, who is to raise the matter in the Dail.

According to figures released by Deputy Higgins the allocation per kilometre for County Sligo for 2001 is the lowest for the entire country. County Roscommon is second from the bottom with County Mayo improving slightly from 24th position in 2000 to 23rd position in 2001. "The figures for 2001 reveal that Sligo has been allocated a mere £2,263 per kilometre this year with Mayo and Roscommon receiving £2,363 and £2,301 respectively," he said. On the other hand Co. Kildare received £4,469 per kilometre in 2000 which jumped to a whopping £9,448 for the current year.

Relics of St. Therese in West this week The Western People this week.

In the last two months thousands of people from all over Ireland have flocked to see the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux. The remarkable story of this saint has had an unprecedented effect on people, which continues to spread throughout the world. Although Therese lived and died in virtual anonymity, her inspirational story has spread far and wide and Therese, or the "Little Flower" as she is sometimes known, is now widely regarded as the greatest saint of modern times. Her phenomenal appeal continues today with the tour of her reliquary around the world.

The schedule for the visit of the relics to parishes in this region is set out as follows:
Thursday 7th - Tuam - Carmelites, Tranquilla Monastery, Knock.
Saturday 9th - Tuam - Our Lady's Shrine, Knock.
Sunday 10th - Tuam - Our Lady's Shrine, Knock.
Monday 11th - Clonfert - Carmelites, St. Joseph's Monastery, Mount Carmel, Loughrea, Co. Galway.
Tuesday 12th - Clonfert - Carmelites, The Abbey, Loughrea, Co. Galway
Wednesday 13th - Clonfert - St. Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea, Co. Galway
Thursday 14th - Galway - Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven & St. Nicholas, Galway

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