What it Says in the Castlebar and Mayo Papers

February 14th, 2001

Connaught Telegraph

The Mayo News

The Western People

Tracey will be Tesco's VIP for a day The Connaught Telegraph this week.

Tracey Fahy from 8 The Brambles, Pontoon Road, Castlebar is to be a VIP for a day when, on Monday, she will perform the official opening of the new purpose built £8 million state of the art Tesco Ireland store in Castlebar. Tracey entered the VIP for a day competition, which was run by Tesco in conjunction with the Connaught Telegraph. She will be collected from her home on Monday morning by chauffeur driven limousine with champagne and roses. And after cutting the ribbon and mixing with the other VIPs she will be presented with a shopping voucher worth £200. She will also get lunch for her and a friend at a restaurant of her choice in Castlebar.

Indian Earthquake Appeal The Connaught Telegraph this week.

A coffee morning in aid of the Indian earthquake victims will take place at the Sheri Punjeb Restaurant, Main Street, Castlebar on Wednesday next from noon to 3pm. Meanwhile Castlebar ICA and Soroptomists will hold a Flag Day on Friday February 23rd in aid of the Indian Earthquake victims. This is the first occasion that the two ladies groups have come together in a fund raising activity. The coffee morning held at the Tulsi Indian Restaurant in Castlebar last Friday raised in excess of £5,000 for the Indian Earthquake appeal.

Investment in excess of £20m on line The Connaught Telegraph this week.

Four major developments, resulting in an overall investment in excess of £20 million have been given the go-ahead by Castlebar Urban Council. A number of existing stores will be demolished as part of the development. The most significant of the four is the plan by Staunton Holdings to erect a shopping mall, self-contained apartments and a multi-storey car park at the rear of Main Street. It will consist of 16 retail units, 18 self-contained apartments and two floors of offices. The multi-storey car park will consist of 145 spaces.

Tender for Westport cinema accepted The Mayo News this week.

A tender submitted by Leo Ward and Sean Hoban of Film House, 35 Upper Abbey Street, Dublin, to construct a multi-screen cinema in Westport on a site adjoining Westport Leisure Park has been accepted by Westport town Manager, Mr. Tim Mullen. Mr. Mullen told a meeting of Westport UDC that he had accepted the tender mainly for architectural reasons, even though it offered less money to the Council than a tender submitted by Mayo Movie World. The Ward/Hoban tender offered an initial premium of £50,000 with an annual rent of £100, while the Mayo Movie World tender offered £100,000 with an annual rent of £10,000. Mr. Mullen acknowledged that the granting of a lease to the successful tenderer was a matter for Councillors, several of whom expressed the view that the negotiations of the lease should attempt to close the gap between both tenders. He also states that since making this decision he had been in touch with the successful tenderers who had assured him that they were anxious to press ahead with the project as quickly as possible.

Mayo train stations win two major awards The Mayo News.

Westport and Castlebar have been declared the best Intercity Stations in the County, after winning two major categories in the 2000 Waterford Crystal-sponsored Iranród Éireann Best Station Awards. The Waterford Crystal Iarnród Éireann Best Station Awards reward excellence in customer facilities, cleanliness, innovation and customer service in the country's railway stations. Castlebar Station was named Best Intercity Halt on the Iarnród Éireann network for the fourth year running, while Westport won the award for Best Intercity Station. At the reception in Dublin, Castlebar Senior Depot Person, Noel Hoban was presented with the specially commissioned Waterford Crystal Trophy for the Louis Mongan Intercity Halts Award. While Station Master Ann Elliot collected the Waterford Crystal Trophy for the Westport Station.

Road Crash Baby safe and well The Mayo News this week.

Baby Chloe Boylan-Laylor of Toorena, Renvyle, Connemara, was born safe and well in the maternity unit of University College Hospital Galway, just a few hours after her mother had broken her arm in a car crash. First time mum-to-be Michelle Boylan was being driven to hospital, by her partner Aidan Lawlor, when their car skidded on black ice, near Kylemore in the early hours of the morning. Fortunately for both, the accident happened across the road from the garage of John and Penny Mortimer, who took care of the distraught couple and quickly summoned the emergency services.

Unrepentant Kenny awaits call from new Leader The Western People this week.

Mayo Dáil Deputy Enda Kenny, the county's longest serving national politician, failed in his bid to wrest the leadership of Fine Gael from Limerick man Michael Noonan at a Party meeting at the weekend. Kenny who has more than 25 years experience in the Dáil and who has fought nine national elections, threw his hat into the leadership ring following the heave that unseated John Bruton. His entry in the race upset the carefully laid plans of the Noonan/Mitchell axis to run as a team for the leadership and forced the withdrawal of Mitchell from the contest because of fears that a split vote might hand the leadership to the Mayo man. Kenny's bid, which captured the imagination of the country and catapulted him into the national spotlight for a week of intense political scrutiny and examination by the national media, fell short at the final hurdle. He managed 28 votes against 44 for his opponent. An upbeat Kenny said on Monday that he had "absolutely no regrets" over his decision to contest the leadership. His only concern was for the people around the county and the country who had contacted him to offer support. "I hope they won't have been to disappointed" he said. "Had I been successful it would have been a massive boost to the West and would have given Mayo a great lift."

Sacre bleu! Western grads go for IT The Western People this Tuesday.

A new study has found that the number of students from the West graduating with IT qualification will rise while those with language qualifications will fall. The numbers of IT graduates from this part of the country will rise from 923 in 2000 to 1515 by 2003, a rise of 64 per cent. The numbers of language graduates will drop during the same period. For example the number of French graduates from the region is set to drop by over 70 per cent. This contributes to an overall national decrease of 14 per cent in language graduates. The study found that 5 per cent of all IT graduates in the year 2000 came from the West and Midlands. There will be an overall national increase of 23 per cent in IT graduates between 2000 and 2003.

Cable TV firm signals work is about to finish The Western People this week.

The cable TV company, Chorus Communications, who have been laying fibre optic cable in Castlebar, has been asked to finish the work by February 28th Town Clerk, Mr. John Condon told local authority members that the company is working towards finishing by this date. The issue was discussed following a motion put forward by Cllr. Michael Kilcoyne which said that Ashbourne ( the company sub-contracted by Chorus ) are directed to complete, in a proper manner, the restoration they will not have carried out and the restoration that is not up to the standard expected and if they fail to do so by the above date then the Council will use the money lodged with the Council to complete the restoration. Cllr Kilcoyne said the firm had started to repairsome footpaths but in Knockthomas the water from one of the repaired footpaths was going into people's gardens. Chairman, Cllr. Johnny Mee said that some of the work will never return to its former glory. Cllr. Blackie Gavin said that the money, £120,000, should be retained by the Council, that some of these footpaths have to come out again and that the work is sub-standard. Cllr. Pat King agreed because the company had made no effort to come back and repair the green areas of the town. There was also cables outside people's houses which have been there for the last number of weeks. Cllr. Mee said that the work was of a sub-standard nature but that the fibre optic cables were of the utmost importance to the town.

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