What it Says in the Castlebar and Mayo Papers

February 21st, 2001

Connaught Telegraph

The Mayo News

The Western People

Green Light for £12m. Link Road Plan The Connaught Telegraph this week.

The green light has been given for a £12 million development on a significant area of land at Castlebar's prime commercial location near the newly opened Tesco supermarket. Leading West Mayo contracting firm, Cavendish Lane Properties Limited, has been granted the go-ahead by the Urban District Council for the construction of a mixed development consisting of three retail outlets, an enclosed pedestrian mall incorporating a café and a kiosk, a leisureplex, an electronic games arcade, a five screen cinema complex, two retail warehouse units, a restaurant and 16 student apartments along the Dunnes Stores Spur Road and at the rear of the old Protestant graveyard. This is the site on which the developers planned to build an earlier cinema project, an application which was turned down, on appeal, by An Bord Pleanala three times over the last number of years.

Fury over imported waste to Ballina The Connaught Telegraph this week.

Ballina will not accept the transport of heavy containers of waste from other counties being deposited at the town dump on the Killala Road.
This is the message that Ballina Urban Councillor Willie Nolan will deliver to the County Manager, Mr Des Mahon on Wednesday 21 February. "This is a highly emotive issue in Ballina", he protested. "At present we have massive container loads of waste coming in from Sligo and Galway. Galway is the second largest county in the country and Sligo is highly commercialised. It is unacceptable to think of the amount of refuse that is coming into the town."
He said he wants to deliver a very clear message to the County Manager. Councillor Nolan said that he had been contacted by many people in the town about this issue. "The containers coming through the town are very large, and one has to think of the safety issue. If we keep accepting waste from outside counties, it will decrease the life span of our own town dump dramatically. The current situation is completely unacceptable."

Church to broaden "Web" in order to capture recruits for the priesthood The Connaught Telegraph this week.

Some seeds take a long time to root and prosper. So the Archdiocese of Tuam is finding almost a year since it turned to the World Wide Web and Internet in a bid to encourage vocations to the priesthood.
Zero. That's the grand total of vocations achieved since the initiative began. "Not to worry" says the Church. "There have been quite a few enquiries, especially from the United States. It was always expected that it would be four to five years before cyberspace yielded any harvest."
Last Spring, the Archdiocese of Tuam, faced with what it described as a "vocations crisis", hired an American advertisement Agency, Quantum Advertising Group International, to spearhead what was hoped would be a vocations revival.
A web site, a free phone number and a bilingual advertising campaign were important elements of an "exciting" new vocations strategy. The highly powered recruitment campaign was decided on after vocations dropped to a record low in 1999. Fr. Brendan Kilcoyne, Secretary to the Archbishop of Tuam, explained this week that the web site was still in the development stages. "There have been no vocations but quite a few enquiries, particularly from the United States. Initial contacts have been made but it may be a few years before it begins to bear fruit".

Mayo motorists feel brunt of major Garda crackdown The Mayo News this week.

Gardaí in Mayo have expressed satisfaction with last Thursday's twenty four hour crackdown on road traffic offenders. In excess of 60 members of the Mayo Garda Division were involved in "Operation Iarthar" which was designed to detect insurance, tax and tacograph breaches by drivers of private and public service vehicles in the county. While Gardaí at the headquarters of the Mayo Division in Castlebar have not yet collated the figures from last weeks operation, senior Gardaí have remarked that there were a very high number of detections, particularly in the area of tacograph readings on heavy goods vehicles. Speaking on Tuesday 20 February 2001. Garda Inspector Padraig O'Toole said the Mayo Division would be carrying out a detailed review of the operation in the weeks ahead. However, the initial reaction from members was that the one-day crackdown had been a major success. "I think the extent of the operation took people by surprise. Apart from insurance and tax breeches, we detected a significant number of offences relating to tacographs on heavy goods lorries. Obviously, these matters will be coming before the courts and we anticipate that there will be a number of prosecutions arising out of Thursday's operation.

'Welcoming Teams' for Castlebar newcomers The Mayo News.

In a new initiative for Castlebar, newcomers to the town will be welcomed to their areas by local people and helped to find their feet in their new surroundings. The development has been prompted by the rapid increase in residential areas around the town and the fact that many of those moving to Castlebar come from other parts of Ireland as well as from overseas. Castlebar Pastoral Council has been giving the matter consideration for some time and has decided to form "welcoming teams" of local people who would help newcomers to break the ice as they settle down in Castlebar. The idea is that local people working in pairs, would call to new residents to welcome them, make them feel part of the parish, listen to their views and provide them with information about the town and its facilities.

Claremorris projects supported by Commission The Mayo News this week.

The Western Development Commission has approved a loan for Clar IRD to develop a number of community-based ventures in Claremorris. Clar IRD has received financial support from the Commission to develop a social housing scheme and an amenity area adjacent to Mayfield Lough, located on the outskirts of Claremorris. Said Mr. Liam Scollan, Chief Executive of the Commission "I would like to congratulate Clar IRD and in particular, the Chairman Seamus McCormack and Manager Margaret Leahy, on their vision for an economically and socially stronger Claremorris". He said that the Commission had long since recognised the importance of housing in rural areas, particularly for the elderly and other vulnerable groups in society. In this regard the Commission will shortly announce details of a scheme designed to encourage communities to address housing needs in their areas.

Gas Pipeline Must Serve Ballina and Sligo The Western People this week.

The Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr. Annie Mai Reape, has made a personal appeal to the Minister for the Marine, Frank Fahey to ensure that there "is a bend put in the gas pipeline in the direction of Ballina and Sligo". She made the appeal at the annual Muintir Mhaigheo function in Galway where Minister Fahey was also a guest. "Mayo must gain benefit from the discovery of the gas that will flow through the county" said Cllr. Reape, as she urged Mayo people living in Galway to impress on the Minister the county's determination to benefit from the gas find off the Erris coast. Cllr. Reape referred to the 'special affinity' that existed between Galway and Mayo and paid tribute to the contribution Mayo people had made to the development of various aspects of life in Galway city and county. "I have made mention of the contribution that Mayo people have made in Galway and now that I see Minister Frank Fahey here with you, I'll take the opportunity of asking Frank to make a contribution in Mayo" said Cllr. Reape". There is the matter of gas that is due to come ashore in Mayo and be piped to Galway, I Know that the Minister is keen that the gas would go to as many parts of Mayo as is possible. "I, of course, would be very keen to see the gas delivered to Ballina and on to Sligo and I would suggest to Frank that, as recognition of the contribution of Mayo people to Galway, and more particularly as a favour to myself, that he would ensure that there is a bend in the direction of Ballina. "Mayo must gain benefit from the discovery of the gas that will flow through the county".

Disappointment and anger greet Kenny omission The Western People this Tuesday.

The omission by new Fine Gael Leader Michael Noonan of Mayo Deputy Enda Kenny from his shadow cabinet has led to "huge disappointment" and a considerable amount of anger within the organisation. Kenny, Mayo's longest serving TD, with 25 years experience in the Dáil behind him, was surprisingly dropped from the Fine Gael First Team by Noonan following the battle for the leadership of the party, in which Kenny received 40 per cent of the parliamentary party support. In a move that shocked most political observers, the new leader declined to offer any front post to his challenger, claiming that, having preferred Jim Higgins, there was not room in the front bench for two Mayo deputies. Following the announcement of the front bench, Kenny made no secret of his disappointment and accused Noonan of "failing to grasp the opportunity" to heal the divisions in the party caused by the mutiny against John Bruton.

Towns to benefit from £50m revamp of Council services The Western People this week.

A major restructuring of the services of Mayo County Council will cost £50 per annum over the next five years. A high percentage of the investment will be directed into seven of the county's biggest towns where services are being expanded. Staffing of the area offices in Belmullet, Castlebar, Westport, Claremorris, Ballinrobe, Ballina and Swinford will be increased with extended office accommodation put in place. A total of 62 additional staff will be employed. The improvements are being carried out as part of the programme for Better Local Government and discussions have taken place between management and unions, as well as working groups, to formulate the proposals.

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