What it Says in the Castlebar and Mayo Papers

25th of October 2000

Connaught Telegraph

The Mayo News

The Western People

Town's 'noblest sporting son' honoured The Connaught Telegraph this week.

A plaque, commemorating the late Mikie Guthrie, St. Patrick's Avenue, Castlebar, was unveiled by Councillor Johnny Mee, Cathaoirleach of Castlebar Urban Council, at Lough Lannagh on Saturday last. Councillor Mee said that the late Mr. Guthrie was an outstanding all-round sportsman. He had served with great distinction in the Army during the Second World war and when he returned to Castlebar he became deeply involved in the local sporting scene. He was a member of the Castlebar Celtic team which brought the Connaught Junior Cup to the town for the first time in the 1947-48 season. He was also an outstanding boxer, Gaelic footballer and hurler". However, the people of Castlebar will best remember him as an outstanding swimming coach and lifesaver", added Councillor Mee. He had taught hundreds of young local people to swim at Lough Lannagh. Councillor Mee said that Mr. Guthrie's swimming galas at Lough Lannagh were one of the highlights of the summer season in Castlebar. Councillor Mee said that it was right that Castlebar should remember Mikie Guthrie, one of its noblest sporting sons, and that it was appropriate his memory should be honoured in a tangible fashion". This plaque will stand as a monument to the late Mikie Guthrie for his unselfish contribution to swimming and lifesaving in Castlebar, his genuine concern for the young people of the area and his immense contribution to the sporting life of Castlebar", said Councillor Mee. He said he was proud and privileged to unveil the plaque to the late Mikie Guthrie, swimming coach, lifesaver and a great Castlebar man.

Reservations over new Post Office The Connaught Telegraph this week.

A member of Castlebar Urban Council has expressed reservations over the opening of a new Post Office along the Link Road at Dunnes Stores in the town. Mr Eoin Garavan said that the facility was opening without any consultation taking place. "I can't understand how this is being regarded as a more suitable site for a post office than the existing one at Mountain View. An Post should take public opinion into account. We should write to them about this. Imagine how difficult it is going to be for elderly people collecting their pension there when Tesco, Aldi and Dunnes are all open. The new building will not be an improvement for staff and customers. This is not a good decision and should be reviewed immediately."

£300,000 bid refused for 4-bedroom house in old Castlebar The Connaught Telegraph this week.

The house where Tommy Tucker lived- the man who gave the name to Tucker Street in Castlebar- came up for sale last week. Now I don't know exactly what Mr. Tucker paid to Lord Lucan in 1789 for a 999-year lease but it surely was only a paltry sum compared to the hundreds of thousands of pounds now being sought for the property. If it was an ordinary 4-bedroom house on the edge of the county town, with a parcel of garden at the rear, the building, which is owned by the sons and daughters of the late Paddy O'Malley, might have fetched in the region of £110,000. When you add in extenuating factors, however, such as the old Town Centre location, the spacious garden which stretches back to the town river and the fact that the property lies between two thriving businesses, "Rocky's Bar" and "Cox's Restaurant", the asking price soars to almost stratospheric proportions. There were two active bidders when Mr. Barney Kiernan Auctioneer, put the building under the hammer in the Welcome Inn on Friday last. You guessed correctly- one is a prosperous publican, the other is well established in the restaurant trade. When the bidding, which had started at £250,000, rose to £300,000, Mr. Kiernan solemnly announced that he was withdrawing the property as the reserve price had not been reached. Afterwards, the auctioneer would not reveal exactly what reserve price had been decided on by the vendors. However he did disclose later that £300,000 was "a fair bit of the reserve". All the talk post-auction was of the high prices available for Town Centre 'real estate' in Castlebar, despite suggestions of late that only land/properties in the expanding Market Square area have any real potential.

'Best practice' will decide future of Breast Cancer Unit- Moffatt is one of the articles in The Mayo News this week.

"The very sensitive issue of breast cancer services at Mayo General Hospital will be decided in the treatment of cancer and what is best for the women of Mayo" stated Dr. Tom Moffatt T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, at the weekend. He added that his preferred plan was one that would see services continue and develop in Mayo in co-operation with University College Hospital, Galway. This had the approval of the women of Mayo and also of the consultants and it adhered to the principles of best practice. Taking all of the issues into consideration, he and his colleagues would be putting a very strong case to Government to retain services in Mayo. "The decision will be made on best cancer practices and I would not force the issue if I did not think we could produce a first-class service for the people of Mayo", he said. Dr. Moffatt said he knew that patients in Mayo would be extremely happy to have all preoperative assessment, operative procedures and chemotherapy, if required, at Mayo General Hospital, and, if necessary, to avail of radiotherapy services at University College Hospital, Galway, when these were provided in three years time. He regretted that the issue had been turned into a political football. It was a serious issue that should be dealt with in a very sensitive, best-practice-of-the-day and modern scientific fashion, as best exemplified by the National Cancer Strategy. In the Strategy there were two over-riding criteria (1) to reduce the number of deaths from cancer in the country and (2) to make sure the best therapeutic and operative practices were available to all cancer sufferers on the island.

Natural gas for West in the pipeline says Fahey The Mayo News.

Frank Fahey, T.D., Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, said on Monday that the towns in the West of Ireland will benefit from the gas find in the Corrib Field. He also said that he would pursue the issue of gas supplies to the North West. Mr. Fahey emphasised that he recently met with Bord Gáis C.E.O., Mr. Gerry Walsh, and requested that a natural gas supply be made available to towns adjacent to the proposed £100m. pipeline between Pollatomish, Co. Mayo and Craughwell, Co. Galway. "The response was positive and towns such as Castlebar, Claremorris, Tuam and Athenry will receive a natural gas supply", said the Minister". The Dublin-Galway pipeline will also bring natural gas heating to 150,000 homes in Galway City and Oranmore and facilitate gas powered electricity generation in Connacht," he added. Minister Fahey also said that he will shortly discuss the issue of natural gas supplies for the North West with his colleagues the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs Mary O'Rourke and Minister for State, Mr. Jacob". We have already announced that a pipeline will be built from Pollatomish to Galway at a cost of £100m. As the region's representative in Government, I will be pursuing the building of a further pipeline from Pollatomish via Ballina to Sligo, at an estimate of £40m, to service towns in North Connaught as a first phase of bringing a gas supply to the North West region. Bord Gáis have indicated that this will require further Government investment", he said.

In tourism the customer is king The Mayo News this week.

Bord Fáilte Chief Executive, John Dully, has told tourism operators in Mayo that in their industry "the customer is king". Speaking at a tourism forum, he said that in marketing Ireland internationally, you learn one lesson very fast- that customer attention is the scarcest and most valuable commodity. "Everybody's chasing it, especially our competitors. This elusive customer attention must be earned repeatedly as a high percentage of our tourists are first-time visitors. We must win them anew each and every time", he said. Mr. Dully warned that, after a decade or more of spectacular tourism growth, there would be a slowing down in the growth rate in future years. The markets simply couldn't sustain anything like the double-digit growth of the past decade". In 1987 we had just over two million visitors. Last year we had six million. We've been widely successful, but with success comes responsibility and our toughest task now is to manage our success effectively. If we don't we will pay a terrible price, the destruction of our environment, and with that, the annihilation of a number of our unique selling points". Mr. Dully said that sustainable development was crucial for West of Ireland tourism and everybody in the business needed to recognise this. It was important for our visitors to love the environment, but how do we stop them from loving it to death?". He said issues that were particularly relevant to tourism in the West and which needed to be addressed included public transport, roads, air access and feeder services, regionality and seasonality. Bord Fáilte's sustainability plan was attempting to address these issues and to spread the economic benefits of tourism across the country. The only approach to tackling them effectively was partnership.

Castlebar multi-storey car parking still on track The Western People this week.

Castlebar's hope of securing multi-storey car parking seen as imperative if town centre shopping is to thrive has been given a boost by the decision to prolong tax incentives for such facilities for another year. The decision has been welcomed by Mr. Oliver Kelleher who is chairman of the Castlebar Concerned Traders Association (CCTA) and who has appealed for all interested in the plan to come together to secure a multi-storey development for the town. There has been an on-going campaign in Castlebar to come up with a solution to the lack of car parking in the town centre. The need for a solution has become more acute in recent years because of the concentration of supermarket developments around the Dunnes Stores shop. " The opening of supermarkets such as Tesco and Aldi adjacent to Dunnes presents a huge challenge to traders in the traditional shopping area of Main Street/The Mall. The big attraction of the supermarkets is that they have adequate parking and the solution for the town centre is to go for multi-storey car parking", said Mr. Kelleher. "We have made a lot of progress and only recently we secured commitments from traders along Main Street to dedicate the required lands to the urban council to enable the multi-storey go ahead." Mr. Kelleher said that they were also confident that a sum of £1.5 million would be made available by the Environment Minister to enable the construction of a new road access to Castle St. car park from Barrack Bridge. He added that a major investment was being made in a shopping development, with underground car parking on the opposite side of Main Street. "These developments make the multi-storey car park the number one priority in Castlebar. The main shopping area can be restored and the character of the town preserved," he added.

Castlebar hoping for jobs after Hoechstadt twinningThe Western People this Tuesday.

At a recent meeting of Castlebar Urban District Council all of the members joined in welcoming the recent twinning of Castlebar with the German town of Hoechstadt. Cllr Blackie Gavin congratulated Leas-Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Pat King, on representing Castlebar so very well. He continued that the people of Hoechstadt were very interested in Castlebar. The delegation visited many factories and he was sure much would come out of it. Hopefully, some factory will come to Castlebar some day. Cllr. Michael Kilcoyne said that this can only be beneficial to the town. He said an investigation should be made into the expansion of a ball-bearing factory "Schaffler", which the group visited on the trip. The council should indicate to the senior partners what is available in the West of Ireland. The workers in the factory in Germany are being paid £20 an hour and there are not many here that are on that money. The fact that the labour costs are cheaper in Ireland would be a big enticement.

Chips are down for Westport take-aways The Western People this week.

Westport Urban District Council will consider the introduction of bye-laws in relation to the closing hours of late night take-aways in the town at their meeting on Thursday night next. There is a body of opinion within the council that wants to regulate the closing hours and ensure that all the take-aways close at the same time. The issue of closing hours for take-aways in the town has been a cause of concern for the U.D.C. for many years. The matter has gained momentum since the extension of the pub opening hours and some sort of uniformity is required by the council.

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