What it Says in the Castlebar and Mayo Papers

3rd of January 2001

Connaught Telegraph

The Mayo News

The Western People

Warren wins Irish tennis title a front page story in The Connaught Telegraph this week.

For the first time ever, a Mayo person has won an Irish tennis title. The honour goes to the skilful Warren Atkins from the Curragh, Castlebar, who beat the No. 1 seed Paul Fitzgerald from Cork, 6-4, 6-3 in the Irish Junior Tennis Championships, under 14, boys, held in Riverview, Dublin.

Electronic voting would sound death knell for election counts The Connaught Telegraph this week.

Proposals to introduce electronic voting in this country would do away with a unique Irish institution - the election count - a Dáil Deputy warned last night. Mayo poll-topper Michael Ring TD said that the Minister for the Environment Noel Dempsey should scrap the idea which is contained in the new Electoral Amendment Bill 2000 which was published last month. He said the majority of political workers lived for the count and if it were abolished it would be difficult to get people interested in politics. Deputy Ring added "Irish elections are unique. The counts are the most exciting part of the process. It is hard enough to get people to go out canvassing. It is hard to get people to support politics. We will lose people if the count goes. A lot of people just love this work. Their reward is the excitement of the count. They can be tallymen for the day. There will be less need for further people to be involved in politics. This would be bad for politics and in turn bad for the country."

Matt's cows tails were frozen solid The Connaught Telegraph this week.

Oxtail ice cubes as opposed to soup were the order of the day as temperatures in Claremorris plummeted to their lowest in almost twenty years last weekend. On Saturday morning as the temperature reached minus 12.9, one local farmer found that even the tails of his cows had been frozen solid as a result of the big freeze. Matt Oates from Taugheen said that after many years in the farming business and numerous hardy winters this was the first time he had ever seen cattle with their tails frozen stiff.

3-year timescale to upgrade rail line The Mayo News this week.

The upgrading of the rail line from Athlone to Westport will take three years to complete, Mr. Myles McHugh, Business Development Manager with Irish Rail, has told Westport Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said thirty miles of continuous welded track would be completed by the end of 2001 at a cost of £15 million. The Athlone to Roscommon section was costing over £8 million and Castlerea to Claremorris in excess of £6 million. He said that he was cautiously optimistic that the line to Westport would be completed by the end of 2002. With the upgrading programme already the best part of a year old, this made for an overall redevelopment time of three years. Mr. McHugh said that the work was 'one mile of track ' ahead of schedule at the current time. He confirmed to the Westport Chamber that in the interest of commuter comfort no line repair work would be carried out during the summer months.

New P.O. site not good for business - Kenny The Mayo News. The Mayo News.

The Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs. Mary O'Rourke, has confirmed to Deputy Enda Kenny T.D. that An Post did not find any suitable or comparable premises to their proposed new locations available in the centre of Castlebar. She indicated that An Post feel that provision of a spacious, custom built premises on the Link Road is better in respect of their customers in the longer term. The Minister pointed out that the new retail premises will have adjacent off-street parking and 1,300 sq. ft. of retail space. Deputy Kenny raised the matter with the Minister in the Dáil because of concerns expressed by Castlebar Town Traders and Castlebar Chamber of Commerce that the major post office for Castlebar town should be located elsewhere than its current premises and away from the growing business location between Dunnes, Tesco and Aldi off the Market Square of the town. The Traders made the point that to draw several thousand extra customers into an already overcrowded area is not conducive to good business and is not the kind of development that An Post should be getting involved in.

New law threatens angling tourism The Mayo News this week.

New passenger boat regulations, due to become law next April, will be detrimental to the future of sea angling clubs and to angling tourism in Ireland. That's the stark warning from the Connaught Provincial Council of the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers, which wants the regulations introduced on a phased basis. The Council has already met with the Minister for Marine and Natural Resources, Mr. Frank Fahey, T.D. to debate the new regulations. "If these regulations become law we as an organisation are gone," said Pat Walsh, Hon. Sec. of the Connaught Council. The Council told Minister Fahey that deep-sea angling, a hugely important component of tourism in the West, will disappear if passenger boat regulations are applied to sea angling craft. Following advice from the Attorney General on the Minister's powers to make regulations for the purpose of ensuring the safety of passengers on sea angling boats, it has now been decided to amend the Merchant Shipping Act of 1992. The amendment will have the effect of treating boats used to carry anglers to sea and fresh water fishing grounds for reward as passenger boats. Consequently the Licensing provisions of the 1992 Act relating to passenger boats now apply to such boats.

£40m. price tag on Castlebar sewerage improvements The Western People this week.

It will cost up to £40 million to upgrade Castlebar's sewerage infrastructure and protect the town's river from pollution, according to a report drawn up by consultants for Mayo County Council. The report by Patrick J. Tobin and Co., Consulting Engineers, spells out the urgency of the current crisis facing the county capital where the system is at breaking point because investment has not kept pace with the development of the town. In less than four years, almost 2700 new houses have received planning permission in the town and its environs and this has put major pressure on the system and the Knockthomas Treatment Works. TV surveys of the creaking old system have shown that almost a million gallons of groundwater a day are leaking into the system and this is placing a huge strain on the existing treatment works. The report indicates that by excluding this water, capacity could be created for new industrial and housing developments prior to the laying of new sewers and new treatment works. It suggests that the old sewers should be re-lined, using technology that has already proved successful in Westport.

Mayoman hails new marine research vessel The Western People this Tuesday.

A Mayo man has played a key role in the State signing a £23m contract for the country's largest ever research vessel, RV Celtic Explorer. Peter Heffernan, a native of Ballina, who is chief Executive of the Marine Institute, last week attended the authorisation signing by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for the ship which will measure 65.5 metres and which will be delivered to the Marine Institute in September 2002. "Ireland is progressively enhancing its world-class reputation for marine research, technological development and innovation," said Mr. Heffernan. The RV Celtic Explorer is already committed to a strategic role in the IR £21m seabed survey. It will also have a vital role facilitating scientists who work on sustainable fish stock management. Now the entire national marine territory and continental shelf and beyond will be accessible to Irish scientists.

Shoppers to pay more for parking in Castlebar The Western People this week.

A meeting of Castlebar Urban Council has been told of plans to increase the charge for parking at Dunnes Stores and Tesco car parks. Town Clerk, Mr. John Condon said that the new charge will be 50p for the first two hours and £1 per hour after that for parking. He continued that at the moment the council owns 200 spaces. Under the new set up, there will be a total of 500 spaces and the council would be entitled to a share of the money in respect of the number of spaces it owns. He said that there is a separate agreement with Tesco in regard to the 300 spaces not owned by the council. He also said that it is difficult to quantify at this stage what the council will gain from this increase.

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