Search Results for 'Frank Durcan'

After all the counting was said and done in the local elections, just like five years ago, the Independent councillors elected now hold the balance of power in the council chamber.

The majority of voters in Mayo will go to the ballot box today, voting on the islands took place yesterday for possibly the last time, with moves afoot to have islanders vote on the same day as the rest of the country in the future.

Following the closure of the nomination process for this month's local elections last weekend, the stage has been set with a total of 63 candidates set to chase the 30 seats up for grabs in Mayo County Council.

Chief executive of Mayo County Council, Peter Hynes, read out a hard hitting statement at the January meeting of the local authority in relation to the recent Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) investigation into himself and councillors Frank Durcan and Cyril Burke — before excusing himself from the meeting when the reports were discussed by the councillors.

On a day when seven potential nominees for the presidential election were due to address a special meeting of Mayo County Council just one of those potentials, Sarah Lousie Mulligan showed up to address the members.

Mayo County Council made payments of €875,561.82 to current and former councillors last year.

Just under six and half hours into the second day of deliberations over the Mayo County Council's budget for next year, the whip of the controlling Fianna Fáil and Independent axis, Cllr Damien Ryan, got to his feet to get the real business under way. After around 15 hours of presentations and questions, over the previous Monday and then again last Friday, Cllr Ryan was ready to propose a budget for adoption with a few amendments to what had been proposed by the council executive.

A number of councillors in the Castlebar Municipal District hit out at the slow pace of getting works done in the area at the October meeting of Mayo County Council this week. Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne lashed out saying: "It's backwards we're going. To try to get work done is really impossible. Down in  Curradrish, which is just outside this town, the footpaths there were started by the town council, two and half years ago and the work still isn't finished, and that's shameful. People who go out for a walk around that area, walking on broken chippings, there have been a number of accidents and there will be a number of claims to this council. I don't know what's happening, it has to be done. I've been given several assurances and if it's not done then, we'll fill the seats there [public gallery] with people from that area, meeting after meeting at this and at the Municipal District until it is done. Because it's not good enough and it's not right and promises were made and the money is allocated."

Castlebar will have an Educate Together School open for the new school year, Jaralth Munnelly, the regional devlopment officer for Educate Together, said this week. Munnelly, who is also a Fine Gael member of Mayo County Council, told the Mayo Advertiser yesterday: "We will have the school open in Castlebar for the new school year, we are looking at a number of suitable venues for the school to open in and we have two that we are looking very hard and hope to have it sorted by the end of the week. We have been in touch with parents through the whole situation which has developed, and the school should be up and running when the school term comes back."

This month marks the 35th anniversary of one the boldest and most imaginative private ventures to be undertaken in Mayo. The year was 1981 and the plan was to transform a 65 acre site outside Castlebar into the biggest two-day rock festival ever staged in the province. The proposal was the brainchild of brothers Tommy and John Staunton and local hotelier Tony McHugh. The substantial sum of £120,000 was invested in the festival with half going toward enticing major acts to play over the August bank holiday weekend.