Search Results for 'Michael Kilcoyne'

It was the one topic that everyone wanted to have their say on and throw their support behind this week at the March meeting of Mayo County Council. The future of the GMIT campus in Castlebar has been a major topic of discussion around the county in recent weeks and it was no different inside the council chamber. Some 25 councillors spoke on the topic in a debate that lasted well over an hour, and the one strong message coming from all of those who spoke was that everything that could be done to ensure the survival and the future growth of the third level facility in the county would be done.

A five person delegation from the HSE West’s regional health forum will meet the Minister for Health in Dublin at the end of the month.

The soon to be launched National Planning Framework will leave the region north of a line from Galway to Dublin a "glorified wildlife park" it was said this week. 

A new directive from the Office of Government Procurement which has seen Mayo County Council no longer able to purchase tools and small items from local suppliers is going to cost jobs, one councillor said this week. Speaking at the December meeting of the local authority, Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne raised the issue after an unsigned note was given to members of the outdoor staff of the council outlining this new procedure.

In November 2013 it was announced that medical screening company Northgate would be setting up operations in Castlebar and creating 150 jobs in the county town. The opening of that facility dragged on over the next two years with only six jobs ever being created. Yesterday (Thursday November 3) it was revealed that Northgate would be closing their business in Castlebar with those six jobs going.

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."

It is business as usual for the Local Enterprise Office in Mayo was the message from the chief executive of Mayo County Council this week following a query from Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne at Monday's meeting of Mayo County Council. Cllr Kilcoyne asked at the meeting: "Is the LEO Office out of money? I read reports it had and I'd like you to just confirm if it is or isn't."

The removal from use of the single pay as you go bin bag for refuse disposal was a hot topic of debate at Mayo County Council's monthly meeting on Monday afternoon. Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne raised the issue saying: "It shows total disregard for people who are elderly, living in apartments, people who have no back door, and plenty of people who belong to this local authority who have no back door or place to leave their bin.

The contamination of some of the houses on the Nephin Valley Group Water Scheme (NVGWS) was brought up at Monday's meeting of Mayo County Council. The contamination first arose on Friday February 26. One resident who contacted the Mayo Advertiser said: "Basically on Friday, February 26, my mother noticed some dirty coloured water coming from the kitchen sink tap." She went on to say they contacted those charged with the management of the scheme and the next day "some operatives from NVGWS came to the house and witnessed the very dirty water with a smell of cattle slurry off it coming through our drinking water taps. At this stage the water had contaminated the dishwasher, internal heating system, and washing machines."

By the time the votes are all counted on Saturday and the people's verdict read out Mayo will be returning four deputies to the 32nd Dáil, one fewer than five years ago and two fewer than the county returned 24 years ago when the 27th Dáil was elected. From 1997 on Mayo was reduced to a single constituency as the old Mayo West and Mayo East constituencies were merged, and from 2016 on a large swathe of south Mayo has been subsumed into Galway West. With it in the region of 7,000 votes have gone south of the border and with them sitting Mayo TD John O'Mahony who is looking to take a seat in a battle royale that many observers expect to go on long into Sunday and maybe later before the final shake-out in that particular battle is decided.