Search Results for 'Paul Benson'

Residents of a Moyside neighbourhood in Ballina are weighed down with worry as they start what has become for them a dreaded countdown to Christmas.

Mayo County Council is forking out some €15,000 over the coming weeks to deal with the gooey mess that is gum litter on Ballina’s main thoroughfares.

The nationwide embargo on the recruitment of public service workers has been in place for six years now and has seen staffing levels at Mayo County Council fall by 20 per cent.

The issue of parking and seeing a turnover of car-parking spaces in the town centre is something that has been a topic of most major towns in recent times. Ballina Town Council has decided to implement a zoned parking system with three different parking zones with different pricing structures for each zone.

The issue of parking and seeing a turnover of car-parking spaces in the town centre is something that has been a topic of most major towns in recent times. Ballina Town Council has decided to implement a zoned parking system with three different parking zones with different pricing structures for each zone.

Mayo County Council has budgeted this year €500,000 for the repair and upkeep of its vacant housing stock, but they would need three times that figure to keep on top of the number of houses that become vacant throughout the year. That is according to director of services for Mayo County Council, Paul Benson, responding to a query about how many vacant houses in Mayo belonged to the council. Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne raised the issue at the annual budget meeting of the council, and he was told that some 1,590 houses are in the ownership of the council at the moment, and between 50 and 60 of those are currently vacant.

Vote local was the call from a number of members of Ballina Town Council this week as the council prepared its final budget before the dissolution of town councils in the summer.

There was full throated praise for all those involved in getting the new Garda monitored CCTV system in Ballina finally up and running at the May meeting of the local authority this week. At Tuesday night’s meeting Sgt Mandy Gaynor gave the elected members a full presentation on the system that currently has 18 linked up monitored cameras throughout the town, with four more to come on stream shortly and the possibility to add more later.

In a discussion on the take over of estates and the local property tax at this week’s Ballina Town Council meeting, Fianna Fáil councillor Johnny O’Malley hit out at the self regulation of planning that he feels has contributed to the number of unfinished estates in the country.

A long standing cash and carry business was extensively damaged by a fire that broke out on Monday night and took a number of hours to get under control. The fire occurred at Tuffy’s Cash and Carry in Bohernasup and caused a number of roads to be closed around the town as five units from Ballina, Enniscrone, and Crossmolina fire stations battled the blaze. With fumes and smoke emanating from the building for a long time, nearby residents were advised to stay indoors and keep their windows and doors closed. Tuffy’s Cash and Carry has been in operation for long number of years and employed 30 people in the town on a full and part time basis.