What's on in your community?

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

Mayo Organic Group
Mayo Organic Group's October exciting meeting will take place at a new venue for them - Westport Town Hall, at 7.30pm on Thursday October 20. This will feature a brief introduction to edible Irish seaweeds, by knowledgeable Mulranny resident, Cheryl Cobern Browne. Cobern Browne is also an artist, a seaweed forager, and guide, and runs a wonderful art centre just outside Mulranny. Please note the new start time. As always, guests and new members are most welcome, so spread the word. And don't forget that, in addition to the charity raffle, there is a give-away table, members' library, and refreshments. Further information via Cleo on (085) 1754916 or [email protected].

Councillors concerned people are being left of housing list over a fiver

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

The elected members of Mayo County Council have agreed to hold a special meeting to discuss housing issues in the county in the near future. A number of councillors raised questions over the recent assessment of housing needs that was carried out by the council that saw a number of people removed from the housing list in the county.

Another game of political football breaks out over N26

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

The long awaited upgrade of the N26 from Ballina once again became the focus of a political to and fro between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil this week in the Mayo County Council chamber. Fianna Fáil councillor Annie May Reape speaking at the October meeting of the local authority said: "In relation to the N26 what is the situation? I led a delegation to Transport Infrastructure Ireland with members of the Roads SPC. I was horrified to be told that it's not even in the capital budget, nothing in the agenda for it, where is it at? We were always told that it would be completed after the 2011 election and it's further gone off the agenda. We were promised everything else in 2011, but we've no representation in Ballina in government and that's probably the problem, under Fianna Fail it was brought to Mount Falcon and now we might get half of a bridge done, the N5 is on the back burner as well, it won't be ready for years."

Council chief hopeful of 'positive' outcome for Killala plant

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

The chief executive of Mayo County Council said this week that he was "hopeful you would see a positive result" for the examinership process that the Mayo Renewable Power project is currently undergoing. This summer the High Court appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as interim examiner to Mayo Renewable Power, which had planned to build a wood-chip burning electricity generator at Killala at a cost of €180 million.

Council chief to give full report on progress of Mary Robinson Centre

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

The chief executive of Mayo County Council, Peter Hynes, has said he will give the members of the council a full report on the progress of the project once the tenders for the project have been opened. He told the monthly meeting of the authority on Monday he expected to be able to give that report in either December of January.

Castlebar councillors annoyed at slow pace of works

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

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."

Celine King aims to be the Queen of Swing

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

Celine King, of Mayo Kettlebells, has qualified for the third time to represent Ireland at the Kettlebell World Championships in Kazakhstan from October 26 to October 30. Ms King has previously won World Championship gold and is competing to win her second World title.

Blessed are the feathers and fur

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

Last Saturday October 8 the now annual blessing of pets took place in Knock Shrine, the event was organised by the Family Centre at Knock Shrine which decided to run it again this year. Owing to the the nature of the creatures that were being blessed, the event was held outside the Family Centre at the Shrine.

It is time to see Mayo in a new light

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

The stars are aligned for astronomers, astro-photographers, astro-physicists, stargazers, and rocket makers to visit Newport over the Bank holiday weekend, October 28 to 30. The town is set to host the first Mayo Dark Sky Festival and it promises to be a weekend of discovery and enlightenment for everyone.

Blueshirts march on Cooneal

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

At the January 1933 general election Éamon de Valera’s Fianna Fáil retained power by increasing its seat count to 77. Since its first general election in 1927, the party had increased its Dáil representation at every subsequent contest. In order to halt Fianna Fáil’s march, opponents of de Valera formed a new party in September 1933 by merging the bulk of the membership of the pro-Treaty Cumann na nGaedheal with two smaller conservative groupings, the National Centre Party and the National Guard (a fascist group known as the Blueshirts). Fine Gael — The United Ireland Party was formed and immediately began the process of holding Cumann na nGaedheal’s core support and growing its membership base.

In early February 1934, a UIP (as the party was often referred to) rally took place in Cooneal in north Mayo. The main speakers were Patrick Belton, TD for Dublin North, and Michael Davis, TD for Mayo North. Belton had a personal hatred of de Valera ever since his own expulsion from Fianna Fáil for breaking party policy and taking the Oath of Allegiance in order to enter the Dáil in 1927. At the Cooneal rally, Belton did not hide his loathing of de Valera. Flanked by Blueshirts in berets from Ardagh, Lahardane, and Knockmore, Belton took to the stage wearing a Blueshirt uniform under his coat. It was an act of defiance and a show of support for General Eoin O’Duffy, who as leader of the Blueshirts, had been arrested in Westport a few weeks previously for wearing the group’s uniform. Listing his own nationalist credentials, among them the swearing of Michael Collins into the IRB, Belton commended O’Duffy’s actions in Westport when he insisted the general “was fighting for the expression of the will of the majority of the Irish people against a dictatorship of the people led by de Valera”.

26,000 Mayo arthritis sufferers denied services says Harkin

Fri, Oct 07, 2016

Twenty six thousand arthritis sufferers in County Mayo continue to be denied rheumatology services despite a HSE commitment in July to provide a consultant at Mayo University Hospital.