Tuesday, 05 June 2012 12:39

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I WAS fortunate enough, after weeks of good intentions, to finally get to walk the new path around Lough Lannagh last Friday week. The sun was shining, the day was warm and there were families and young people relaxing and enjoying themselves beside the lake.

The experience even had the desired calming effect on my six-week-old daughter who stopped crying and drifted off to sleep as I pushed her buggy around the path.

We have a sometimes unfortunate tendency in this country, especially in more difficult times, to seek out someone else to blame for the failings in this world and increasingly so in recent years we have all been inclined to look towards authority, sometimes justifiably so, to point this finger of blame.

However we are much less inclined to dish out praise for something done well and to acknowledge it as such.

The Lough Lannagh project in Castlebar is something that has been talked about for decades and has been in development in various guises for years. There is a curious irony that works such as this seem to have gained much more currency and progressed more successfully in these recessionary times than it could ever have hope for during the Celtic tiger era.

It is a worthy credit to Castlebar Town Council and all those involved in bringing this project to its current stage that we finally have a public town park and a lakeside amenity that Castlebar can be truly proud of. It is a free facility that anyone who wishes to can avail of, and for those who haven’t yet, I heartily recommend it, especially on a day like last Friday week.

The only blot on this otherwise admirable project and uplifting experience is that it is also unfortunately availed of by those that don’t necessarily appreciate the wonderful amenity that it is, as evidenced by the discarded and broken drinks bottles abandoned at intervals along the walk.

However, this unfortunate aspect should serve as a reflection on those responsible rather on the positive efforts of the council.

So to Castlebar Town Council and all those involved, a sincere well done on this project and I look forward to future stages, building on its success which will hopefully see the amenity further enhanced as well as linked up with the western greenway so that those further afield can also easily access and appreciate it.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Jordan,

Killawalla,

Westport.

Tuesday, 13 March 2012 13:02

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WHILE I sympathise with the many very good teachers who are about to lose their jobs as a result of revised pupil teacher ratios in rural schools’ I want to take issue with the outlandish statements and claims made by the Save Our Small Schools (SOSS) group.

The statements I read week in, week out in both local and national papers are in the main incredulous. What is amazing about this campaign is the absence of any credible argument, logic or analysis of the central issues involved.

Outlandish claims are made and many slogans and empty rhetoric spouted; there is talk of ‘a scorched earth policy’ by the government, ‘the death of communities’ and the destruction of the ‘soul of the village’. No one has bothered asking the SOSS group what they believe is a reasonable pupil-teacher ratio. One spokesperson advocates the need for three teachers in a school of 49 pupils, a ratio of just over 16 pupils per teacher.

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 13:30

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Sir,

IN this day and age of doom and gloom and the famous runaway tiger, it is refreshing to report a good news story relating to hospital services and follow up care in this magnificent and sometimes vastly underrated county of Mayo.

I am referring to Mayo General Hospital and the recently maligned Sacred Heart Hospital, Castlebar.

I wish to state at the outset that the following comments are not from a patient after a sole admission to the hospital but from an old age pensioner who has had seven admissions in the last six years, including procedures for cancer, heart and stroke problems and a hip replacement (hip yet to come).

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 15:44

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Sir,

I WISH to bring to the attention of your readers the latest saga regarding Castlebar Military Barracks. Two weeks ago the Government announced the closure of Castlebar together with three other barracks, Mullingar, Clonmel and Cavan. The Castlebar closure was confirmed by the military authorities at a meeting in the town on Friday week last. This is a terrible upheaval for all the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) personnel and their families at all these locations due to the trauma of having to move many miles from their bases. Castlebar Barracks like the others is home to the Reserve Defence Force (RDF) which was previously known as An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiuil (FCA) and while the effect for us is not as immediately telling, as it is for our full time colleagues, it is nevertheless hard to swallow. We were advised that the barracks must be vacated on or before the end of March 2012 and that a suitable property was being sought for rent in the town. This to accommodate the PDF cadre personnel in support of the RDF presence across Mayo