Local Notes: All the latest news from Ballyhaunis
There was a very special birthday party at Breaffy House Hotel recently - the celebration of the 90th birthday of Mary Colleran, nee Cox, of Salthill, Galway and the 80th birthday of Bernadette Dixon, nee Cox, of Clontarf, Dublin. Both were children of Seamus and Anne Cox and sisters of Seamus Cox of Carrowbaun, Aghamore.
The footpaths of Ballyhaunis will be getting serious scrutiny next week when staff from Mayo County Council conduct a walkability assessment of local walkways.
The audit will be done on July 21st using the Universal Design Walkability Audit Tool developed as a collaboration between the National Transport Authority, Age Friendly Ireland, Green-Schools and the National Disability Authority’s Centre for Excellence in Universal Design.
The audit will see a range of people of various ages and abilities - including those with disabilities – walk the footpaths to assess whether or not they’re fit for purpose.
Improving pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure is part of the national government efforts to encourage healthier lifestyles while also reducing carbon emissions associated with car dependency.
Ballyhaunis resident and Down native Mo Higgins shared some of her fascinating life story at a recent meeting of Ballyhaunis Language Café’s popular English language get-together.
Mo told the gathering about her performance in a production of at the theatre of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. She read a newspaper review commending her performance as the character Kate in the play which was written by Brian Friel and first performed in 1990.
Bulawayo is the second largest city of Zimbabwe, which was known as Rhodesia when Mo moved there to work as a teacher. She spent 40 years there before moving back to Ireland but her son remains in Bulawayo where he runs a successful safari business.
A group from Ballyhaunis Language Café will travel to Dublin on July 16th to watch a matinee performance of .
Ballyhaunis community groups and enterprises are encouraged to apply for funds under the latest LEADER programme for rural development which is co-funded by the EU and the Irish Government.
Some €6.6 million is available for projects in Mayo under the current LEADER fund, which runs until 2027 and puts an emphasis on action on climate change and biodiversity loss as well as rural enterprise. The refurbishment of the Community Hall in Ballyhaunis and local meat company Nour Foods were both backed in previous LEADER programmes. Projects are entitled to up to 75% of their total cost under LEADER.
LEADER is delivered through Local Action Groups, which are typically convened by local authorities with projects being inspected by local development companies Northeast Mayo and Southwest Mayo.
Mayo on a per capita basis is getting €64, which is less than Roscommon (€97) but more than Galway (€37).
Householders in the Ballyhaunis area seeking a resurfacing of their roads will have gained some comfort from comments made recently by Minister for Rural Affairs and local Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary which suggest government may spend more to repair private roads and laneways that are not under the auspices of Mayo County Council.
Typically serving a small number of houses, these roads are eligible for a local improvement scheme grant from government to local authorities but hundreds of such roads nationwide are waiting for cash, including several in the Ballyhaunis area that are the subject of lobbying efforts by local residents.
In a Dáil debate last week, Minister Calleary said: “The three letters most feared by my officials are LIS [Local Improvement Scheme]. We are actively reviewing the LIS, looking to make it more effective and to deliver more consistently... We reintroduced the scheme in my Department since 2017 following years of no funding, and since then we have provided almost €170 million to local authorities across the State.”
In April 2024, €40 million was announced for LIS across eligible local authorities to cover the period 2024 to 2025. Just over €2 million has been allotted to Mayo.
Minister Calleary said nationally 378 non-public roads and laneways will be repaired in 2025.
“There are delays and lists around the country. I am actively seeking extra funding in the context of the National Development Plan review.”
Local farmers remain in a strong position with the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showing that in the 12 months to April 2025 the price of farm outputs rose by 23.5% compared to the previous 12 months, with the cost of inputs dropping by 1% in the same time frame. That price growth was driven by average sale prices recorded for cattle –up 48.9% and milk up 18.7% compared with the previous 12 months.
On the input side, the cost of fertilisers over the 12 months to April 2025 rose by 7.5% while the average cost of veterinary expenses rose 4.7%. The cost of motor fuels and animal feeding stuff dropped by 5.8% and 4.9% respectively, according to the CSO data.
A planning application for the development of four two-bed apartments on a site on Barrack Street could go some way to easing local housing needs.
The developers of the site, an old structure with handsome stone walls, announced in May their intention to apply for planning permission.
This follows plans announced by developer Kaizen Project Management Co for ten apartments on the site of the former Johnston’s Machinery on Knox St.
Local TD Paul Lawless has highlighted what he says are unfair practices by meat factories and retailers that are hurting beef farmers.
Speaking on the Oireachtas’ agriculture committee, Lawless asked Department of Agriculture staff why the state’s Agri-Food Regulator hasn’t investigated the “significant mark-up on the price of beef” in supermarkets.
“The farmer keeps the animal for over three years, or thereabouts. He receives €7.50 per kilo.”
Supermarkets at the moment are selling at a price in the region of €23 per kilo, said Deputy Lawless, a reference to prices for premium cuts like steaks.
Lawless also highlighted the practice of meat factories not paying for offal taken from cattle slaughtered, seeking to have that investigated by the Agri Food Regulator.
“There is a fifth quarter of offal that is sold by meat factories but the farmer receives nothing. How is that not an unfair trading practice?”
Department deputy secretary general Maria Dunne outlined the definitions of unfair trading practises for Deputy Lawless, most of which relate to pricing rather than abattoir practices.
Ballyhaunis man Martin Waldron, who runs the West Craft store in Knock, believes tourist numbers locally are down on last year.
“Tourist numbers are definitely down,” he said. “Anecdotally, UK and US business seems to be down or slow. May was good, June was okay, July has been slow starting off.”
Mr Waldron sees four major external factors affecting trade: the struggling UK economy, the Trump administration’s economic agenda, an ongoing lack of hotel beds locally, as well as general cost of living increases.
“All these are affecting spending,” he said.
Nonetheless, West Craft is “trading reasonably well".
“Trade from the Knock Shrine is good, and we are getting a lot of repeat business," he explained.
An electric car charger long out of use in Ballyhaunis may finally be coming back into service.
Located in the car park adjacent to the town’s bottle banks, the charger was installed by EasyGo over a year ago but has been out of action for most of the time since.
An EasyGo spokesperson told this column: “I have spoken to our technical team and just to give some context we have recently on-boarded this manufacturer and we have now changed the configuration of the charger to best work on Irish mobile networks. So hopefully the issue... should now be resolved.”
Ballyhaunis Language Café has put out an invitation to Irish speakers to join a weekly Sunday evening conversation corner in a local pub. All levels are welcome “for a friendly chat in our native language”. More details can be had by contacting 087-9777899.
