Local Notes: An Post 'moving ahead' with controversial Ballyhaunis plan
Members of the Mary Elwood Dancers at the St Brigid's Eve concert in the Community Hall in Ballyhaunis. Back row, from left: Rachel Fleming, Amy Fitzmaurice, Leah Guilfoyle, Sarah Ryan Front row: Ella Gallagher, Lily Gallagher, Lauren Fitzmaurice, Lauren Ryan. Amy and Sarah have qualified for the World Championships to be held in Chicago at Easter.
An Post is “moving ahead steadily with the planned consolidation of [its] mails operations in Ballyhaunis and Castlerea,” the company told this column after a petition with 3,800 signatures was handed into Tánaiste Simon Harris last week by local councillor Alma Gallagher.
“Customers will continue to post letters and parcels locally in both locations after the move is complete,” An Post stressed.
Local TD and Minister of State Alan Dillon, on a visit to Ballyhaunis, said workers in the local sorting office had not been listened to and he planned to meet An Post CEO David McRedmond on the matter.
Eight new apartments in the centre of Ballyhaunis will be completed by this summer for social housing.
Construction workers on the site of what was formerly Dillon’s on The Square said the eight apartments will be ready by May and will then be handed over to Mayo County Council for housing. The conversion of the former Dillon’s building into eight apartments will have taken nearly a year. The building is owned by Castlebar-based developer Tom Monaghan.
Five families from Ballyhaunis have been rehoused back in Ballyhaunis after 12 months in an emergency homeless shelter in Charlestown, according to a mother, speaking for one of the family units.
“I signed the papers yesterday and got my keys, I can't move yet though I'm waiting for a furniture grant which apparently takes weeks. Only myself and one other mom have been housed in the last four months, I'm very excited,” said the single mother who will move back to a council-owned property in Ballyhaunis.
Mayo County Council pays grants to tenants of council-owned housing on a case-by-case basis with recent grants for two-bedroomed flats averaging €5,000. The length of time spent by residents in what’s intended as an emergency shelter underlines the extent of the homeless situation in the county.
Ballyhaunis-based Mayo Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) is calling on regional and county businesses to help support critical repairs and maintenance at its animal shelter following a year of severe weather and repeated storms.
A spokesperson for the shelter said several areas of the facility “including the cattery and walkways leading to storage areas, have been affected and now require attention to ensure the continued safety and well-being of the animals in their care".
Donor funding is largely allocated to veterinary treatment, animal feed, and daily operations, said the spokesperson.
“The organisation hopes to shift its focus in 2026 toward long-overdue maintenance and weatherproofing projects that will strengthen the shelter’s resilience," said the spokesperson.
Marian Biesty, founder and director of the MSPCA, said after more than 20 years of operation, it’s now essential to make the shelter “safe, functional, and weatherproof for the animals who rely on us”.
While thanking donors for supporting day-to-day care, she said the repairs needed at the shelter “require skilled expertise and community involvement". Thus, the MSPCA is seeking assistance from electricians and carpenters who can offer professional advice, labour, or materials to refurbish the shelter.
“Even guidance from experienced tradespeople can make a huge difference,” said Ms Biesty. “With the support of local businesses, we can ensure our shelter continues to serve the community and provide a welcoming, secure environment for animals in need.”
Anyone interested in helping the MSPCA can contact info@mayospca.ie or call 087-4477113.
The official launch of Ballyhaunis Autism Friendly Town, in partnership with As I Am, Ireland's autism charity, will take place on February 25th at 7pm.
“Through this project we aim to make our town more inclusive for autistic people through community training, sensory-friendly events, resources, and support,” note the organisers.
The initiative has already been the catalyst for a support group being formed for parents/carers of autistic children and young people, with the help of Geraldine Glacken in the local Family Resource Centre, explained Aisling Mills, one of the members of Autism Friendly Town.
“We've met monthly since April 2025 and our numbers have grown steadily with people providing peer support at the meetings and in the WhatsApp group.”
Aisling explained how one parent recently commented, at one of the meetings, about what a lifeline the group has felt like. She said: "I look forward to the meeting every month, I wish it was more often. As the saying goes... until you walk in their shoes. It is such a welcoming, honest, discreet, supportive space with loads of info, advice, and most of all craic. You can just be yourself, listen, chat, or be quiet. There's also professional speakers occasionally which is great, and a WhatsApp group (if you want) for further support during the month’.
“We're calling on Ballyhaunis businesses, service providers, and voluntary organisations to come together and make our town a more understanding and inclusive place for autistic people who live or visit here.
“By creating genuine understanding we hope to bring about meaningful change and make the town more accessible for autistic people and by extension their families. This will mean that everyday tasks like shopping, getting a haircut, or a visit to the GP for example, will be less overwhelming.
“A happy by-product of this will be that our community will grow even stronger and more united. When people feel that they have a place they'll become more involved in a community. It's important to point out that this is a three-year process, and that changes won't happen overnight, but every small change we make will have a big impact for the autistic people in our community.”
Surging consumption of chicken bodes well for jobs and production at Western Brand, a major employer in the Ballyhaunis area. Consumption of chicken in Ireland has doubled in the past decade, the company’s agricultural manager Diarmaid Kirby told a recent edition of the Poultry Edge, a podcast produced by Teagasc.
This means more production of poultry in the farms and plants run by Western Brand, located on the Knock Road outside Ballyhaunis. Kirby told the podcast that Ireland produces 115 million chickens a year but consumes 170 million, meaning chicken has to be imported to make up the shortfall.
“Imports are all fillets, we export the back end, legs and drumsticks.”
Bord Bia data shows that Irish poultry production grew by 6% in 2025, with throughput at export meat plants reaching 120 million birds.
Irish consumers’ purchases of chicken rose by 4% during the 52-week period ending October 5th, 2025, according to Bord Bia, with the average retail price rising by 4%. Bord Bia points out that price-sensitive consumers switched to chicken due in large part to high beef prices.
Even though Irish exports of poultry meat last year rose by 18% (compared to 2024 figures) to €165 million, imports of chicken were far greater at €609 million with the bulk of that coming from Britain and the EU as well as Brazil, China and Thailand.
Western Brand, which employs several hundred staff in its Ballyhaunis and Monaghan processing plants, also has its own egg hatching facilities: Kirby explained that the life cycle of a typical bird from hatching to slaughter is typically eight weeks.
Rent-income ratio Factory workers in Ballyhaunis are paying up to 50 percent of their incomes on rent, a survey of a number of such workers by this column reveals.
All of those questioned reported their rent spend on housing is more than half their monthly earnings but in some cases workers are spending a similar amount not on an apartment or house but rather a room.
One of those surveyed, a Latin American national working in a local factory, explained that while the cost of living in Ballyhaunis has soared in the two years he’s here the situation in Spain is worse. “When I worked in Madrid nearly 80 percent of my income went on rent. “The monthly rent in Spain is about EUR900 or EUR1,000 but the salary is only EUR1,200 so the situation is still better in Ireland, here you can earn more.” Several others however bemoaned the impact of rising rents on the long-term ability to find more permanent living arrangements in Ballyhaunis. An Eastern European factory worker who moved to Ballyhaunis in late 2024 explained: “It’s not normal to be spending half your wage on rent. In my country 20 percent is normal. That way you can afford to save some money for a mortgage, to buy your own place. Here I can’t imagine doing that. I’m stuck sharing a room in an apartment with people I sometimes don’t always get on with.” Data from the Central Statistics Office shows the average rent to income ratio in Mayo in 2016 was 24.9 percent, suggesting sharp inflation in rents over the past decade relative to earnings.
A homecoming for John One of the cast members in the upcoming production of ‘From Under the Bed’ at the Community Hall in Ballyhaunis on February 14, John Morley hails originally from the Bekan area.
His previous roles with Oranmore-based Bualadh Bos drama group include Johnnie Pateen Mike in Martin McDonaghs The Cripple of Inishmaan. He also played Tom in Conversations on a Homecoming, the play by Tom Murphy. John has also written and produced a radio play Frank's Last Waltz and has worked with Theatre Room and Little Cinema. After the Ballyhaunis performance the play will go on the national drama festival circuit.
