Local Notes: Ballyhaunis Foróige group receive certificates
Members of the Ballyhaunis BEY project run by Foróige in the Community Hall are pictured receiving certificates from the Foróige Citizenship Programme at a ceremony in Ballina. The certificates are awarded for projects that make a real and lasting difference in their communities. From left: Laura Cox, Denis Mudimbi, Fionn Kilbride-Grant, Lukas Bacys, Lena IIczuk, Emma O'Brien, Brandon McGowan, Hazel Nolan and Brian O Neill.
The Black Donkey, a microbrewery on the Ballyhaunis road in Ballinlough, has announced its closure.
Owner and chief brewer Richard Siberry shared the sad news in an email to customers in recent days.
"We have recently made the hard decision to close Black Donkey Brewing,” he wrote. “The brewery is for sale, production has been stopped, and we are currently selling through the last of our beer stock.”
A native of Louth, Richard opened the brewery nearly a decade ago, having returned to Ireland from a long and successful corporate career in America. He explained to this column in 2022 how competition from the country’s two dominant brewing multinationals as well as a cumbersome licensing regime made it difficult for microbreweries like Black Donkey to supply pubs or to set up their own pub.
The pandemic was also difficult for Black Donkey, which had built up a good client base in the more touristed towns of West Mayo. Nonetheless, Black Donkey was able to drive sales when it established its online store in late 2021 but found the conventional retail model more difficult. Large-scale retail chains typically use beer as a mass market, low-margin product to draw customers and premium local craft beer fits uneasily into this retail model, Mr Siberry told this column in 2022.
Licensing laws made it hard for Black Donkey to develop a passing trade with customers calling at the brewery which was located on the busy Ballyhaunis Road on the outskirts of Ballinlough. The €50,000 price tag of a full bar license was prohibitive for the microbrewery, which drew a steady trickle of visitors keen to purchase the local brew.
The Black Donkey is now taking orders for the limited quantities of its most popular labels which it still has in stock - Sheep Stealer, Sergeant Jimmy, Rubicon and Western Warrior.
“Unfortunately, when they are gone they will be gone forever,” said brewmaster Richard who stressed he “sincerely thanks” his customers for their loyal support.
An historical character who spent much time in Ballyhaunis features in the Imirce archive of letters written by Irish emigrants, which is managed by University College Galway.
Thomas Hall, solicitor for Armagh and Loughgall and assistant land commissioner – tasked with subdividing larger estates among smallholders for the districts of Ballyhaunis and Ballina in the late 1800s - was the father of John Hall who emigrated to Pennsylvania and wrote back.
Letters and newspaper clippings he sent home tell of the younger Hall’s adventures and misadventures in the US. They also cast light on the prejudices and stereotypes heaped on Irish immigrants in America at the time.
A worthwhile read given strong Irish American support for the immigration policies of the current US government, the letters can be viewed at a special page on the university’s website.
A local bridal dressmaking business with a nationwide clientele is showing that local is often best despite the lure and convenience of online shopping.
“A lot of brides are resorting to online purchases from Chinese websites and we end up doing a lot of last-minute rescues which are ultimately more expensive for the bride,” said Lorren Kelly who started her business, The One I Love, in Ballinlough at the end of 2019 to cater for clients across the West.
“So many local businesses are closing and finding it difficult to stay open while more and more people shop online for convenience, but this inevitably leads to disaster when dealing with an important dress that needs expert fit and in-store attention.”
Chinese-based websites like Temu and Shein have captured massive market share in Europe and the US with low prices and free freight, taking advantage of the trade principle which allows consumers duty-free packages of goods below a certain value. The phenomenon has also created a headache for western governments forced to deal with the disposal of a tsunami of cheap textile waste.
Lorren outlined the experience of a recent client who only three weeks before the wedding had bought four dresses online for about €100 each.
“The photos online looked amazing, but the quality and sizing was off... and the colour wasn’t as expected. Had we tried to improve the dresses, it would have cost €80 to €120 per dress to make half-decent changes. So the initial ‘bargain’ was most definitely a false economy.”
Ultimately, the bride purchased dresses from Lorren’s store, with the free alterations she offers her clients.
“But every single week I despair when someone who has previously shopped with us thought they found a better deal online and then is on their knees asking us to make it fit - I don’t want to make money that way.”
Having survived the shutdown of the pandemic period, the business won three major national awards - WeddingsOnline Bridesmaid Supplier of the Year 2022 and Bridal Designer of the Year 2024 and 2025.
“It’s so important for me to provide this service locally and I would never leave Ballinlough for a bigger town,” said Lorren. "On a normal day we’d have brides coming from Galway, Sligo, Athlone, Castlebar, Carrick-on-Shannon and these are all only about an hour’s drive and we are central within the West so it seems to suit everyone travelling.
“We have a lot of customers travelling from Dublin, Donegal, Cork and Kerry and even quite a few from Waterford and up north.”
Congratulations to Daithi Coyne, New York, who won €1,000 in the Ballyhaunis GAA draw on June 8th on an envelope sold on the Club App.
Staying in emergency accommodation for a year is now equivalent to the cost of a semi-detached house in Ballyhaunis.
The cost of housing a family in emergency accommodation in Mayo and other counties has soared as the Government increasingly turns to private operators and away from the non-government organisations which have typically assisted the homeless. New data suggests the housing of a family in four rooms of emergency accommodation costs the state €180,000 per year.
Living in emergency accommodation is increasingly a long-term situation for many.
Several individuals previously resident in Ballyhaunis are now living for six months in the emergency accommodation centre in Charlestown. One resident of that centre who’s been there for six months since being forced to quit her Ballyhaunis apartment due to the landlord raising the rent said she feels she and her child will be there “indefinitely” as “there are no properties”.
Congratulations to civil engineer John Jordan, formerly of Upper Main St, who has been inaugurated as president of Engineers Ireland for 2025-2026.
John is the son of Columba and the late Elizabeth Jordan of Upper Main St and Annagh.
Engineers Ireland is a representative body for the engineering profession. In his day job, John is managing director of Wirtgen Ireland, a subsidiary of the German equipment manufacturer that specialises in road construction equipment and plant for mining and processing minerals.
When Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan participated in the annual Garda Horkan run in Charlestown recently he was accompanied by Ballyhaunis native Kathleen Hunt, a key figure in the minister’s constituency office.
Dublin-based Kathleen was a long-time operations and event manager at Fianna Fail headquarters, taking charge of key marketing and televised events for the party.
Swift Conservation Ireland has placed three boxes on a wall at the Friary for an endangered migratory bird species that comes to Ireland every summer to breed.
The boxes are not yet occupied but Swift Conservation volunteers have been seeking to attract the bird to take up residence, according to Lynda Huxley, the Castlebar-based driving force behind Swift Conservation Ireland in Mayo.
“Our surveys in recent years have not found any swifts in Ballyhaunis, the population has disappeared but we hope some birds will return,” said Lynda.
Swift populations have fallen by up to 50% in Ireland in recent decades according to Swift Conservation Ireland, in large part due to the removal of habitats as modern plastic fascias and guttering has sealed up the alcoves where the bird traditionally found its home.
To counter this, the organisation has been working with Mayo County Council to include swift nesting compartments in public buildings like the new swimming pool in Castlebar. Swift compartments have also been added to the upper walls of buildings of the Atlantic Technological University campus in Castlebar.
Ballyhaunis native Dr Deirdre Garvey was the key organiser and host of ‘Mayo Rising’, a conference bringing together speakers from across Mayo working to alleviate the causes and impacts of climate change.
Head of the Department of Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences at the Atlantic Technological University’s Castlebar campus since 2021, Dr Garvey is a native of Carrowneden, a townland between Ballyhaunis and Aghamore.
Two projects from the Ballyhaunis area were highlighted at the conference: the significant efforts towards sustainability at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan were highlighted while the volunteer-led bicycle repair clinic run by Ballyhaunis Community Council was also the focus of study by attendees at the conference which was co-organised with Mayo County Council.
Joining the teaching staff at Castlebar ATU in 2008, Deirdre was central to the Mayo campus being the first Institute of Technology Campus in Ireland to be awarded An Taisce Green Campus status in 2011. She is also a former chairperson of the Western Development Commission.
