Local Notes: New roof for historic Ballyhaunis building
Students from Logboy National School arrive back in Ballyhaunis from Dublin after winning an award in the Someone Like Me art competition run by the National Disability Authority.
Works to refurbish the old courthouse in Ballyhaunis will see a new roof on the building.
Works will also include “drying out the interior of damp and a rewiring of the building,” explained Orla Kennelly, architect at Mayo County Council.
The works will be paid for by a €150,000 refurbishment funded by the government’s Community Recognition Fund. Ms Kennelly told this column that further development phases at the building “will require securing further funding".
Mayo County Council is hoping the works will be completed by the end of the year, said Ms Kennelly.
“We have engaged an additional design team who are progressing detailed drawings and conservation elements to provide more information to a contractor and to ensure we are spending the money in the best way possible. As this is a conservation project, these works cannot be standardised.
“These works are phase one of the Courthouse building and once complete will not constitute a finished building project. The money secured was always intended to cover phase one only.”
Opened in 1874, the limestone-faced Ballyhaunis courthouse closed in 2013 as part of a package of government cutbacks. Ownership of the building was later transferred from the Office of Public Works to Mayo County Council which will now lease the building to the local Rural Irish Artists group.
The building had earlier been offered to the local boxing club in 2021 but costly adaption works to bring it in line with fire and building safety made the move prohibitively expensive. The council’s Claremorris Municipal District office told this column at the time that “substantial funds would have to be made available before any permanent use similar to the boxing club can be carried out on a permanent basis".
Contractors have installed new lighting at Ballyhaunis train station while works are also underway to investigate the addition of a structure to allow wheelchair users access the platform for west-bound trains –-access which is currently only possible via a footbridge.
“It is to do with station infrastructure,” an Irish Rail spokesperson told this column. “Possibly a bridge or other upgrades, but this is only at the feasibility stage.”
Last July, Irish Rail told this column that the company intended to lodge a planning application for a new bridge with lifts at Ballyhaunis. Passengers are currently required to cross via footbridge to board west-bound trains, a challenge for those with mobility issues.
“Planning and funding will determine the timing of works, but it is a priority for us,” noted Irish Rail at the time. “In the interim, where we receive notice, we can arrange for trains to call to the accessible platform – customers who require this can contact access@irishrail.ie.”
Meanwhile, a review of car parking facilities at the station is still in process.
"It still with the National Transport Authority for final comment," noted Irish Rail. "We hope to have it back soon and should have more information then.”
Lack of parking at the Ballyhaunis station has seen passengers parking along and on footpaths near the station - to the inconvenience of pedestrians.
“We do recognise that the car park at Ballyhaunis is regularly oversubscribed, and any timing of works to add further spaces will be subject to the outcome of the national review, and funding from the NTA,” Irish Rail told this column in July.
The 2025 judging report for Ballyhaunis published by the Tidy Towns competition highlighted an overflowing car park at the train station as a negative for the town and also highlighted the lack of cycle space or parking at the station.
An Post has said the “nuts and bolts” of the future parcel services in Ballyhaunis are being worked on, dismissing fears that the amalgamation of Ballyhaunis sorting centre into a newly built centre in Castlerea will diminish local services.
“Issues arising from the planned consolidation of our mails offices in Ballyhaunis and Castlerea are currently being worked through," An Post told this column. "[There is] no reason to believe that the people of Ballyhaunis will not continue to receive the same excellent service that they have over the years from both our mails service and across the post office counter.”
An Post has yet to contact the operators of the local post office, SuperValu, said local representative Alma Gallagher.
“An Post have not initiated any communications to the operators of the postal service in Ballyhaunis regarding parcels despite stating it will continue the the normal service,” she said.
According to Cllr Gallagher, “there are no facilities in the post office Supervalu premises for businesses to drop parcels off and it was common practice for SMEs to go directly to the service delivery unit".
A three-day outage of water supply in the wider Cloonfad-Johnstown and Granlahan areas could be well be repeated.
“It’s like a tire with a dodgy tube, it could burst at any stage,” Gerry Coffey, secretary of the Johnstown Lavallyroe Water Scheme said.
“Farmers paying us deserve a reliable supply,” said Coffey who was among many farmers and householders in the area inconvenienced by the leak which also forced the closure of Cloonfad primary school.
Connected last year to the Irish Water supply, the Johnstown Lavallyroe Water Scheme remains in situ to manage its original pipework but the recent outage was caused outside the scheme's network by a faulty connecting pipe in Lowberry which was originally installed by Roscommon County Council 30 years ago, Coffey explained.
“My main gripe is that Irish Water should have taken over the scheme until the infrastructure was in place,” he said.
Users had to wait several days without water until the recent leaks were repaired by a Longford-based repair crew engaged by Uisce Éireann. By contrast, leaks in the Johnstown Lavallyroe Water Scheme are fixed “within hours” by maintenance workers engaged by the local scheme, said Coffey.
While calling for a wider upgrade of local piping by Uisce Éireann, Coffey believes the latest incident underlines the under-funded nature of the national water utility company relative to national water network requirements.
“[Former minister for the Environment] Phil Hogan was correct in seeking to bring water charges for all. The loony left jumped up and down and said no to water charges. If we had water charges for all we wouldn’t have these problems as it would be fully funded.”
Inspectors from the Department of Social Protection visited several properties in Ballyhaunis recently to check on adherence to the rules under which the Department makes the payment under the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP), which is paid to householders providing humanitarian accommodation to refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.
In one instance, a recipient of ARP had the payment cancelled when the Ukrainians were found to be living at an address different to that for which the ARP claim was submitted.
A statement from the Department of Social Protection, which administers the ARP on behalf of the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, acknowledged that inspections had occurred.
“The Department carries out a range of control measures to prevent, detect and deter fraud. These include checks both at the award stage and subsequent reviews. Control reviews across all schemes, including the ARP, include data matching with Departmental and other records; seeking confirmation of ongoing eligibility from claimants; and home visits by Social Welfare Inspectors where this is considered necessary.”
The ARP, noted the Department, “is a tax-free monthly financial contribution of €600 available to those providing accommodation on a humanitarian basis to a person or people who arrived in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive since March 2022".
"The payment is not intended to substitute rent, and it is not payable where there is a rental agreement in place.”
The ARP is underpinned by the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022. Under the Act, the scheme is not applicable where there is a rental agreement in place between the person providing the accommodation and the temporary protection beneficiary living in that accommodation.
“The payment does not create a landlord and tenant relationship between the accommodation host who has qualified for the financial contribution and the Ukrainians living in the accommodation, and it does not give temporary protection beneficiaries an automatic right to tenancy; the payment is not intended to substitute rent; the payment rate is not linked to the actual costs incurred by the person providing accommodation; the legislation only provides for the monthly ARP payment.”
However, the ARP scheme does allow for a beneficiary to agree with the host to contribute towards household costs, such as utilities.
“Agreements relating to contributions towards household costs are matters for the parties involved. Where agreements are made, the Department encourages hosts and beneficiaries to sign a licence agreement.”
The Department stressed that any alleged fraudulent activity in relation to the ARP scheme can be notified to ARP@welfare.ie - “and the Department will assess and act accordingly".
Mayo Cancer Support Association, at Rock Rose House in Castlebar, will be holding their annual church gate collection at St Patrick's Church, Ballyhaunis on the weekend of February 14th and 15th.
This local charity offers free emotional support to all affected by cancer and their families.
If anyone can volunteer to assist with the collections, please contact Rose at 083-4890754.
A genealogy seminar in Ballyhaunis recently prompted a wave of interest from overseas descendants of Ballyhaunis natives. Michigan-based Colleen Hopkins Bussey sent out a Facebook appeal for information on her Ballyhaunis ancestors after seeing a Ballyhaunis Community Council post on a seminary by local historian Billy Lyons on tracing family roots.
She wrote: “My father was David Francis the third. His father and grandfather were both David Hopkins (1880-1957 and 1838-1932) from Ballyhaunis. The first was the son of Patrick Hopkins, born 1795, who married Mari Maureen Mell Mulkeen, 1811-1871, daughter of John and Mary Mulkeen."
Billy drew on Griffith's Valuation listing and maps from 1855 to identify the Hopkins and Mulkeen clans who were farming commonage near Ballyhaunis. The local historian sent a map of the farms to Colleen who said she’s coming to Ballyhaunis in April to visit local cemeteries and landmarks related to her family. Billy will be speaking again on genealogical research methods on Tuesday, April 3, at 7pm at the Community Hall.
