Local Notes: Logboy NS pupils launch annual shoebox appeal

Council spends €25,000 a year on pool

Mayo County Council spends approximately €25,000 per year on the maintenance of the Ballyhaunis Swimming Pool, according to the council’s district manager.

“The Council owns the pool and it is operated during the summer months by a local voluntary committee who carry out excellent work,” explained Padraic Flanagan, Head of Claremorris Swinford Municipal District at Mayo County Council.

“Like any facility of its nature and age, there are always issues which require attention either from planned maintenance or a response maintenance nature,” he said. “Each year the council carries out work to ensure that the pool can remain open for the following season. We have carried out a significant amount of maintenance work in recent years and will continue to address any issue that is arising.

“You might remember that approximately 10 years ago the Council spent in excess of €400,000 to carry out energy retrofitting and refurbishment works at the pool. The majority of this funding was received from national sources.

“In conjunction with the local community, the council have also in recent years looked at the option of heating the water of the pool. This assessment is still ongoing and would be subject to capital funding being made available to carry out the work. The council would not have resources from its own funds to do work of this nature but this option is still on the table.”

Local IFA elects new committee

Local Irish Farmers’ Association members are worried about too much environmental-focused education in local primary schools.

“The farmer as the food producer is forgotten about. There is too much emphasis on the environment and we are asking for balance,” said Jarlath Walsh, county chairman of the IFA who was speaking after the annual general meeting of the local branch of the organisation.

That meeting saw Gerry Cuddy elected chairperson of the Ballyhaunis branch while Brian Higgins was elected secretary and Bernie Quinn registrar. Ollie Cribbin was elected as fourth delegate during the event which took place at the Community Hall.

Walsh explained a “broad range of issues discussed” at the Ballyhaunis meeting also included farm profitability and the generational transition and ageing of the farming population. He’s hoping to see increased attendance at meetings to be organised in the coming months with other IFA parish-based groups in the area like the clubs in Aghamore, Ballindine, Bekan and Knock.

“We hope to bring speakers from our national organisation and from farming related bodies like Bord Bia and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation,” said Walsh.

Asked about the benefits of membership, Walsh explained that the IFA offers members a legal helpline to save farmers from high legal bills while also offering advice on compliance with government agricultural subsidy schemes.

“We also offer debt advice,” said Walsh. “One person against the financial institutions has a lot less chance compared to an IFA team of trained people with knowledge of how to restructure loans.”

Debt levels are not at a historical high but much depends on the direction of costs for inputs like feed, fertiliser and fuel, said Walsh. He pointed to increases in food prices which, he said, remains well below inflation in other prices, such as energy.

Fianna Fáil convention set for November 27th

The Fianna Fáil Convention to select its team for next year’s local elections in the Claremorris electoral area will be held on Monday, November 27th, at the Ballyhaunis Community Hall at 8.30pm.

Two names have been nominated to contest the election – sitting Councillor Damien Ryan and Ballyhaunis-based businessman Stephen Nolan. Both will be formally ratified as candidates at the convention in Ballyhaunis.

Three Tenors play a special Christmas show at Friary

The Friary Church in Ballyhaunis is anticipating a busy Christmas period with a major concert by the popular Three Tenors on December 2. The performance, which commences at 8pm, will be the second this year for the trio and their only concert in the West.

The trio is promising “popular songs for everyone” with songs from the Dubliners to Andrea Bocelli, as well as Christmas favourites like ‘O Holy Night’, explained the group’s promoter John Conway.

Getting the tenors - Paul Feery, Conor Gibbons and Philip Klubicka – is a coup for the Friary given the trio has played sold-out shows in prestigious venues like St Patrick’s Cathedral and the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

The Ballyhaunis visit is a personal triumph for the group’s promoter John Conway, a native of Ballyhaunis. He describes the trio’s performance as a “fabulous mix of carefully selected popular and inspiring songs beautifully arranged and sung with passion that draws in people, who can easily connect with the three warm engaging singers”.

Any profit from the performance will go to the church restoration fund set up by the Abbey Trust, the voluntary body (made up of representatives from the local community as well as the Augustinian order and Mayo County Council) which holds the Friary property in trust for the community. Several structural issues have been identified at the historic church, originally built in the 15th century by Augustinian friars. Tickets for the show, priced €30, are on sale at the Gem CostCutter in Ballyhaunis and online at Eventbrite.ie.

GAA Club to hold AGM

The annual general meeting of Ballyhaunis GAA Club will be held on Saturday, December 9, at 6pm in the Community Hall.

All are welcome to attend.

Nomination forms will be circulated this week and should be returned to the club secretary by Monday, November 27.

Kirrane sees demand growing as prices reach Celtic Tiger levels

Local house prices are back at Celtic Tiger levels, according to local auctioneer Kevin Kirrane, whose APP Kirrane estate agency is up for a national award.

Semi-detached houses in Ballyhaunis are now fetching up to €170,000, levels last seen in 2006, said Kirrane who has seen a 10% rise in prices in 2023, with particularly strong demand from buyers outside of the area. APP Kirrane was nominated in the Residential Agency category in this year’s KPMG Property Industry Excellence Awards.

Higher-wage employment in the neighbouring county remains a significant driver of prices for homes on the Galway side of Ballyhaunis, according to Kirrane, who describes a two-bed recently renovated home in Dunmore fetching €1,000 in monthly rent.

Similarly, Kirrane sold two cottages in the Cloonfad area for historically high prices recently to buyers employed in the large Valeo car components complex in Tuam. A couple recently paid €180,000 for a three-bed home near Cloonfad requiring much renovation work, Kirrane explained.

While welcoming various Government grants to renovate homes, Kirrane also warns clients to be mindful of the requirements of such grants in their financial planning.

“There’s a lot to be done to get these grants, you need to get a proper engineer and not be messing about doing the work yourself, everything has to be certified and receipted for.”

Likewise, he notes, a project that could be entitled to upwards of €80,000 in various government grants will also require €150,000 in personal investment from the client.

Kirrane sees several continuing factors behind the continued abundance of empty homes in rural areas around Ballyhaunis. In some cases, homes are tied into the Government’s Fair Deal nursing scheme so they can’t come to market for a number of years. Likewise, farmhouses are often kept off the market because of the tax advantages in an inheritance that classes the house as a farm structure: this requires the inheritor to wait for six years in order to avoid taxes otherwise due.

With a new emphasis by the Government on energy efficiency, Kirrane sees a particular problem with older buildings in towns like Ballyhaunis.

“There are really thick stone walls and tenants are trying to save money and energy so the heat is left off for long periods and then you turn on a blast of heat on ice cold walls and the condensation starts to run.”

Related to that, ventilation is another issue: to upgrade the single glazing which predominates in the buildings of towns like Ballyhaunis requires ventilation of the structures.

“You need a four-inch hole bored through the wall to let in air that you’ll lock out by installing double or triple glaze windows.”

Tree planting

Members of the community are invited to a day of tree planting with experts in the Friary grounds on December 9th as part of the Choill Bheag (small woodland) project, which will see native Irish trees planted and signposted.

Pupils from local schools are also participating in the Choill Bheag project, which is overseen by tree experts from An Taisce and funded by the environmental department of Mayo County Council. The project is coordinated by the Abbey Partnership, which oversees the Friary and grounds for the community on behalf of the Abbey Trust, which owns the property.

Featuring various native Irish tree species - like alder, birch and hazel - the Choill Bheag will be 10 x 20 metres in area. After planting by local schoolchildren and other volunteers, signage will also be added on site naming various trees to be planted. Anyone seeking more details can contact ballyhaunisabbey@ gmail.com or 087-9777899.