Sparks fly as Westport cries foul over 'loss' of funds

Sparks flew at a meeting last week after a local councillor claimed that Westport is "on the hind tit" when it comes to public funding and is losing out to Belmullet.

Speaking at a meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn alleged that the manager of the district, Seamus O'Mongáin, who is a native of Doohoma in North Mayo, is not available to engage with local interest groups in Westport or pursue grants to properly develop the area. However, the claims were emphatically refuted by Achill-based Cllr Paul McNamara who said Westport's problem was that it had lost a minister following the retirement of Michael Ring, who successfully delivered a range of successful projects to his local area.

A full-blown debate erupted with tempers fraying as Cllr Flynn levelled the charges at management, referring specifically to a grant recently won for Belmullet while an application for a development scheme at Westport Quay was refused.

Claiming that two applications for grants to help with flooding had been submitted by the municipal district for the Belmullet area but none for Louisburgh, Westport and Newport, Cllr Flynn charged: “I never heard of Belmullet being a flood area before. How has Westport become the poor relation? Is the structure broken within our municipal district? The more I speak to people the more I think we have lost out and this municipal district structure was never great to begin with as Belmullet and Westport were never a fit, no offence to Belmullet.” 

Accusing Mr O’Mongáin of being "missing in action" in terms of Westport, he continued: “We had a meeting with the Garda Chief Superintendent in January at which there was no head of the municipal district in attendance. The Tidy Towns, Chamber of Commerce, Destination Westport - again he has never met with them. 

"Manager, you are here one day a week, we don’t know what that one day is and it really seems to be becoming more difficult to have meetings with staff when situations around housing and other issues are happening. We just don’t have any senior people here and are missing out on grant application after grant application and I wonder is it time we sit down with the chief executive about how our area is run because clearly your focus is entirely on Belmullet and we have a serious loss of senior staff here.” 

However, other councillors rushed to Mr O'Mongáin's defence with Cllr McNamara accusing Cllr Flynn of “painting the wrong picture”.

“You have had 20 years of a minister driving everything to you in Westport, even a new road. He signed off on everything and even had the Taoiseach from the other side with a biro in hand as well. You are mourning the loss of Michael Ring and you can’t hack it. You are at this since I came into the chamber yet you have three councillors in Westport.” 

Cllr John O’Malley supported Cllr Flynn saying: “Every month I submit a list of things that need to be done but it seems to go in one ear and out the other and we are being treated as fools."

Cllr O'Malley then proceeded to list works sought on graveyard roads, removal of fallen ESB cables, a relief road for Westport Industrial Estate, and line marking at the Carraholly junction.

Erris councillor Gerry Coyle said he was "in shock" listening to the complaints from councillors Flynn and O'Malley. 

"How many times did I come up here for years when we didn’t even have an engineer below. Everyone was on this side of the fence. Now when a man from Belmullet is in the job of Municipal District Head you say we are doing it all wrong. The reality is we are the people on the ground who have suffered in silence for years and the only money coming into our area was used for windmills and gas. We didn’t have the big Allergans delivering the rates to us and if it wasn’t for the few pound Michael Ring sent our way to fix a couple of walls, we would be washed away.

“You think you are hard done by but I tell you, come and live in the real world. Come and live with us and talk to the woman whose electricity was off for 12 days while the windmills were still running at the back of her house, keeping all your lights on and all your swimming pools heated, while our own is closed down.” 

Belmullet councillor Sean Carey added: “In the outlying areas, we are at such a disadvantage. People on the ground don’t think we are getting what we should, we are being left behind and only scraping on the surface of what we should be getting. Local people have to make a 100-mile round trip for a swimming pool even though we have a pool there in the town closed because of the cost of running it, yet there is gas coming in from Belmullet all being piped out around the country. And look at all the money going on the windmills and more planned and we are not getting the benefit of that either. 

"People are getting very annoyed and frustrated. Everything is being produced locally and shipped out and we are not getting the returns."

Cllr Brendan Mulroy said the lack of funding for flood works along the Mall River in Westport is a serious omission but fully supported his Achill and Belmullet colleagues, saying that everyone needed to work together on the municipal district council.

Cllr Chris Maxwell said it was “great to see the passion every councillor has for their own areas”, going on to highlight serious flooding issues in Louisburgh and saying he had been shocked to learn that after submitting locations of a list of trees badly felled during Storm Éowyn that the district management had not even passed the information on to the council executive.

Proposing a meeting be held with Mayo Co Council's chief executive Kevin Kelly within the next month, Cllr Flynn stated: “The four councillors here are not happy the way things have evolved. We can’t get work done that should be basic to do and are getting battered every time we walk down the street as a result by the people who feel they are disenfranchised.” 

Cllr Brendan Mulroy seconded the proposal.

In response, Director of Services Joanne Grehan said Westport had not been wanting in 2025, with "significant" funding for car parks and housing.

"There is a member of the senior management team in the Westport office every day (Jim Power) who has responsibility as our administrative officer.

"I hear your frustration and guarantee we are very happy at any time to discuss matters with you, but when I see how hard our team work I cannot say there is any under-performance. There is always room for improvement, but this area has been very successful in terms of what has been achieved in the last year.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.