Local Notes: All the latest news from Ballyhaunis
Prize winners at Ballyhaunis Golf Club are pictured with captain David Doherty. Picture: Glynn's Photography
American buyers are showing increased interest in property in the Ballyhaunis area. Local estate agent Gerry Coffey said he has seen a surge in interest from buyers seeking to leave American due to disaffection and worry over the country’s political direction.
A client looking at properties in the Ballyhaunis area told Coffey he “doesn’t know what’s going on in America, there’s uncertainty". The auctioneer said American buyers, like those from elsewhere, are drawn to “better value” in terms of house prices in the Ballyhaunis and Castlerea areas which have both ranked among the cheapest eircodes in Ireland for house prices in recent years.
Another American client of Coffey is seeking to purchase a property in Ireland “because his partner has a green card and he’s afraid of what can happen". That’s a reference to recent apprehensions and deportations of green card holders by immigration agents in America since the Trump administration took power.
US clients have also said they’re worried about violence and gun crime in America, according to Coffey who now sees the surge in American interest as potentially a mirror of the influx of British buyers post Brexit.
“The British demand for Irish property is not as good as it was, a lot moved after Brexit but now they’ve accepted it and it’s settled down," he explained.
Coffey said the latest influx are far more realistic about their plans to buy in Ireland.
“They are putting offers in, real offers. They’re phoning you when in Ireland, before they called from New York, they had a very romantic view of Ireland.”
Another Ballyhaunis-based estate agent has also had American interest.
“I won’t say there is a big influx,” said estate agent Kevin Kirrane who said his agency has made sales to several American buyers recently. “Wealthy retired couples are probably the [Americans] most likely to come to Ireland.”
An Energy Master Plan for Ballyhaunis is being drafted by Ballyhaunis Sustainable Energy Community, with the support of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), a government agency.
As part of the drafting of their Energy Master Plan, the group is surveying locals in order to understand energy usage in the area, according to the group which is being advised by Belmullet-based Dr Orla Nic Suibhne, SEAI Sustainable Energy Community Mentor for Galway and Mayo.
The survey, titled ‘Ballyhaunis Sustainable Energy Community - Local Home Energy Survey’, will be distributed electronically to locals in the coming weeks as part of the process to create an action plan to help the community increase its energy efficiency and independence, while reducing carbon emissions, and harnessing local energy generation opportunities.
Ballyhaunis Sustainable Energy Community hopes that through this project members of the community may decide to apply for grant funding from the SEAI and other bodies to improve the thermal comfort of local buildings while also cutting energy costs and carbon emissions.
The feedback from this survey will help form an understanding of home energy needs of the people within the community, providing an opportunity to input into the study and strategy of the energy master plan. Everyone who submits a response to the survey will also be automatically entered into a draw to win one of ten free home energy assessments worth €850 each. Findings of this survey will be combined with no individual responses publicly identified.
Ballyhaunis Language Café is inviting anyone who’d like to practice French or Irish in a friendly conversation setting to join the group on Sunday evenings for a social chat in the Corner Bar.
Already running for several years, the group also meets Thursdays in Paddy’s Bar at 7pm for Spanish conversation while the English conversation group meets every Thursday at 8pm in the Community Hall.
Further details can be obtained by calling 087-9777899.
The EU’s rush to arm the continent means there’ll be less money coming in the post from Brussels for local farmers, according to local MEP Luke Ming Flanagan.
The Castlerea man outlined the sharp increase in EU defence spending and cuts to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on some eye-catching banners outside his large booth at the recent National Ploughing Championship finals in County Offaly.
The EU’s CAP budget is to fall 20% over seven years even as defense spending is set to rise by 40% yet the rearmament figure is likely to rise further. The next EU budget “prioritises fighting over feeding” read the banner outside Ming’s spacious marquee at the ploughing event. EU defense spending is set to rise from €30 billion in the 2021-2027 period to €150 billion in the 2028-2034 period, according to data provided by Flanagan’s banners.
Ireland’s CAP budget will have fallen by 70% in real terms between 1991 and 2028, the MEP explained. The CAP was worth €1.87 billion to Irish farms in 1991 but is worth €1.5 billion in 2025 and under current proposals will be worth €1.14 billion in 2028. If the package were to be adjusted in line with inflation, it should be worth €3.84 million in 2025, according to Ming.
The CAP is largely funded from the EU’s central budget, with contributions from member states, to pay for Single Farm Payments to farmers. It also funds environmental actions such as the popular ACRES scheme.
Government plans to leave the fast food industry out of planned VAT cuts for the hospitality sector would be unfair, said the operator of Ballyhaunis’ Supermac’s outlet.
The VAT rate for the hospitality sector is expected to be cut from 13% to 9% in the upcoming budget, a well-flagged effort by government to cushion restaurants and cafes from rising costs. However, the government is seeking ways to restrict the cut for large fast food chains, according to reports in .
Dinal Swaris, owner of the Supermac’s franchise in Ballyhaunis, disagrees with that move.
“It would not be fair to segregate fast food from the rest even though there will be a loophole found to benefit from the new rate. Operational costs have seen a significant increase and this has effected the bottom line,” he explained. “The reduced rate could add up to the bottom line hence keeping businesses afloat and in operation.”
The editorial team busy at work on ‘Annagh 2025’ remind all PROs and secretaries of clubs and organisations in the parish of Annagh and the town of Ballyhaunis to send in reports as soon as possible. Also, they invite all newly married couples to submit their photograph for the ever-popular wedding gallery. The deadline this year is October 10th.
Written contributions and photographs may be emailed to info@annaghmag.ie or given to any committee member: Tommy Caulfield, Noreen Ruane Dalton, John Kilduff, Jim Lundon, Edward Mulhern, Seamus Mulrennan, Nell Rochford, Mike Griffin, Gabriel Smith, Paul Waldron.
Ballyhaunis Community Council is inviting anyone with suggestions of or access to films they’d like to see during the autumn/winter months to get in touch as the cinema programme is being put together for the 2025/26 season.
A note from the organisers explains: “We are very keen to get films made locally to show during our regular heritage screenings. We are also planning to show a monthly documentary and a foreign language film once a month with the Ballyhaunis Language Café.”
A cinema quality projector and screen were installed at the Community Hall in 2024 with funds from the Community Centre Investment Fund. Suggestions for films can be sent to ballyhauniscommunitycouncil@gmail.com.
Those in the Ballyhaunis area impacted by mink attacks will take interest in a new pilot project in the Midlands.
Described as a non-native, invasive predator, the mink is a semi-aquatic animal which breeds near watercourses where it also poses a threat to ground-nesting birds and other wildlife. It’s also been blamed for the elimination of several flocks of domestic and wild fowl in the Ballyhaunis area in the past year.
Run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the new pilot programme aims to eradicate the American mink - a species long bred in Ireland for its fur before the practice was outlawed in the past decade - from the pilot area around Lough Ree over the three and a half years using volunteers in conjunction with the Breeding Waders EIP [European Innovation Partnership] and the National Association of Regional Game Councils with support from the NPWS. The project will employ new methods based on best practice, like remote sensor traps and detection dogs. The mink will be euthanised humanely. More details can be found at minkeradication.ie.
