Local Notes: All the latest news from Ballyhaunis
Speakers and organisers at the recent Climate Conversations event organised by Ballyhaunis Community Council as part of Climate Action Week in Mayo.
The passing of a Brickens man in New York marks a farewell to a proud retailing tradition and the celebration of a generation who helped carve a path for a wave of Irish emigrants seeking a better life in America’s biggest city.
When Tom Concannon was laid to rest in Yonkers, there were many tributes to his stewardship of Morley’s supermarket on Yonkers Avenue, which he ran for decades with his brother John who passed away in 2016.
Both men emigrated from Brickens to work in the store, which had been established in 1935 by their aunt and her husband, William and Cecelia (Morley) Concannon. A third brother, Liam, also worked in the business, which for a time expanded to several stores.
Tom had visited Brickens earlier this year, explained Eugene Delaney, whose brother Martin worked in Morley’s when, like many Irish, he moved to New York during the 1980s.
“Many Irish emigrants who hadn’t gotten around to opening a bank account had their first cheques cashed at Morley’s,” explained Eugene. “It was the 1980s and a lot of people were going to America, every other week you were bringing someone to Shannon [airport],” recalls Delaney.
Morley’s supermarket is today operated as the Ideal Fresh Supermarket and carries a range of goods appealing to a very diverse local population including a large New York Irish population which has traditionally congregated on a strip running from Yonkers Avenue eastwards into the Woodlawn district of the Bronx.
Retail was a tradition in the wider Concannon family who ran a drapery store on Main Street in Ballyhaunis in the building which now houses Phillips' Menswear.
Tributes were paid to Tom by the Aisling Irish Centre in Woodlawn, a meeting point for the local Irish community and their American-born children.
Bridgestock Care, the Roscommon-based company which owns and operates the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) facility in Ballyhaunis, has applied to Mayo County Council for permission to build 32 new accommodation units at its site on Abbey Street. The company, which lodged the application last week, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
There appears to be widespread acceptance among residents at the centre of a government plan to charge them for accommodation. Four asylum seekers who spoke to the - all with family and living in bungalow-style accommodation at the Ballyhaunis IPAS centre – said they agreed with the principle of an accommodation charge. The Government has suggested the charge will range from €15 to €238 per week depending on income.
“It makes sense,” said one west African father-of-two who has lived in the Ballyhaunis centre for nearly two years having arrived in Ireland via Belfast Port to claim asylum in Dublin. Both he and his wife are in employment.
A south Asian resident of the Ballyhaunis IPAS centre said while he is willing to pay he questioned the amount, €238, which is the maximum he will be liable to pay under the plan.
“I earn €550 a week, so that will be half of what I earn every week going on rent,” said the man who works in the fast-food sector.
The proposed €238 charge also covers utilities.
A north African resident of the IPAS centre said he thinks the charge is too high, given his average weekly wage of €540. He told this column that comparisons with migrants on work permits earning similar wages (and paying rent) are unfair “because they have papers… I would pay too if I had papers".
Data provided by the Department of Justice show the average cost per person per night at an IPAS centre - 90% of which are operated by private companies - was €84 in 2024, up from €72 in 2020.
The West African and the South Asian asylum seeker who spoke to the stressed they are contributing to their accommodation costs by paying taxes.
The Minister of Justice Jim O'Callaghan recently flagged the Government’s intent to introduce charges for residents of IPAS centres who are in employment. However, the mechanics of introducing and collecting the fee have yet to be agreed upon and payments are not expected to commence until mid-2026.
Ireland saw a surge in asylum applications from 2022 to 2024 when over 45,000 applicants arrived in Ireland, a huge increase on an average 3,000 per year in the previous decade. The majority of asylum applications in the past two years have been made at the International Protection Office in Dublin, suggesting most asylum seekers arrive via the United Kingdom.
Over 32,500 people are currently resident in over 316 IPAS centres nationwide. Government data shows nearly 5,000 of these residents have been granted permission to remain in Ireland.
A popular genealogy programme run for the past two months at the Community Hall is set to continue on November 12 with a screening of films from the past.
A winter course with the Mayo Genealogy Group drew a large attendance from the wider area with amateur historians from Bekan, Knock and Cloonfad joining Ballyhaunis heritage hobbyists.
The screenings will feature archive news and documentary material from the Irish Film Institute as well as RTÉ and the BBC. More details can be had by contacting ballyhauniscommunitycouncil@gmail.com or 087-6982473.
Local beef farmers have been enjoying high cattle prices of late fear that the probable enactment of the EU’s free trade deal with the Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and) could pull those prices back down.
A local suckler farmer explained to this column how a heifer he killed last week at the local Dawn Meats factory yielded him a price €650 greater than what he received for comparable cattle in November 2024.
“There are less cattle around so prices are high but things could change if we let Brazilian beef into the EU market. Ireland exports nearly all its beef production, we don’t have a big domestic market. So if the Brazilians arrive in volume that’ll take market share off us.”
The EU negotiators have stressed that Mercosur’s quota of 99,000 tons is very small in the context of an overall EU annual consumption of six million tonnes of beef. To ensure EU standards are met, European veterinarians will conduct on-site inspections of slaughterhouses in Latin America.
The EU has also set aside a safety net fund worth €6 billion for any European industries adversely impacted by the trade deal: this fund would be triggered in the instance of Irish beef prices falling by 10% or more after the enactment of the trade deal which sees the 99,000 ton quota introduced gradually over six years.
A 2021 study, commissioned by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, estimated the net result to be that imports of beef from Mercosur would increase by 53,000 tonnes and the impact of the additional imports on Ireland, assuming they were high-end cuts, would cost Irish beef producers up to €55 million in market share.
It’s worth taking into account that Ireland currently exports €20 million worth of meat to Mercosur countries and also ships beverages worth €22 million as well as, implausibly, €10 million of what is categorised as vegetables.
It’s also worth noting that many farmers in Mayo have off-farm incomes at pharmaceutical plants who expect their trade with Mercosur to grow once tariffs of 20% plus are removed.
The first residents have moved into the former premises of the Bank of Ireland on the Square in Ballyhaunis, which was renovated recently by Achill Formwork and Construction and Dublin finance and development firm Sayvale.
“It’s a lovely building, they did a great job renovating it,” said one resident, a retired man who has been on the Mayo County Council housing list.
The entire building has been rented by the council to house individuals on its housing list.
The lease is directly between the project developer, a Dublin-based company called Sayvale, and the council under the Government’s Repair and Leasing Scheme, which subsidises the repair of buildings provided they’re then leased for social housing.
Residents can enter through two entrances, one at the front and the other at the rear. Across the road from the Bank of Ireland building, work continues on the former Dillon’s building, which is being remodelled into eight apartments that will also be leased for social housing.
Extensive pile driving was required to strengthen the building’s foundations, explained construction workers on the site this week. This, they said, increased the complexity and length of time the building works have taken. The project is expected to be completed by Christmas.
