Local notes: Auctioneer celebrates two decades in business
Cllr John Cribbin turned the sod for a monument to be built in the village of Moneymore honouring Private Billy Kedian on the 25th anniversary of his death. Third from right in the photo is Joe Fitzimmons, owner of the land where the monument will be built. Father-in-law of Private Kedian's sister Mary, Joe has donated the site to the committee.
It’s a case of déjà vu for one of Ballyhaunis’ best-known property vendors who is now seeing prices return to levels seen when he entered the industry during the peak of the Celtic Tiger in 2004.
“Things started to go wrong in 2006, then it was really bad in 2009,” recalls Kevin Kirrane who owns APP Kirrane with his wife Caroline. “For two years then the market was as flat as a pancake. In 2011 a recovery started.” When government allowed banks to begin repossessing properties tied to bad debt in 2011 to 2012, “it wasn’t popular but we boarded that bus,” said Kirrane, who handled sales as banks sold off properties to clean up their loan books.
The market was further buoyed by government tax reliefs which allowed those purchasing homes in the 2012 to 2014 period to resell those homes within seven years without having to pay tax on the resale. That relief was later extended.
“It was all outside interference to move the market,” Kirrane recalls.
Within a decade the supply glut has morphed into Kirrane’s key problem today: a shortage of properties to sell to plentiful buyers. House price inflation in the Ballyhaunis area is now outstripping levels seen in major cities like Galway, said Kirrane, with competition among buyers driving homes past the advertised price. A substantial rural home in the Roscommon hinterlands of Ballyhaunis was recently sold by Kirrane for more than €400,000, a price that is justifiable because of the comparable building costs in constructing a similar residence today, explained the estate agent.
The government grants for renovating derelict properties have, he believes, driven up the value of long abandoned rural homes. “These are now coming to market at €60,000 or €70,000 but in reality they’re more of a forty or fifty thousand euro property.”
The sale of these properties, often by farmers, also sometimes creates an issue of right-of-ways, explained Kirrane, if the purchaser isn’t also buying the land surrounding the home and is uncomfortable about sharing access with the farmer.
Senior figures from the Irish property marketing world descended on the Main Street offices of APP Kirrane auctioneers and valuers recently for the company’s celebration of two decades in business. Among the guests was Pat Davitt, CEO of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV).
Daft.ie were present at the APP Kirrane event, handing out free stationery.
A new evangelical Roma church has been established in the town to cater to the growing Roma community locally. The Grace Christian Fellowship had its first meeting at the Community Hall on Sunday, February 25. Led by pastor Stefan Gala, who preaches in the Slovak language, the church is a local chapter of a church registered with the ministry of the interior in the Slovak Republic.
An earlier church – also serving the local Slovak community – has ceased local services due to lack of numbers. The Word of Life met every Saturday afternoon under the guidance of Pastor Pavol Drapak, who travelled from Portlaoise for the service at the Community Hall. The World of Life, explained pastor Drapak, was established in Ballyhaunis due to the significant Czech and Slovak communities, some of whom work in local factories Dawn Meats and Western Brand.
“Currently we are waiting to commence our services once again in Ballyhaunis,” he said.
Ballyhaunis is also home to two other evangelical churches: the Assembly of God Mission gathers for Portuguese language services twice weekly upstairs in the former SuperValu supermarket on Main Street. Led by pastor Emmanuel Olanrewaju, the English-language Word of Life Church meets at its own church in a rented premises upstairs at the Enterprise Centre on Clare Road.
A new sculpture in honour of St Don Bosco has been unveiled at St Mary’s Church, Tooreen. Commissioned by local priest Fr Jerald David, the ‘Dream of Two Columns’ statue was created by a Kilkelly-based sculptor to encourage more prayer at St Mary’s Church.
Fr David explained that the new sculpture is inspired by a dream Don Bosco had on May 30, 1862 in which in the midst of an endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soared high into the sky. One column was surmounted by a statue of the Virgin Mary and another by a Host.
“It took hours and hours,” said sculptor Paul Tant of the project. Much of it was completed in Tant’s home studio in Kilkelly with the rest completed on site in Tooreen. Tant was approached after he completed a separate sculpture in Woodfield church.
As well as being a wood sculptor Tant has also completed various small building projects in the wider Kilkelly and Tooreen areas. The London native hand-crafted the John Bosco sculpture, only using moulds in a few delicate areas.
Quoting the words of Don Bosco, “have devotion to Our Lady and you will see what miracles are!”, Fr Jerald David explained that a Perpetual Adoration committee in St Mary’s Church, Tooreen was formed in October 2011 with Canon James Kelly RIP, Mike Kumar RIP, Jimmy Kelly, Sean Duffy, TJ Murtagh, Julie Frain, Elaine Tener, Mary Forkan RIP and Valarie Farrelly RIP.
“There were leaflets passed around in all three Churches inviting everyone to give one hour per week of their choice to Adoration. Generous people came forward to maintain the expenses incurred.”
Present members of the Adoration Committee are Ita Freeman, Marian Carney, Mary Judge, Maureen Lyons and Fr Jerald David.
The sod has been turned on the site for a monument honouring a local soldier killed on duty in the Lebanon in 1999. Councillor John Cribbin officiated alongside an organising committee led by neighbours JT Smyth and Gerry O’Boyle which has secured the site off the main road in Moneymore, the home village of Private Billy Kedian.
The monument, which will be installed this summer to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Private Kedian’s death, was originally to be sited on Kilmannin bridge but is now located 30 feet off the main road at Moneymore.
The monument will be ringed by a curved limestone wall and will cost approximately €10,000 according to JT Smyth, part of the organising committee which secured the funds to erect the monument – to be installed by local monument specialist Martin Gavin – from Mayo County Council.
After screenings of the Quiet Man and two foreign language films recently, the next showing at the community cinema at the Community Hall will be ‘Navalny,’ a documentary about the recently deceased Russian opposition leader. The film will be shown at 8pm on Friday, March 2 by the film club committee of Ballyhaunis Community Council. Entry is free, with tea and coffee served.
Ballyhaunis Community Council has criticised the pressure on small community groups from the long turnaround time in payment of grants under the LEADER programme, an EU-subsidised fund for rural development which extended a grant to cover 60 per cent of the cost of the refurbishment of the Community Hall.
In a statement to members, the Community Council said five months has passed since paying the contractor but that they were still waiting for funds from LEADER to be paid.
“In the meantime we have paid approximately €2,000 in interest on the borrowings we made to bridge the time between paying the builder and getting the money from LEADER. Long term borrowings on the project amount to approximately €140,000.”
The issue will be discussed at a monthly meeting, open to all, of the Community Council scheduled for 8pm on February 28 at the Community Hall.
A senior figure in the Fine Gael party machine in County Mayo was honoured at Brickens Community centre recently. The Fine Gael party apparatus in East Mayo gathered with locals to rename the Bekan Fine Gael branch as the ‘Michael Sloyan Bekan Fine Gael Branch’ in honour of the former director of elections for the party in Mayo, who died suddenly in 2021.
“He was a central figure to our local and national election campaigns in Mayo,” explained Councillor John Cribbin.
An accomplished singer with Bekan Parish Church and Choir and the driving force behind the East Mayo Ramblers Group, Michael was honoured by party TDs Michael ring and Alan Dillon who joined local councillor John Cribbin and MEP Maria Walsh.
The evening was overseen by Michael Swords, chairperson of the Bekan branch of Fine Gael. Former TD and MEP Jim Higgins was also present.
