Local Notes: Ballyhaunis celebrates with local priest
Fr Stephen Farragher (second from left) at a party to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his ordination, with his classmates from St Jarlath's College, Tuam, 1973-78, from left: Mike Grogan, Liam Lyons and Eugene Lannon.
More than 300 guests celebrated the 40th anniversary of the ordination of popular parish priest Fr Stephen Farragher on Friday evening, June 20th.
Local parishioner Tommy Caulfield explained to this column how Fr Stephen of Ballyrourke, The Neale was ordained on June 16, 1985, in St John’s Church, The Neale by the then Archbishop of Tuam Joseph Cunnane.
“Among the clergy in attendance at the [recent] celebrations were Dr Francis Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam as well as Fr Stephen’s brother, Fr Pat Farragher and former Ballyhaunis curate Fr James O’Grady,” explained Tommy.
The homily at celebratory mass was delivered by fellow seminarian Fr Tommy O’Connor, a renowned historian at Maynooth University.
Tommy continued: “At the celebratory function, a number of presentations were made on behalf of parish organisations to mark the momentous milestone and in gratitude for Fr Stephen’s unwavering faith, tireless dedication, and loving service to God and His people.
“MC for the evening was Kevin Henry, Chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council, who paid tribute to Fr Stephen’s role over the years as shepherd, teacher, and friend, guiding his parishioners with wisdom, comforting us with compassion, and inspiring by example.”
The parish council, which organised the party at the local rugby club, presented a framed papal blessing and a travel voucher to Fr Stephen. Catering was provided by the local SuperValu and a vast array of desserts were made by local parishioners. Breege Kenny made a cake in a near-perfect likeness of the local St Patrick’s church while DJ Noel Finnegan provided the tunes for the party which went into the early hours. Several members of the local Muslim community also attended the event.
Local estate agent Kevin Kirrane thinks rent pressure zones (RPZs), which now extend to the entire country, have been a bad idea.
“Overall I don’t agree with the rent pressure zones. RPZ was the reason developers stopped building apartments in big numbers. But what I didn’t know is that [the Government] had been extending the zones bit by bit - for a while there was only 27% of the country that’s wasn’t in the RPZ.”
The inability to increase rents has a knock-on effect on property values, Kirrane explains.
“I went to put a rent up in Williamstown last week to find Williamstown was already put into an RPZ. The worst hit people with the new RPZ is the nice landlord who didn’t keep his rents up to market value. Now he can only put up his rent 2% max, no good. So two identical houses side by side - one with €700 rent per month and the other €1,000 per week have a market value now of €120,000 and €180,000 respectively. So that’s what a good landlord gets for being nice to their tenants.”
The use of rent controls is part of a wider government strategy, Kirrane believes.
“My gut feelings are this is being done for a reason. Next step is cut the VAT on large number of apartment builds. Then cut VAT on new builds for builders and buyers. Next up will be some form of tax breaks for developers or investors.”
Kirrane expects rents to rise further while government-assisted social housing entities compete with would-be landlords for houses.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures but the property market is grinding to a halt. One house in Galway city sold for €300,000 over asking. An entire estate sold out in 48 hours."
Several members of the Ballyhaunis First Choice Credit Union are hopeful for a change of mind by management despite a petition presented to the company in Castlebar asking for Saturday opening hours.
One member explained: “They have reaffirmed their original decision and the reduced trading hours are in place now for several weeks... we are hoping for an extraordinary general meeting to overturn this decision but so far the board are refusing this avenue.”
It’s a good time to be a seller of farmland, according to local auctioneer Gerry Coffey, who said prices are being buoyed by “strong agricultural commodity prices".
Mr Coffey pointed to a recent Teagasc survey showing a 37% growth in average farm incomes.
“Plus there is a big demand for land from farmers wishing to enter EU environmental schemes, for example there’s an increase in organic farming.”
Most sales are to local farmers but Coffey has also sold land in the Ballyhaunis area to farmers a good distance away.
“One man who bought land has replacement heifers on it and is paying someone to mind them for him,” he explained.
While there has been no sale of large holdings, Coffey expects a busy July.
“Most people sell in the summer when the sun is high in the sky and the land is looking at its best.”
He has also had interest from investors in renewable energy projects for land he has on his books.
“If some fella explores the possibility of wind it has to be in the area that is suitable, on high ground and near power lines for connection to the grid.”
There has been little demand for land from forestry, said Coffey, who believes most of the hectarage being licensed for forestry is in fact replanting.
As regards worries about a flattening of EU farm payments: “When a guy goes into an auction room to buy he is not worried about payments, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase the land."
Record high prices for cattle have had a knock-on impact on meat prices, putting pressure on local fast food restaurant Supermacs.
“Prices went up in January and February,” explained Dinal Swaris, franchise owner of the Ballyhaunis outlet. “The cost of our meat patties went up and we had to absorb that cost.”
There has been a doubling of cattle prices in local marts over the past decade – as reported last month in this column.
Swaris is hopeful that a reopening of the Air Dome at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan will increase footfall. The destruction of the all-weather facility by Storm Éowyn earlier this year was bad for business, he says.
“We lost a good few buses, of schools who were playing in competitions there.”
He is also hopeful that the completion of two large apartment developments at the Square in Ballyhaunis will bring new customers. Both the former Bank of Ireland and Dillon’s building are expected to be completed in the Autumn.
“Definitely, if there are more people living in the town this will be good for the restaurants.”
The closure of two businesses near Supermacs on Main Street was a negative, said Swaris.
“As a town, two more vacant buildings can create doubt in people’s minds, it’s an image thing.”
On a more positive note, a mooted reverting of the VAT rate on hospitality sector from 13% to 9% would be good news.
“Definitely, this would help us,” said Swaris who is also relieved that planned further increases in the minimum wage - to the level of a “living wage” - has been deferred by the Government, which had initially planned to start the phase in the next year.
An organisation providing significant funding to environmental projects in Mayo is headed by a Ballyhaunis native.
Samantha Briody, CEO of the Dublin-based Sunflower Charitable Foundation, is originally from Doctor’s Road in Ballyhaunis. Her parents Jenny and Patsy Glynn ran a successful photography business.
The Sunflower Charitable Foundation was established in Ireland in 2021 as a family trust and registered charity. The organisation has focused on climate change and the reduction of child poverty as priorities in the donations it dispenses. It has also supported the Dublin Simon Community.
The pastor of Ballyhaunis Word of Life Church, Emmanuel Olanrewaju, is celebrating after his daughter Paulina qualified as a dentist.
Pastor Emmanuel, a native of Nigeria, drives every week to Ballyhaunis to minister at the English-language evangelical church which meets upstairs at the Enterprise Centre on Clare Road.
