Local Notes: Timeline revealed for major Ballyhaunis project
Carols and curries brought Christmas cheer at the festive gathering of the local Indian community on December 27th at the Community Hall in Ballyhaunis. The local Indian population are mostly from Kerala and are working as medical and care staff in nursing homes and at Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar.
Work will likely commence on the conversion of the former convent school building into a library in mid-2026, according to the Mayo County Council official overseeing the project.
The project is being completed with a €5.2 million government grant, as well as a loan of €500,000 being taken out by the council.
Bryan Scanlon, executive engineer at Mayo County Council, explained to this column that his office will this month submit key documents relating to the project to the government department funding the works.
“We have submitted the Stage Two Submission to the Libraries Development section of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (DRCDG). Our next step is to make a pre-tender submission to the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) under the DRCDG, which we hope to submit by the end of this month.”
The architects for the project, Reddy Architecture & Urbanism, are for the past months working on a design blueprint for the development, said Mr Scanlon.
“The detailed design is well underway, and contract documents are well advanced. Subject to the approval of the pre-tender submission by the Department, we can then go out to tender with the main contract. We would expect that the main works will commence on site in mid-2026. This is also subject to Department approval. The main construction contract is expected to take just over a year, with fit-out to follow that."
Ballyhaunis modular bathroom maker BPod is joining a major housing developer to change the way homes are built in order to roll out new houses faster.
Derek O’Connor, CEO of BPod, explained how its pre-assembled bathrooms, known as pods, are being used by Glenveagh Homes at its research and development centre in Carlow where the developer is working on ways to build houses more quickly.
“At Carlow they’re looking at how quickly this can be done. It’s like a modular approach to houses where you make more of the process off-site… this would facilitate quicker building, speed of construction,” said Mr O’Connor. “They have people looking at all that can be done off-site so that it’s just walls being built on site.”
A move into home building could be a major new opportunity for BPod, which sells 80% of its production to apartments and 20% to hotels and student accommodation. Its clients inlcude leading developers like Sisk and John Paul Construction whose executives regularly visit the company’s Ballyhaunis plant to agree on designs, explained Mr O’Connor.
BPod’s sales in 2025 were constant with 2024 and Mr O’Connor is expecting a surge in business in the second part of 2026 due to anticipated new real estate project starts in Ireland and the UK.
“It’s been busy but could always be busier,” he noted. “Hopefully, the Irish government can change the ways of funding housing to get more private investors back. They’re not active because it’s too expensive to build but without private investors we won’t hit the government’s house building targets.”
The state’s Land Development Agency (LDA) is very active and “working hard”, said Mr O’Connor. However, private investors, including hedge funds and pension funds, have been staying on the sidelines but may be drawn in by the Government reducing the VAT on apartment sales in the most recent Budget.
Some 70% of BPod’s production is sold in Ireland with the other 30% exported to the UK. Mr O’Connor said he expects in 2026 some of what he describes as 150 projects held up in Britain due to the follow-up investigations and regulatory changes following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London.
BPod faces competition from pod makers in Northern Ireland and Europe. Competition from China isn’t an issue as “people don’t want bathrooms from China, there’s three months of shipping to get a part".
A total of 194 fixed charge notices - the term to describe fines for motoring offences - were issued by Gardaí in Ballyhaunis in 2025, according to the Garda Press Office. That’s up on 159 penalties handed out in the year to December 18th in 2024.
Some 116 fixed charge notices (FCNs) were issued in the town of Ballyhaunis from the period of December 31st, 2021 to June 11th, 2022. Fixed charge notices come with a fine of €40 but don’t result in penalty points on a driver’s license.
Gardaí have in recent years collaborated with Mayo County Council to reduce congestion with a move against parking on double yellow lines.
Some €3,100 raised by a Christmas tractor run in Brickens will go towards the creation of a walking track and biodiversity garden in Brickens as part of the Kelly’s Field redevelopment in the village.
“We got the field so it gave us a purpose to organise towards,” explained Eoin Delaney, one of the organisers of the tractor and truck run, which also encompasses Claremorris and Ballindine.
“We got the planning permission in 2025 and made an application to the LEADER programme through Southwest Mayo Development Company,” added Mr Delaney, explaining that if the application is successful, LEADER funding would cover 75% of the cost with the rest having to be sourced locally.
The first phase of the Kelly's Field development will see the creation of a 500-metre lit walkway and a biodiversity garden. The lit walkway will link various elements of the village like Tom’s Lane with the church and creche as well as the Lohan Park residence, said Mr Delaney.
“There are also plans for a playground and a parking space as well as a recreational space for young and old,” he added.
Separately, Eastern Gaels GAA will go for its own funding for an astro-turf pitch on the site, said Mr Delaney, who hopes that works can begin on phase one – the walkway and biodiversity garden - in the spring.
Money collected at the tractor run will be useful once works get underway. Now in its fourth year, the Brickens tractor run has grown and will be an annual feature of Christmas in Brickens.
This year the drivers headed from Brickens towards Claremorris before turning off onto the N17 and then heading to Ballindine from where the convoy streamed back to Brickens.
“Lads came from Tuam and from Ballaghaderreen,” said Mr Delaney.
Among the trucks was a lorry from the crew of prominent Galway-based construction firm Warde & Burke, explained Mr Delaney, whose own construction firm Kiltav Civil Engineering has carried out ground works in several GAA grounds across East Mayo.
Tractor runs are becoming more common, he noted, with some coming very near each other on the calendar. But the shorter nature -one hour long – of the Brickens one makes it popular among families as well as drivers, he explained.
The organisers of a popular bicycle repair clinic are inviting new volunteers to join the monthly repair session, which returns to the Ballyhaunis Community Hall on January 17th.
The volunteer led initiative helps empower locals to make healthy and sustainable travel choices by repairing cycles at a minimal cost to the owners.
A winner of a Cathaoirleach Award from Mayo County Council in 2025, the bicycle repair clinic will open on January 17th at 9am with a one-hour workshop on bicycle brakes followed by repairs carried out by the volunteer repair crew.
“Come along and learn a new skill, make new friends and be part of a friendly team,” the organisers said.
Oranmore-based theatre company Bualadh Bos will bring , by Seamus O’Rourke, to Ballyhaunis Community Hall on the night of February 14th.
The play is “brilliantly written” by Leitrim based writer Seamus O’Rourke, explained Bualadh Bos producer John Morley.
“It will make you laugh and cry. It’s the story of brothers Pat and Eugene, two bachelor farmers who haven't spoken for 40 years until one night in 1979.”
Following sold out shows in Oranmore and Galway, Bualadh Bos will take the show to Ballyhaunis before going on the All-Ireland drama circuit. Tickets at €15 can be booked by emailing ballyhauniscommunitycouncil@gmail.com.
