Cllr John Shaw selected to join LDA’s Columb Barracks group

The Fianna Fáil councillor John Shaw has been selected as the representative of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad to the Land Development Agency’s Columb Barracks Advisory Group.

There was cross-party approval when Cllr Shaw was nominated for the role by Mullingar mayor, Cllr Bill Collentine.

The Land Development Agency (LDA) is set to start planning for the development of housing on the barracks site.

Cllr Shaw said that the closure of the barracks had been an emotive issue for the people of Westmeath, the local representatives and also for the groups based there.

“I’m not underestimating the task I have,” he said, adding that he would be bringing forth the view often expressed by his MDMK colleagues that the LDA cannot just build a few hundred houses at Columb Barracks and forget about it. “I would not be supporting that under any circumstances,” he said.

Nominating Cllr Shaw, Cllr Collentine said he believed all members were glad to see the LDA taking over the barracks: “It’s a long time sitting there with nothing being done, and it is great to see something being done with the barracks,” he stated, adding that he believed Cllr Shaw was the right man for the job.

“I think it’s important to have our own representative on the advisory group to negotiate the best results from Mullingar,” he said.

Seconding the nomination, Cllr Ken Glynn agreed that it was important that the district had representation on the group, and he said there was strong support for the retention of the community facility dimension to the barracks.

Also in support of the nomination was Cllr Denis Leonard: “I want to say how happy I am at the nomination of Cllr Shaw, a man of vast experience who has a great love of Mullingar and who has a lot to offer,” he stated, before going on to express the desire that the community groups who went into the barracks “when there was a vacuum and [who] filled that vacuum through drive, through passion, through ingenuity and through innovation” would continue to be accommodated.

He also felt it would be important to ensure the views of as many people as possible from those groups, as well as people who have ideas about education and recreation and proper infrastructure, are heard.

Cllr Andrew Duncan said that Cllr Shaw was an excellent choice – but cautioned that the enormity of the task at hand should not be underestimated.

“There is a lot of work to do and I think it is maybe a little unfair for him to be charged with taking control of this whole thing on his own, so we have to be ready to support him because I don’t think this is going to be a simple and straightforward process,” he stated.

Cllr Hazel Smyth shared that view, before going on to speak of the vision for a sustainable energy hub there and also the hope that the barracks could be a community space for workshops, pop-up shops, community groups, entertainment facilities – and possibly even eventually as a college.

Cllr Frank McDermott said he had every confidence in Cllr Shaw’s ability to undertake the work involved: “It’s not an easy task but I certainly offer him my full support,” he stated, while Cllr Aoife Davitt said he was the perfect person for the role and Cllr Paddy Hill said he was a “man of integrity”, and that there was no better man for the role.

However, he continued, he had reservations about the LDA itself: “I have very little time for the LDA at all, and I think it is taking away the powers of local public representatives and it’s only going to be a short time down the road until we won’t have a say in any bit of land that we own at all,” he said, adding that in his view, that was not for the betterment of local democracy.