NEWS REVIEW 2023: June

June started out with the news that retained firefighters were to begin a campaign of industrial action unless their demands for better pay and conditions were met.

Out of 3,000 firefighters nationwide, 2,000 are employed as retained staff rather than full-time. They receive annual retainers starting at €8,500, and the remainder of their pay is based on the number of callouts they attend. Two weeks later, they were out in force on the picket line in Mullingar, like so many across the country, and the shop steward said the service was in “massive trouble”.

That month also saw the Life music festival at Belvedere House and Gardens take place. Some 7,500 attended the venue over the June bank holiday weekend, and gardaí reported more than 150 drug detections. Elsewhere, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) carried out an operation at locations in Westmeath, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon and Cork. Officers seized €59,000 in cash, €2,000 in cannabis, as well as documentation and electronic devices suspected to have been used in criminal activity. One male was arrested and detained at a Westmeath garda station in relation to the incident.

The family of a garda who served as sergeant in Rochfortbridge accepted a Scott Medal for his bravery, awarded posthumously. Detective Garda Donal Kelleher was awarded a bronze medal for his role in the rescue of Don Tidey, a prominent Dublin businessman who had been abducted by members of the IRA in 1983. It was accepted by his widow Caroline, daughter Lesley, and son Daniel at a ceremony in Dublin. Det Gda Kelleher had provided armed cover to other gardaí during the rescue of Mr Tidey, and was shot and injured in both legs. Another garda recruit and soldier was fatally injured during the operation.

Westmeath’s population is not only growing, but getting older. That’s according to the CSO, which found that the number of over 65s had increased by more than 25 per cent since 2016. Nationally the number of over 65s increased by 22 per cent. People are living longer, but the number in Westmeath who described their health as good or very good had fallen from 87% in 2016 to 82% in 2022.

Killucan designer Tom Leavy was awarded a Silver Gilt medal for his entry, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Musical Garden’, at Bloom in the Phoenix Park.

A plan for a 215-acre solar farm and battery storage facility in the scenic Gartlandstown, Crookedwood area, angered locals, who said they had no prior knowledge of the proposal until a planning notice appeared in this paper. The proposed site for the solar farm was near Lough Derravaragh and the historic Knockeyon Hill.

A fundraiser was set up in a bid to stop the plan. The Crookedwood Says No and CCC Community Group, standing for Crookedwood, Collinstown, Castlepollard, set up a Go Fund Me page to fight the proposed development by Neoen Renewables Ireland Ltd.

In other planning news, Mullingar Omniplex on Harbour Street was granted permission to build a new restaurant, consisting of a part-single, part two-storey facility. With views of the Royal Canal and Greenway, the split level restaurant, with ground floor seating area, kitchen storage area and toilets, and a seating area at first floor mezzanine level, with access to an external raised terraced eating area, was welcomed as a positive for the town’s economy.

There was some relief for the Fleadh Executive Committee chairman, Joe Connaire, when a funding boost of €150,000 came from the Departments of Housing, Local Government, Heritage and Planning. “It will make our job of paying the bills a little bit easier,” said Mr Connaire.

In politics, Cllr John Shaw was elected as the new cathaoirleach of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad, and the role of leas cathaoirleach went to Cllr Bill Collentine.

The outgoing Cllr Hazel Smyth said it had been one of the “biggest and best” achievements in her life to serve the people of Mullingar, while incoming Cllr Shaw said he was looking forward to seeing the progression of the new town development plan for Mullingar, as well as the fleadh.

News that campers had cut the lock on the barrier to Ladestown and pitched tents, caravans and camper vans on the shores of Lough Ennell angered residents. High on the complaints list was that of noise coming from generators and “banging music”, as well as grumblings about large bonfires being lit, while adjacent landowners were none too happy that their property was being used as a toilet.

One of two €6 million lotto tickets was sold in Westmeath. The national lottery revealed the winning ticket was bought at Tuthills Newsagents in Athlone. The other ticket was purchased in Donegal.

As the month drew to a close, the ordination of the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Mullingar man Fr Paul Connell, took place in a “majestic ceremony” in St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford. The most important clergy in the Irish church participated in the ceremony, and a procession of the banners of the 41 parishes in Bishop Connell’s diocese took place. Bishop Connell recalled his shock at being asked to become bishop. “There are moments in all our lives when everything suddenly changes,” he said. “My appointment by Pope Francis was such a moment. And I was faced with a decision that, to say the least, was not easy. I knew that saying yes, as I did, would change everything.

“But I did so because, in the end, I believe that what makes my life authentic is that I continue to have that same faith and trust in God that set me out on the path of priesthood all those years ago.”