2024 Review: January

The year started on something of a downer when it emerged that progress on construction of the planned advance manufacturing facility at the IDA business park Marlinstown was on hold as a result of a legal challenge by one of the firms that tendered for the contract to build the premises.

The IDA confirmed that an application for a judicial review by the party concerned had been lodged with the high court.

On a more positive note, Mullingar singer Niall Horan came out on top on season 24 of The Voice US as his protégée, Michael Huntley, was crowned winner. It was actually a two in a row win for Niall, as he had also coached the previous season’s winner.

New CSO figures showed that the number of Westmeath people with third level qualifications had increased significantly in recent years.

The statistics showed that 26,200 Westmeath people over the age of 15 had third level education; however, at 42 per cent of that age cohort, it remained lower than the national average of 45 per cent.

With an election looming, members of Westmeath County Council stopped short of deciding to restrict the use of election posters. The proposal that they introduce restrictions had been made by Green Party councillor, Hazel Smith, who claimed that in the 2014 local elections, the equivalent of 23 Croke Parks of posters were produced by candidates looking for some of the 750 seats available in county councils across the country.

In what was an amazing achievement, a prosthetic make-up artist from Westmeath became one of the select group of Irish people who have won an Emmy.

In early January in Los Angeles, Ballinagore man Johnny Murphy and his colleagues won the award for Outstanding Prosthetic Make-up for their work on the HBO series, The Last of Us.

In a post on social media, Johnny, who attended the star-studded event at the Peacock Arts Theatre with his wife, Melissa Groome, from Tyrrellspass, described it as an amazing night and said that working on The Last of Us continues to be the best job of his life.

Journalist Rodney Farry put pen to paper to set out his list of three things that would make life in Mullingar better. His three suggestions were that the town’s traffic problems be sorted out, that a shelter be provided at the diving boards, and that the overcrowding on the Dublin train be brought to an end.

The Irish Business Against Litter Survey (IBAL) put Mullingar in fifth spot, a record high in its list of 40 towns and cities nationwide in the final Litter Survey of 2023, released in January 2024. The report said that there were no heavily littered sites in Mullingar, not even the Canal Bank, which had been heavily littered in previous surveys.

On the property front, we reported that differences in the detail but not the overall picture emerged in the latest reports from the rival property websites Daft.ie and myhome.ie. Among other details, Myhome.ie reported that property prices in Westmeath had stayed steady during the final quarter of 2023 but Daft.ie found asking prices to have fallen by 3.6% in the final quarter.

Residents of some 30 apartments in Kilbeggan received unwelcome news in January when it was announced that the owner of the complex in which they were living intended selling the apartments, and needed them to move out. One woman told the Westmeath Examiner that she was left ‘roaring crying’ when she received an eviction notice from the Remcoll Group, owner of 76 units at Riverview.

At the RDS in Dublin, there was considerable joy when 16 prizes came Westmeath’s way at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Among those honoured were two of the teachers who helped make Westmeath such a force in the competition, Eva Acton from Coláiste Mhuire in Mullingar, and Athlone Community College teacher Emma Buckley, each of whom received an Educator of Excellence Award.

Ethan Tanudra, Max Buinenko and Seán Murphy of Coláiste Mhuire won two major awards at the event as did Killian McGrath from Delvin from the same school. A further Coláiste Mhuire success was that of Charlie Dupuis, Hubert Kozlowski and Dylan Kennedy.

Everyone always wonders what exactly everyone else gets paid – and a little insight into the answer of that question came in January, courtesy of a report from the Central Statistics Office, (CSO), which found that workers in Westmeath had the second highest median earnings in the region last year at €40,076. Topping the list was Laois with median earnings of €40,294, while Longford had the lowest at €36,178.

Probably unsurprisingly, the area with the highest median earnings in the country in the previous year was Dublin, for which the figure was €46,136, followed by Kildare, where the median earnings registered at €45,173.

The report also found that there was relative parity when it came to the number of men – 51% – and women – 49% – in active employment. When it comes to those within the top 10% of earnings, however, 70% are male and the figure rises to 75% when it comes to those in the top 1% of earnings.

Meanwhile, on the security front, members of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) were informed in January that a garda had been assigned to deal with the growing problem of drug-related intimidation in Westmeath. Addressing the JPC meeting in Mullingar, Detective Superintendent David Nolan announced that Inspector David Smyth had been assigned to deal with the drug-related intimidation problem in Westmeath.

On an associated note, members of the JPC were informed by gardaí that there had been a 25% drop in the number of drink driving detections in Westmeath the previous year, but sadly a 65% increase in drug driving detections.

The landmark Better Buys store on Oliver Plunkett Street closed in January after 32 years in business and owner Seamus Hennessy spoke of the difficulty that independent retailers have in competing against multinationals: “If people aren’t careful, there won’t be any local shops left,” he warned.

Separately, a similar call was made by Cllr Emily Wallace at the January meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad. She said there was a need for people to shop local to ensure the future of towns and villages.

Also in January, members of the Mullingar Pool Action Group met Minister of Sport Thomas Byrne to discuss plans for the new regional sports centre for Mullingar. Following the meeting, the group chairperson, Lisa Corcoran, said that Minister Byrne was receptive and supportive towards the project.

There was sad news for the local Church of Ireland community when it was announced by Canon Alistair Graham that he intended to retire in March. Canon Graham notched up 15 years in ministry in Mullingar, having arrived in town in June 2009 as rector of Mullingar Union.

Storm Isha battered the area during January. Heavy rain and dramatic wind gusts were recorded over several hours, felling trees and bringing down electricity wires, leaving several locations without power.

In January, Mullingar company, Lir Insurance Ltd, became the 19th specialist brokerage to become part of the rapidly growing insurance intermediary PIB Group Ltd. Lir Insurance was acquired through Campion Insurance, which leads PIB’s Irish division.