News review of 2022 - February

There was some annoyance expressed by Clonmellon man Toss Henry over the fact that since the 1970s, local authorities used the name ‘Ráistín’ on official signage as the Irish version of the name of Clonmellon. Toss argued that it should have been ‘Cluain Mioláin’, which is the translation used during his youth. His campaign to have Cluain Mioláin reintroduced was firing Toss up, but gaining no support from council officials.

The stark reality of how unsafe Ireland’s roads can be was laid bare in February by the Road Safety Authority, which revealed that an average of 23 people had been injured on the roads of Westmeath each year between 2017 and 2020.

There was good news at the February meeting of the county council, where members were informed that the council was in a “far better” position than expected as income from non-principal residences was nearly double the figure for which the council had budgeted, and rates, rent and loan collections were at or close to 100 per cent.

A familiar face was co-opted back to membership of the county council when a vacancy was created following the resignation of Jamie Moran. Jamie’s father, former minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran threw his hat in the ring – but so too did former councillor, Paul Hogan. Hogan won the vote 12-6.

The 100th anniversary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses took place in February, and historian Ruth Illingworth set out for the readers of the Westmeath Examiner the extent of the writer’s links with Mullingar, revealing that he also lived here for two spells in his youth, in the summers of 1900 and 1901. She also detailed the references to Mullingar that occur in Ulysses.

Still blissfully unaware that Russia’s feared invasion of Ukraine would happen, and that it was about to turn all our lives upside down, the most pressing concern locally during the second week of February, was the threat that e-scooters were posing to pedestrians. Two local women, left shocked after one of them was knocked down and injured by an e-scooter, issued a call to have the devices outlawed.

Storms Malik and Corrie left thousands of people in Scotland without electricity, and at the request of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, crews from ESB Networks in this country went over to help fix the Scottish storm damage. Among the teams that travelled over was one made up mainly of electricians from Mullingar.

In Ballynacargy, local volunteers told of the work they had done to date in attempting to preserve the ruins of a leper hospital built in the area 900 years ago, and spoke of their dream of eventually seeing a formal archaeological survey of the site done,

Mullingar man Brian Cavanagh, who lives in Iceland, gave a fascinating interview about his travels in general, and specifically, his new life, a half an hour outside Reykjavík.

Chainsaw artist Richie Clarke explained how he uses the tools to sculpt figures and statues – and stressed how important it is to remember how dangerous chainsaws are: “You might not feel you want to go to the trouble of putting on the goggles or the helmet or the proper boots [if] you're using the lighter, smaller saws, but they are the times when you will injure yourself,” he said. "When you start to get too relaxed and take the equipment for granted, that is when you're getting into a danger zone, in my opinion, so you know you just have to be mindful of safety first and then the creative side comes in to play after that."

It being February, love was in the air – and new #LoveMullingar branding and an Instagrammable Niall Horan mural were announced as part of an initiative by Mullingar Chamber of Commerce to increase footfall in the town.

Two months after her beloved Australian Red border collie Apolo escaped from a kennel in Milltownpass, Brazilian student Mariana Rossi appealed again for anyone in Westmeath who might have found the pet to come forward. Broken-hearted, she was clinging to the hope that he was with someone who might just have thought he was a stray.

A new sculpture was erected at St Loman’s Hospital to honour the thousands of staff and patients who passed through the facility over the last 160 years.

On the tourism front, Fáilte Ireland announced the reunification of Westmeath, some of which had up to then been part of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands while the rest was marketed as part of the Ireland’s Ancient East region. The new plan was that the entire county was now to fall into the Hidden Heartlands region.

Politicians went public on the extent of the online abuse to which they are subjected on an ongoing basis. Deputy Sorca Clarke revealed that some of the messages she had been receiving since January had become so sinister that she had been forced to report her fears to gardaí.

Figures released in February revealed that the midlands is the poorest region in Ireland, and that when it came to disposable income per person, only four counties across the country were worse off than Westmeath. The CSO found that the average individual in Westmeath had a disposable income of €17,767 in 2019 – almost €800 less than residents of Dublin.

Towards the end of February, it was announced that a renewable energy developer had plans to build a wind farm containing seven 195m turbines that would generate enough energy for around 29,000 homes.

Annebrook House Hotel celebrated 15 years in business, and proprietor Berty Dunne revealed that he and his family had plans to extend the business into the old Dunnes Stores premises on Pearse Street.

Also celebrating an anniversary in February were the members of the Mullingar Toastmasters Club, which was founded 10 years before the doors of the Annebrook House Hotel opened its doors.

The church announced that it was to hold a series of meetings around the diocese as part of its participation in the worldwide synod examining what direction it should take.