Kinnegad man to chair key Council committee

A Kinnegad man has been appointed to head up one of Westmeath County Council"s four important strategic policy committees, it was announced this week.Newly elected Labour Party councillor Denis Leonard will chair the Council"s Transport SPC for the next two and a half years, replacing Fine Gael"s Cllr. Fintan Cooney, who is the new chairman of Westmeath County Council.The transport role is one into which Cllr. Leonard should settle with ease. Transport was one of the key issues which Cllr. Leonard has concerned himself with in his many years of local activism in Kinnegad.As a leading member of the Killucan-Kinnegad Transport Lobby Group, Cllr. Leonard has been a vocal supporter of proposals to re-open Killucan Train Station. Prior to the recent local and European elections, he introduced the local campaign to re-open the station to Marian Harkin and Jim Higgins, two members of the European Parliament who have since been returned to Brussels.Cllr. Leonard"s appointment as chair of the Transport SPC will be seen as a boost to campaigners seeking an upgrade to rail services in Westmeath.He is one of two Labour councillors to acquire a committee chair, with Cllr. Detty Cornally appointed as chair of the Housing, Social and Cultural SPC. Fine Gael will retain the chair of the Economic and Planning SPC (Cllr. Joe Whelan), while Fianna Fáil"s Kevin "Boxer" Moran will take charge of the Environment SPC.Cllr. Leonard retains his role on Westmeath VEC, though this time as a Labour Party councillor, while he has also been appointed as chairman of the Westmeath Heritage Forum.He will also serve on the Eastern River Basin District Advisory Council, Westmeath County Development Board, and Westmeath County Council"s Finance Committee.€250k ticket bought in KinnegadA man who won €250,000 in a recent National Lottery Lotto Plus 2 draw bought his lucky ticket in a Kinnegad shop, it emerged last week.Charles Grehan of Edmondstown, Co. Longford was travelling through Kinnegad in May when he picked up the winning Quickpick ticket at Fleming"s Newsagents, Main Street, Kinnegad.Charles recently travelled to Dublin to pick up his winnings with his family.The Lotto draw was held on Saturday, May 27.'It"s magic,' said the lucky winner as he described his delight at discovering his win. He continued: 'I"m looking forward to putting the money towards a new home for myself in the near future.'Charles" family are delighted for him too and one family member mentioned, 'It"s really picked everyone up to know a lucky person. We are so happy for Charles.'The winning numbers drawn were 07, 08, 12, 25, 37 and 38, and the bonus number, 21.AA takes issue with speed limitThe old N4 road from Kinnegad to Moate is one of a list of 27 roadways where speed limits are either too high, too low or confusing to motorists, the Automobile Association (AA) said last week.The AA has written to the newly elected Westmeath County Council to ask them to reconsider the 80 kilometre per hour speed limit on the old national primary road between Kinnegad and Moate, which the association says is too low.'We have been asking AA members to submit locations around the country where the speed limit is set badly.' Says Director of Policy Conor Faughnan. 'Needless to say, there are plenty of examples.'Some are debatable, some are obviously bonkers and some are downright dangerous. Now that there are new councils elected nationwide we think it"s high time the issue was addressed properly.'There is roughly an even split between limits that are too high and limits that are too low.' Says Faughnan. 'When a motorist gets penalty points at these locations it certainly feels like rough justice.'The location on this road out of Kinnegad is the only Westmeath road currently on the AA blacklist, but it is expected that this list will swell to include hundreds of locations.