Tar and cement, but no flower baskets, at Joe Dolan bridge

The Joe Dolan Bridge looks unlikely to be provided with flower baskets, despite an appeal to the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad by Cllr Bill Collentine at the most recent meeting of the authority.

Cllr Collentine asked that more summer flower baskets be provided in Mullingar, including on the bridge named after one of Ireland’s best-loved singers, and at other suitable locations.

The written response to Cllr Collentine, who is also chairperson of Mullingar Tidy Towns, stated that Mullingar Kinnegad District currently has 80 hanging baskets and 15 large pole mounted planters to plant and maintain in the Mullingar town centre.

"This summer flower display requires a watering programme during the summer months, seven days a week before 8am, with the associated servicing costs of overtime expenditure," the reply stated, adding that accordingly, there are no plans to install additional hanging baskets outside of the core town centre area.

Cllr Collentine said while he agreed that there were a lot of baskets and planters in the town centre, he hoped that this year because of the extra visitors for the fleadh and the bachelor festival coverage might be extended: "This year is special," he said.

"I think we should have the town entrances looking better. I think we can just do that little bit more for Mullingar, especially with the year that is in it," he said.

Cllr Mick Dollard was of a similar view: "I think it’s important to note it was Westmeath County Council who actually called that bridge after Joe Dolan, and so I think there is a responsibility now from that point of view," he stated.

Cllr Dollard went on to say that there will be people visiting Mullingar now who have never visited here before, but even besides all that, the bridge route is popular with walkers. Cllr Dollard felt provision of flowers could be achieved with co-operation between Mullingar Tidy Towns and the district committee.

"There’s a lot of co-operation between the two agencies as it is," he stated, adding that without the Tidy Towns, Mullingar would not be as attractive as it is. As a result, he said, he was asking that the district look positively at the request.

Also in support was Cllr Hazel Smyth.

She noted that one of the considerations raised by the district was that of maintenance, and suggested that they use displays of wildflowers, that would require little servicing and that would be sufficiently serviced with rainwater.

Director of services, David Jones, said the authority would be open to discuss general points in relation to how it can work collaboratively with the Tidy Towns in relation to enhancing what Mullingar has to offer.