Horror at shooting dead of eagle near Lough Owel

News review of 2025

‘It’s crazy talk’ read the headline on the front page of the first issue of the Westmeath Examiner in 2025. They were the words of one of the longest serving politicians in the country, Cllr Mick Dollard, in response to promises to build 50,000 to 60,000 houses a year.

He argued that there weren’t enough builders around, as many who had qualified had emigrated. The people simply aren’t there to carry out the work, he stressed. If we didn’t have people from Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, working on construction in this country at the present moment, we could throw our hat at it, he declared.

Cllr Dollard was supporting Sinn Féin councillor David Jones, who called on the council to explore the possibility of directly employing teams to carry out maintenance work on council houses, and of keeping those teams going by hiring apprentices.

Although January 25 was the warmest on record globally, it can be a bleak month after the excitement of the Christmas festivities, and actress Mary McEvoy from Delvin, speaking to Joe Duffy on The Meaning of Life TV programme, said that she felt very low in January. Mary talked candidly about living with depression and anxiety.

She also revealed that it was her ability to drive a tractor, rather than her acting skills, that landed her the iconic role of Biddy in the hugely popular RTÉ soap Glenroe. The role catapulted her and the late Mick Lally, her on-screen husband Miley, to national fame.

The promise of hundreds of jobs for Westmeath brightened up the new year, however, as plans were announced to develop Ireland’s first energy-independent data centre in the county. The Tullamore based energy firm Red Admiral DC submitted a pre-application consultation to An Bord Pleanála for a 250MW data centre close to Rochfortbridge.

In a statement issued to the Westmeath Examiner, Red Admiral said the multi-billion euro project was a “ground breaking move towards a sustainable digital future”, as it would generate and store its own energy on site.

Interestingly, our motoring section reported that most new cars sold in Westmeath in 2024 were grey and had petrol engines and automatic transmissions. There were 1,698 new passenger cars sold, up on the previous year’s figure of 1,657. The best seller was Toyota, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia, Škoda, Dacia, Renault, Nissan, Audi and Peugeot in the top 10. The figures were from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry.

Figures on the housing front showed that Westmeath saw some of the steepest rises in house prices in the country in 2024. The national average increase was nine per cent, but in Westmeath the rise was 14 per cent. The greatest hike in prices in Westmeath was for the two-bed terraced home, which had gone up by 16 per cent. No other type of house anywhere in the country surpassed that level of price inflation, it was reported. The figures were released by the property website Daft.ie.

Also in early January, the family of the legendary Joe Dolan announced that they were preparing to go on tour with their Remembering Joe show. The show would feature Joe’s brother Ben and Ben’s daughter Sandra, sons Ray and Adrian, and members of the original Joe Dolan backing band.

Ben, who is in his 90s, said that if Joe were here, he’d be saying ‘what are you doing, are you mad at your age’, and Ben admitted, “maybe I am, but sure, what else would I be doing. I can’t get a job, I’m too old, so I might as well keep going”.

Another man reaching for the stars was Darren Slevin from Mullingar, who was setting out to undertake an unsupported 2,250km ski trip to the South Pole and back. Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Darren said the mental challenge was far greater than the physical test.

Darren and his friend Nathan Lumb were gearing up to create a piece of history by becoming the first team from Ireland and Britain to ski across the unforgiving Arctic landscape and back.

News that up to 30 Ukrainian nationals who had settled in Kinnegad were to be moved elsewhere to make room for, it was understood locally, 60 Georgian asylum seekers, met with opposition. The Ukrainians were not told where they were being moved to but were advised by letter to be ready to move within days, it was claimed.

Local councillor Denis Leonard, at a meeting of Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District, said a lot of the Ukrainians had settled in the area and the powers that be are now moving them out, and “they’re moving in a lot of single men from Georgia – or wherever they’re coming from – and they’re talking about eight to a room”. The council decided to write to the Department of Integration looking for clarification of the long term plans for Harry’s and The Phoenix, Kinnegad.

Local birdwatchers were horrified at the shooting dead of a white-tailed eagle beside Lough Owel. The two-year-old female had been released in 2022 as part of the National Parks and Wildlife Service White-Tailed Eagle Reintroduction Programme. Investigating officers established that the bird was shot somewhere in the Ballinafid, Portnashangan area at Lough Owel. An investigation into the shooting was launched.

A pupil at St Fintan’s National School in Lismacaffrey scooped a national prize for his poster entry in the Tusla Education Support Service. Ronan Reilly became one of only six pupils from across the country to win the top prize. His poster was an adventure map depicting all the things he likes about school and why he likes attending. Ronan’s proud parents, Marcella Reilly and Thomas Parker, and other family members joined in the celebrations at the school where Tusla officials presented him with his prize.

Blue lights flashing on emergency vehicles from the Fire Service, Civil Defence, Gardaí, the Order of Malta and more, outside Milltown Community Centre in late January, raised concerns. However, there was no major emergency. Paul Heduan of Milltown GAA had organised an event as part of the GAA Healthy Clubs initiative to highlight how to stay safe at home and elsewhere. The evening was well attended and a huge success with lots of information, freebies, and fabulous food prepared by members of the Ukrainian community living in Mearescourt House.