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Westmeath Examiner, January 23 2016

Barking in Swedish

“If dogs had an accent, then many of those in Sweden would be barking in Westmeath tones,” our front page story of January 23, 2016 stated, revealing that up to 70 dogs a year were being exported from here to Sweden for rehoming.

Sharing the details, Westmeath veterinary officer, Seán Ó Laoide explained that the dogs were animals who had wound up in the Westmeath pound, and whose owners had not reclaimed them.

“We give them to a charity in Meath, who organise their passports and have them neutered and arrange transport to Sweden,” he said, adding that rules on dog ownership were much more stringent in Sweden than here, and that because of the level of regulation, it was expensive to set up a breeding establishment in Sweden, and there could even be waiting lists for dogs in that country.

The attraction to the Swedes of taking in the dogs from this country is that they are sociable animals, already house-trained, neutered and microchipped, while the advantage of the arrangement to this country was that it meant there was a reduced need to euthanise dogs.

Westmeath Examiner, January 21 2006

Moving to Mullingar

A claim that 250 civil servants had applied to take up some of the 299 positions to become available when the Department of Education and Science decentralised to Mullingar, was made by the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Tom Parlon.

The minister had given the figures to the members of a chamber of commerce delegation from Mullingar that had travelled to meet him at his offices in Dublin that week, an item in the Westmeath Examiner of January 21, 2006 revealed.

With what, in retrospective, turned out to be immensely misplaced confidence, the minister had, the item continued, given an assurance that the decentralisation to Mullingar would be completed by the second quarter of 2008, and that the cost would come to between €40m and €50m.

The story went on to remark that the timescale revealed by Minister Parlon was in line with that identified by the then taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, during a visit he had made to Mullingar in May 2005.

Westmeath Examiner, January 21 1996

Raising the bridge

Work beginning on the raising of the Dublin Bridge over the Royal Canal was a possibility for 1996, local TD Willie Penrose stated, as he welcomed the announcement that £7m of European Structural Funds were to be spent renovating the waterway between then and 1999.

Deputy Penrose was, he said, confident that for the first time since the 1950s, the canal would be “fully navigable” by the end of the century, and he called for the commencement of a “corridor study” in advance of the work starting.

He said the broad aim of the study would be to identify a physical planning framework for the canal, which would bring together the existing environmental, social, tourist, amenity, leisure and commercial and economic elements in a coordinated and integrated manner.

Phase 3 of the Canal Restoration Programme, the one that most affected Westmeath, involved the remaining section of the canal, west from Mullingar to the River Shannon, and already, dredging work had begun on that section.

Westmeath Examiner, January 25 1986

Multyfarnham launches co-op

What was described as “a large and enthusiastic gathering” had been held in Ballinafid Community Centre the previous week for the launch of the Multyfarnham Enterprise Co-Operative Society Ltd. Very Rev Fr Murchin, PP, presided.

The report stated that the promoters of the venture intended that it should aim to tackle the obvious community need for jobs for young people in the area, and to that end, they would be aiming for assistance from the many grants available from the Youth Employment Agency and other youth employment schemes. It appears the intention was to begin the commercial production of vegetables.

Tim Tynan, projects advisor with the Youth Employment Agency, stated that the idea was to create good employment with reasonable wages. The high point of support from the Youth Employment Agency for such projects would be the employment and payment by the agency of an enterprise worker – someone well-qualified with a flair for business.

The following steering committee was elected: Fr Murchin, chairman; Eddie Newman, Ballinalack; James Maher, Fearbranagh, Billy Kelly, Cullionmore, Violet Medford, Piercefield, Henry Abbott, Monilea, Aileen Mallon, Bunbrosna, Frank Bell, Parsonstown, Mary Brennan, Ballinafid, Padraig Gaffney, Rathganny, James Nevin, Kilmaglish, Benedict Ledwith, Fearbranagh, John Muldoon and Seamus Kenny, both Mullingar.

Westmeath Independent, January 23 1976

60 per cent of homes had no bath or shower

A housing study carried out in the midland counties of Offaly, Westmeath, Laois, Longford and Roscommon had shown that in 21 towns surveyed, one house in three had no toilet and 60 per cent had no fixed bath or shower while almost 38 per cent had no piped water supply.

The study, by the Midland Regional Development Organisation, had also found that 3,000 households, with a combined 23,318 residents, were living at a density of more than two persons per room – a crude indication of overcrowding.

Another revealing statistic was that 52.6 per cent of households did not have a car.

Westmeath Examiner, January 22 1966

Walked ‘on wrong side of road’

A man from Castlepollard found himself in court after a garda prosecuted him for walking on the left hand side of the road. The garda told the judge that when he challenged the man, his response was that he had been walking on that side of the road for 40 years.

The report, which stated it was the first of its kind in the county, said that the garda’s evidence was that he had found the defendant walking on the left, and incorrect, side of the road, near Castlepollard, as he approached him in a motor car. It had, he said, been difficult to see him. The benefit of the Probation Act was applied.

“The defendant was told by the justice that he would have to walk on the other side, on the footpath, and keep off the road,” the report concluded.

Westmeath Examiner, January 14 1956

Tribute To St Finian’s

A tribute to the contribution made to GAA history had recently been published by the Gaelic sports columnist Mick Dunne, and a summary of the article was carried in the Westmeath Examiner of January 14, 1956.

It read: “Having described the early years of football in the college, the article went on to mention the great games of the ’30s with St Mel’s. These were in the Leinster Championships which began in 1919 and which St Finian’s won for the first time in 1925. Subsequently the college reached the senior final in 1929, ’27, ’30, ’44, ’48, ’50 and ’53.

“‘The rivalry with famed St Mel’s,’ Mr Dunne said, ‘is one of the keenest but also one of the healthiest there is in the colleges. It began as I have said, early in the century, but it was intensified in the thirties.’

“Dealing with the success of this college as a nursery of football, he said: ‘A chat with any football official in Meath or Westmeath – and Cavan, too – would bring home to you what St Finian’s has done for football in those counties. Each June the college produces well-trained, carefully moulded young footballers ready to step into senior teams in Meath and Westmeath, and Cavan, part of which is in the Diocese of Meath, also gets its share.’

“Among pupils of the college who became famous he mentioned Pat and Edwin Carolan; Simon Deignan, Fr Michael McManus, Ted Meade, Paddy Meegan, Mattie McDonnell, Patsy McGearty, Rev R Tehan, Rev M Coleman and Paddy Dunne.

“Other pupils who are wearing the Meath jersey today are Peter McKeever, Michael Dunican, Ciaran Gaughran, Jim Ryan, and Jackie Lynam. On the Westmeath side there are Brian Kavanagh, Donal Egan and Art Thornbury. John Kenihan of Offaly and Mick Hanley (Oldcastle) who played with Galway in 1953, also were mentioned.

“The articles also stated that St Finian’s had educated the chairmen of three county GAA boards – Rev P Tully, Meath; Messrs Charlie Fagan, Westmeath, and Joe Mullen, Cavan.”

Westmeath Examiner, January 19, 1946

Tall staff wanted

Positions for male attendants and female nurses at “the mental hospital” in Mullingar were advertised in the Westmeath Examiner.

Working off the premise that the advertisements were in accordance with the custom of listing the most important requirements first, it was deemed most important, clearly, that the male candidates had attained the age of 18 years and at the time of appointment be not older than 25 years of age and be not less than 5’8” in height, without shoes.

Similar age restrictions applied in the case of the nurses, but they were required to be not less than 5’4”, without shoes.

However, an extension of the upper age limit and additional marks at the examination were to be allowed in both cases to members of the auxiliary defence services.

Applications needed to be accompanied by certificates from the principal of whatever national school the candidate had attended, certifying that they had passed the seventh standard.

“The conditions regarding height, age and education standards will be rigidly adhered to, and it is useless for candidates who do not fulfil the required conditions to put themselves to the trouble and expense of extending attending for examination,” the advert stated, adding that the examination was confined to residents of at least four years in the counties of Westmeath, Meath and Longford.

Cork Examiner, January 25 1936

Daydreams in Castlepollard

Under the heading ‘Day Dreams of a Nomad in Erin’ appeared the following lines about Castlepollard, following which the writer went on to day dream about seeing the “grim but not unpleasant visage of Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, the Dublin-born iron warrior whose military genius was to play such an important part in the caging of the French Eagle then threatening the peace of all Europe”… and his bride, the Hon Kitty Packenham, third daughter of the second Earl of Longford, at their 1806 wedding in that town:

“The sun of a late autumn afternoon was touching in soft amber and rose the peaceful, undulating countryside surrounding the ancient parishes of Demifore as I neared Rathgraff, following a few most enjoyable hours spent amongst the archaeological treasures of Fore, and the works of wonder (attributed to the miraculous powers of the holy St Fechin) which offer a wealth of interest to the traveller who tarries in that pretty little village.

"Fore is situated about three miles from Rathgraff (ie, the uprooted dun or fort) on which the present somnolent old town of Castlepollard stands – or, shall we say, lies in calm content on a bed of emerald and gold in the western part of Meath, Erin’s royal county.

"The town has borne its present name since the reign of Queen Elizabeth who, during her time, conferred the lands of Rathgraff on one Pollard-Urquhart, a member of a Devonshire family, and there it is to-day little changed in aspect one could be sure excepting perhaps, in the Georgian frown of its drab houses, which, with a pretty church, form a guardian cordon around the Town Hall and Market House.

Westmeath Examiner, January 23, 1926

Making a mint

The Westmeath Examiner reported that the government had sprung “a first-class surprise” on the deputies and the country through the introduction – “without any explanation” – of a Coinage Bill.

“This bill is to enable the Treasury to strike and issue distinctively Free State coins in silver, bronze, and nickel,” the report stated, going on to clarify that that did not, however, mean a strictly separate Free State currency.

“These new coins are called ‘tokens’, just like the silver coins currently in circulation which the new tokens are intended to gradually replace. While the British Mint makes a profit on such coinage, it is expected that some profit will now accrue to the Free State from this issue,” the item continued.

“Some concern regarding this venture has been expressed in certain quarters, but on the whole, the feeling seems to be one of equanimity. Currency is a mysterious thing which few but the initiated understand; it is, however, delicate in its nature and, once disturbed, not easily restored to normal. Coins as we know them at present – either in appearance or name – will soon be quite unfamiliar to Free State citizens, except for those among them who travel.”