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Westmeath Examiner March 5 2016

The siege of Kenagh

“Those who predicted ‘no change’ were slowly proven wrong” stated the subhead over the front page lead - a story about the results of the general election of 2016.

Journalist Eilís Ryan stated that the voters of Longford and Westmeath had sent a very firm signal of discontent to the government parties by causing an upset to the status quo that national commentators hadn’t anticipated.

The results weren’t yet finalised, due to the fact that there was a recount in action - leading to the five day count that became known as “The Siege of Kenagh” (the count centre was in Kenagh Community Centre).

What was, however, definite was that Robert Troy had topped the poll for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s Gabrielle McFadden had lost her seat.

Looking likely to take the second and third seats were Athlone’s Kevin “Boxer” Moran and Mullingar Fine Gael nominee, Peter Burke.

There was a four-way battle under way for the fourth and final seat, with sitting TDs Willie Penrose of Labour and James Bannon of Labour vying it out, alongside Sinn Féin candidate Paul Hogan. In the end, it was to be Willie Penrose who won the fourth seat.

Westmeath Examiner March 4 2006

Sod turned at Clonmore

Four years after it was first proposed, a start was made on development of the site for the Mullingar Civic Amenity site (recycling centre) at Clonmore. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche TD, officially turned the first sod.

Work had been expected to commence on the site late the previous year, but it had been held up as the region’s waste management plan went under review.

The report said that funding of €1m had been provided for the site under the National Development Plan, and it replaced the then existing civic amenity site at Marlinstown.

Westmeath Examiner February 24 1996

Speed boats and jet skis

Causing great aggravation to lake users in the 1990s were owners of speed boats and jet skis.

In a bid to figure out ways to bring an end to the problem, a special meeting of members of Westmeath County Council was held. Their intention was to discuss the delay by the Minister for the Marine in banning the craft from the lakes, even though this had been a recommendation formally made by the council.

However, the bad news for the councillors was that a letter from a senior counsel engaged by the council’s solicitors, advised that the minister might not actually be empowered to legislate against the use of jet skis or speed boats.

Deputy Paul McGrath explained to The Westmeath Examiner that his understanding of the senior counsel’s opinion was that under the relevant Act, the minister was empowered only to make regulations which related to the safety of the occupants of crafts, and not to make regulations regarding the safety of other people.

The report stated that the issue had been running since 1990, when the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board had started investigating the issue. In 1991, a joint committee was formed by the county council and on it were the ESH, the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, the Office of Public Works, the National Parks and Wildlife Council, the Central Fisheries Board and the National Water Safety Council.

That committee drew up a set of recommendations which were adopted by the council in 1993 and forwarded to the Department of the Marine. These recommendations were that the council restrict the activities to Lough Ree and to a portion of Lough Derravaragh.

Westmeath Examiner March 1 1986

50,000 emigrated in two years

The number of young Irish people who had emigrated over the previous two years had been estimated at 50,000, Commissioner Martin Hynes stated at a meeting of Mullingar Town Commissioners.

His revelation came as members discussed a motion tabled by the chairman, Commissioner Frank McIntyre, which called on the government to give financial aid to people wishing to emigrate. Commissioner McIntyre suggested that a grant equal to six months’ unemployment allowance be paid to people who wished to emigrate. He also sought the provision of funds for the establishment of advice centres where young people could seek information on their proposed destinations, and explained that he was prompted to put in the motion due to the large number of young people who were emigrating and said that those who were leaving Ireland for England were experiencing particular difficulty: “They are walking the streets of London without any funds,” he said.

Westmeath Examiner February 28 1976

The industrious ICA

The Mullingar Guild ICA had plenty of activities going on in the spring of 1976, this report of the guild’s February meeting reveals. Held at St Mary’s Hall on Wednesday, February 10, the meeting, apparently, despite “the intense cold” attracted a large attendance.

It was announced that the final of the Eleanora Gibbon competition would be held in the County Hall, Mullingar, on April 4. Arrangements were made for Mullingar Guild to provide the catering on the occasion. Names were taken of members willing to take part in a visitation to St Loman’s Hospital on the last Wednesday of the month. Volunteers were also listed for the monthly visitation to St Mary’s Hospital.

Outside guilds were to be invited to a “put your heads together” style question time in May. The guild was also arranging a lecture on the mentally handicapped at the Greville Arms Hotel on Monday, March 29. A guild meal and social evening was being organised for March 23, also in the Greville Arms Hotel.

The competition for a Madeira cake was won by Mrs Perry, with second prize going to Mrs Sleator. The entries were judged by Mrs O’Loughlin, who offered several useful hints on cake-making. The raffle was won by Mrs Lynch, with Mrs McTiernan taking second prize.

The meeting concluded, as always, with a welcome cup of tea.

Westmeath Examiner March 5, 1966

Housing shortage

“Acute housing shortage in Mullingar” was the heading over a front page story that revealed that there had been over 120 applications lodged with Westmeath County Council for the 32 houses that were at that time in the course of completion at the Fair Green in Mullingar. The report stated that there was a very acute shortage of houses in the town and that the matter was debated by members of the council.

The report said that even with the building of the additional 50 houses planned for Springfield there would be a deficit of 40 houses and Mr Dan Leavy NT proposed that land should be acquired immediately so that there would be no delay in getting a new scheme off the ground after Springfield. Mr J Beglin TC seconded this but also said the council should take note of the fact that there were in the town several houses that had been unoccupied for a long time.

He suggested that they explore every possibility and get derelict sites like those at Blackhall cleared up.

Deputy Gerry L’Estrange said there was a crying need for houses and he felt St Finian’s Terrace in Mullingar should be bulldozed out of it. It was, he continued, a disgrace to any public body to have such a scheme and to expect people to live there and rear families.

Westmeath Independent March 3, 1956

New school in Moyvoughley

A letter by the Moyvoughley schoolteacher, Ina Flanagan, describing the opening of the new school in Moyvoughley on June 20 of 1955 was published.

Holy Mass had been celebrated at “he beautiful new school” on Saturday, June 18, 1955, by the very Reverend P Mulvany, PP, Ballymore, manager of the school.

The chief mass server was William Cornally, secondary school pupil at the new Carmelite College, Moate. Patrick Coffey, Thomas A Flanagan and Peter Balfe also served. A big number of parishioners attended.

The new school is called Scoil Pádraig Naofa, she said, adding that St. Patrick’s Holy Well happened to be near where the school was built. Subsequent to the opening, flowers and shrubs had been planted by the Reverend Hugh Clyne, CC Ballymore. The Reverend Mother, Mercy Convent, Moate, donated sacks of bulbs for sowing.

Mr Patsy O’Regan, Boston, had, she said, been loud in his praises when he came to visit his sister, Miss J O’Regan, assistant in the school. Ms. Flanagan added that the old school building had been the subject of a nice write-up in the renowned William Bulfin book Rambles in Éireann.

Westmeath Examiner March 2 1946

Cases of infectious diseases

A list of the number and type of cases of infectious diseases that had been notified in the County Health District during the month of January, was carried in The Westmeath Examiner edition of March 2 1946. The cases were diphtheria, 11 cases, whooping cough, one case, erysipelas, one case, influenza pneumoniacs, one case, typhoid fever, one case.

In addition there was notification from Athlone Urban District Council of one case of scabies.

“Influenza has been prevalent during recent weeks in most parts of the country involving the closure of several national schools, a measure which was all the more necessary owing to the inclement weather recently experienced,” stated the item.

It continued by noting that while the epidemic appeared to be generally of a mild type, most people were now aware that the disease was not to be trifled with and that “even the robust will be wise to spend a few days in bed when the first symptoms appear”.

Westmeath Independent March 7, 1936

Enough to make you cry!

A discussion on why onions make the eyes water was contained in the Westmeath Independent of March 7, 1936.

“Why is it that if you hold your face close to a raw onion you begin to cry,” it asked.

The writer began by explaining that the reason was that the eye is always watering.

“There are certain glands that produce the tears and our blinking is for the purpose of spreading these tears all over the crystal.

“The water then escapes into the nose but when the tears are formed rapidly so that the water can’t escape easily then we say our eyes are watering,” said the writer.

Onions, he maintained, contained a pungent oil which gave off a vapour that escapes into the air.

This oil excites the ends of the nerves of smell in the nose and also the nerves of touch in the eyeball and eyelids. At once a message is sent to the brain to protect the eye and the tear glands get busy and then produce tears which spread quickly over the eyeball. The rapid flow of tears protects the eye.

Westmeath Examiner March 6, 1926

Bishop concerned about the lack of industry

The lack of industry in the Midland region was a source of grave concern to the Bishop of Meath, Most Rev Dr Gaughran, who spoke at Mass in Mullingar on what he described as a most regrettable situation.

Idleness, whether enforced or voluntary, was a danger in the moral sense, he said, and the remedy was work. It was the spirit of industry in the country that could provide that remedy.

The present condition of affairs was indeed depressing. In the Midlands, and in Meath and Westmeath, there was no industry; there was no Shannon Scheme, and the state of home industries was deplorable.

Bishop Gaughran said he could recall a time when there were plenty of home industries. In every farmer’s house, industry was carried on in the home, on the farm and in the farmyard. Fowl were kept in abundance; jerseys were made to keep people warm in winter; socks were knitted; and, in a word, the whole family was engaged in useful work of every description.

The homestead was then a hive of industry. It was sad to think that all that was gone, and that not a single example could now be found of the industry that once made the people prosperous and happy.

As to what lay behind this decline, his Lordship said the answer was the grazing system. It was the system of grass that had killed industry in the country. Men with large ranches of land carried out no tillage, as they could live comfortably and without trouble on the profits of grazing. The middleman with 100 acres followed suit, and now even the tenants of labourers’ cottages were adopting the same course.