Mayo - Recession Reflections

finisklin

Hi everyone,

was gonna post this in the New beginnings thread but decided a whole new thread might be more appropriate.

The recession is affecting everyone in different ways and I justed wanted to share my thoughts......

Everyday whether its reading news online, listening to the radio or talking to friends, colleagues and family there are tales of hardship, woe, angst frustration about the country's financial situation. Usually there are hard examples of such and such is going to Australia, can't get a job or Uncle Tom can't pay his mortgage for the last 6 months etc. For me most conversations start off with some tit bit about the recession, whatever the latest bad news is (well it is topical) and by my nature I am trying to remain upbeat and posititve.

The point of my post is that I understand why the decisions are being made in government and allowing the FG/Lab coalition time to settle in and address the problems. However as time passes and the decisions are being made and then impacting on us in the form of reduced services, USC and so on it gets harder to reconcile to how we got here. My beef is that I can't vent my frustration and angst at the government as I know they didn't put us in this mess. At least when FF were in power I was happy moaning about how sh*te they were, providing some relief.

The article in the Irish Times regarding Charlestown and its "demise" was terrible to read and reflects the same in Ballina and throughout Mayo. It really hit home how Mayo has been devasted and how it will decline further in the coming years.

Anyway that's my recession reflection not sure if it makes sense but wanted to get it off my chest. I wish someone had the answer to this but it's a wicked problem.:cool:

If anybody wants to reflect further on this topic please feel free.....

spider guardian

I was at a funeral in Balla a few Sundays ago, went in to one of the pubs around 2 o'clock in the day and the place was packed, it was just like the days of the boom! In them times the builders used to be on the beer all day, they'd be praying for rain on the Monday so they could continue the session. Them days are long gone.

The recession really has cleared a lot of the young people out of the county, most of my friends are working in the cities or in Britain. Not many of them around whenever I go home.

Mayo is traditionally a county of emigrants but if the government can continue to develop the road network and keep trying to attract companies to the industrial parks then there could well be light at the end of the tunnel. It's important that the council plough ahead with the rejuvenation of Castlebar. It's a shame that neither Charlestown or Kiltimagh got the government department they were both after but I think the area around Knock Airport has a lot of potential for business.

All we can do is make the county as business friendly as possible and hopefully Kenny can send a few companies our way!

threebeards

spider guardian wrote: »

I think the area around Knock Airport has a lot of potential for business.

I agree, I think Knock Airport has the potential to be an economic lifeline to the region but my only fear is that the traffic will increase for all the wrong reasons in the other direction

sanbrafyffe

mayo god help us:D

finisklin

See this from rte.ie.....
Mayo County Council to cut 150 jobs
Updated: 19:38, Tuesday, 19 April 2011
[/I

Mayo County Secretary John Condon has confirmed that the council is seeking to reduce staff numbers by 150 over the coming year.
Mayo - Council seeking to reduce staff costs by €6m





Mayo County Secretary John Condon has confirmed that the council is seeking to reduce staff numbers by 150 over the coming year.

Mr Condon said that the council needed to make savings of €6m in staffing costs.

It is proposed to make the reduction through natural retirements, through redundancies within the terms of the Croke Park Agreement and through redeployment opportunities.

Mr Condon said that negotiations were continuing between management at the council and trade unions SIPTU and IMPACT.

Earlier today, IMPACT demanded a meeting with the Mayo County Manager.

IMPACT said it would be organising meetings with members in the council to update them and discuss the union's response.

Mayo County Council currently employs 1,000 people.


Can the government intervene in this or how does it work? Difficult to reconcile job losses in the council with the purchase of the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar......


Former Imperial Hotel in Castlebar to be bought by Castlebar Town Council and Mayo County Council
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 16:11 MIDWEST NEWS UNDERSTANDS THAT THE FORMER IMPERIAL HOTEL IN CASTLEBAR IS TO BE PURCHASED BY CASTLEBAR TOWN COUNCIL AND MAYO COUNTY COUNCIL.
IT’S BELIEVED IT WILL COST THE AUTHORITES JUST UNDER €700,000 THOUSAND EURO.
WE WILL HAVE MORE ON THIS STORY AS IT DEVELOPS.

Though the rumour of a inflated planning department is a bit of a urban myth. I think a lot of these people were redeployed when the reession kicked in.

irishgeo

i have to laugh at the idea of attracting business to the technology parks. Castlebar IDA technology has some fancy landscaping thats all gone to ruin , its been sitting empty since they done it. The IDA couldn't get a company into it in the boom times never mind now.

All the US companies in Mayo have gone to the government numerous complaining about the state of the N5. Allergan spends a fortune on extra packaging for its products as does coke-cola , as the roads are so crap the some of the products used to arrive broken in Dublin as the road up was so poor. the road has improved but its still bad once you come off the motorway. Galway has a motorway , sligo is not far off a dual carriage/motorway all the way to Dublin. Mayo has nothing like that connecting it to Dublin until you hit Mullingar.

Castlebar is the only Major town in ireland without a Fibre Optic broadband exchange.

What the major company to setup(not expand) in Mayo?

What was the last major road to open?

What was the last significant thing to happen in mayo in regards to goverment investment?

To be honest i thing this whole Shell to Sea lark down below has damaged Mayo rep as a place to do business. I mean what American company is going to setup a business in Mayo, when all Mayo been in the international news for the past few years is the bloody gas pipeline.

The deal is done ok we have lost the rights to the gas. there is nothing we can do about it. The gas is going to come ashore the terminal is finished. build a bridge and get over it.

It horrors me to read that Shell to sea have aligned themselves with a republican splinter groups . That;s all we need is them nuts down there as well.

The last positive thing to come into Mayo was the gas and its tainted and dragged on for years. No company is going to go exploring for any more oil/gas of Mayo and try to bring it ashore in Mayo when they seen what's happened this time.

The Gas terminal and pipeline will generate jobs for mayo and has done mayo well but its been tainted by the protests and any future jobs that may have come to mayo from other oil/gas finds are now gone.

That's my view on Mayo.

yop

There is a new Innovation centre opening in Westport, while I applaude them for this, the one in Castlebar still isn't fully occupied and it has a number of Westport people in it.

As said the N5 is a disgrace, but I can't see us getting anything other than a few potholes filled.

I was listening to that detail about the layoffs today and them buying the hotel for museum!

I see another 50/60 IT jobs gone to Dublin to add to the 100's that they can't fill up there in the first place while I would say if there were 50 IT jobs created in Mayo in the last 5 years it would be doing well!

finisklin

Special meeting of Mayo Co Co sought to discuss job cuts Wednesday, 20 April 2011 08:33
A CHARLESTOWN COUNCILLOR IS CALLING FOR A SPECIAL MEETING OF MAYO COUNTY COUNCIL TO BE CONVENED, TO DISCUSS PLANS TO REDUCE THE LOCAL AUTHORITY’S STAFF BY 152 EMPLOYEES.
SINN FEIN COUNCILLOR GERRY MURRAY IS CALLING ON FINE GAEL, WHO HAVE A MAJORITY ON THE COUNCIL, TO CALL A SPECIAL MEETING TO DISCUSS THE JOB LOSSES.
MEANWHILE, SENIOR OFFICIALS OF MAYO COUNTY COUNCIL ARE BEGINNING DISCUSSIONS WITH UNIONS WITH A VIEW TO CUTTING 152 JOBS.
THE COUNCIL IS SEEKING TO CUT ITS ANNUAL WAGE BILL BY €6 MILLION AND NEGOTIATIONS WILL BE ONGOING FOR THE NEXT NUMBER OF MONTHS.


Has anyone outside of the executive of MCC any say in this? Who is the executive answerable to?

finisklin

This is related somewhat....I appreciate that councillor Durcan is a loose canon. It appears that how the council runs the county is pretty much down to the executive and council, with little outside interference.

Durcan calls on county manager to step down

Mayo Advertiser, April 15, 2011.


Independent Castlebar based county councillor Frank Durcan this week called for county manager Peter Hynes to step down from his position. Cllr Durcan made his call at the April meeting of the council this week. Mr Hynes was giving a report on the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) investigation into the complaints made by Roger McGreal against Kieran Lynn, senior executive engineer with Mayo County Council.



In his report Mr Hynes outlined the background to the investigation by SIPO, recent court proceedings, and the internal investigation and disciplinary measures carried out by Mayo County Council.



In his report Mr Hynes stated: “A contravention of section 168 of the Local Government Act 2001 and a breach of the Code of Conduct for employees is a matter for internal disciplinary procedures. I am satisfied that the proper procedures were followed in this instance and that no further action is required.” Mr Hynes also issued a new directive to all staff in the council to avoid any future similar incidents.



“I put it to you Manager having supported Mr Lynn in his planning application and as his superior as director of services for the Westport Area at the time of the misdemeanour that you showed in no uncertain manner that cronyism and corruption within this planning authority is alive and well and leaves a lot to be desired,” Cllr Durcan said. “I further put it to you, that you were grossly negligent and you fundamentally failed to uphold the sprit of the various planning and development acts and Mayo County Development plans as adopted by this council and the people of Mayo and, as a such a person associated with these misdemeanours, I must now demand you step down from your position of county manager and that this council resolve that the whole matter be referred to the appropriate authority to arrange the setting up of a Garda or judicial enquiry into this whole sordid affair brought about by public officials in the highest echelons of this local authority.”



Cllr Durcan also told the meeting that in his role as director of services for the Westport area, Mr Hynes removed the residency clause from the planning permission which is the norm for one off houses in rural areas in the case in question.



Mr Hynes hit back at Cllr Durcan telling the meeting: “Cllr Durcan referred to my involvement in the granting of planning permission for lands that had been enhanced with public monies. I never have and never will be involved in that. It will be corrected now or at a later date. There is no mention of corruption in any of the reports, just from Cllr Durcan. We have always striven to keep the highest possible standards in office. I do hope that the directive issued to the staff will be followed into the future.” When contacted by the Mayo Advertiser on Wednesday of this week in relation to Cllr Durcan’s charge over the residency clause in the application in question, Mr Hynes told the Mayo Advertiser. “No comment, all the planning files that I dealt with in my nine to 10 years as director of services are there on public record and can be viewed by anyone and I thoroughly reject any allegation of corruption.”



The directive issued by Mr Hynes, dated April 11, outlines that no staff member or any person on his/her behalf should request an elected member of Mayo County Council to allocate money under the Notice of Motion scheme, Councillors’ Special Allocation scheme, Councillors’ Community Fund or Local Improvement Scheme, in respect of any lands in which they have an interest or which are the subject of the project. If a staff member has an interest in any land which becomes the subject of a proposal in relation to any of these schemes, he/she must notify his/her direct supervisor and the relevant director of services in writing of such interest.



Staff members must also have no role in the proceedings other than as the landowner



It will be interesting to see if this gets any mention in the Western People or Mid West News (being Pro Council organs).......:rolleyes:

mayogirl99

Let's not be too negative about Mayo. Lots of good things happening locally. Yes nothing does come easy to the county but hopefully things will start to change now that Enda is in power. The Innovation Centre in Castlebar was mentioned above and read recently that since it opened it has created over 50 jobs and 2 high potential start-ups have been created also. This is very positive news as it will hopefully allow bigger indigenous companies to grow in Mayo like some that are already there. Remember some good local companies have grown and did spring up during the last recession.
Not sure about the status of the centre in Westport but I know it's an enterprise centre not an innovation centre. Difference being the innovation and research as the one in Castlebar is connected to the GMIT. Yes, roads are bad but we do have an Institute of Technology and an international airport and an innovation centre - we are ahead of a lot of places already!

That is my rant for the day but try to be positive!

ciaran67

Doesnt matter which political party you support, its gonna take absolutely years to fix this mess. I think there needed to be more anger than positivity to be honest. But i salute your positive stance.