Plea to Taoiseach to retain Castlebar barracks

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 15:44

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Sir,

I WISH to bring to the attention of your readers the latest saga regarding Castlebar Military Barracks. Two weeks ago the Government announced the closure of Castlebar together with three other barracks, Mullingar, Clonmel and Cavan. The Castlebar closure was confirmed by the military authorities at a meeting in the town on Friday week last. This is a terrible upheaval for all the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) personnel and their families at all these locations due to the trauma of having to move many miles from their bases. Castlebar Barracks like the others is home to the Reserve Defence Force (RDF) which was previously known as An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiuil (FCA) and while the effect for us is not as immediately telling, as it is for our full time colleagues, it is nevertheless hard to swallow. We were advised that the barracks must be vacated on or before the end of March 2012 and that a suitable property was being sought for rent in the town. This to accommodate the PDF cadre personnel in support of the RDF presence across Mayo .

On a dispassionate note I think that the time now has come for the people of Mayo to rally in support of an institution that is an essential part of the history and fabric of the county town. Castlebar Military Barracks played a huge role in the recently highlighted but long forgotten history of Mayo men who were recruited and trained and went to foreign lands to distinguish themselves on the battlefield.

If we as a population of this great county have any regard for those who have gone before us we must take a stand now and fight to preserve a huge slice of our past and ensure these barracks remain as a living part of our heritage.

We live in very demanding times and rightly many voices will clamour for money to be spent on more deserving causes. However, with some creativity I believe that much can be done and we should begin immediately to explore all possibilities.

Some commentators have already highlighted the fact that this political initiative in closing these barracks will in fact not save any money. And if we examine the Castlebar proposals this is borne out. The barracks are to be closed by the end of next March and a premises is to be rented at substantial cost. Castlebar Barracks will lie idle as there is very unlikely to be any commercial uptake and looking at past closures these premises have fallen into disrepair and are often vandalised.

A fate not to be envisaged for Castlebar, I’m sure that most will agree with. Many traders will identify with the revenue brought to town from RDF personnel undertaking annual training and while this has been curtailed over the past few there is no reason why these Barracks could not be further modernised along the lines already undertaken at this site.

If the barracks could have been unveiled to the public only this past week they would have been seen to be full to capacity, some said bursting at the seams, as full time troops carried out manoeuvres across the county. They were ably assisted in the use of the helipad at Mayo General Hospital, which is close by. These drills play a vital part in the training of our superb troops and need to be maintained.

On a closing note let us all, every voice across Mayo beseech our very own Taoiseach to reconsider with his Government this detrimental move. Let us keep our Military Barracks and not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Yours faithfully,

Séamus J. Bourke,

Radharc na Cruaiche,

Cashel,

Foxford.