Mayo councillor's battle to restore town councils

By Johnny Mee

I AM pleased Councillor Michael Kilcoyne has raised the urgent matter of bringing back town councils to Castlebar, Ballina and Westport.

Councillor Kilcoyne highlighted an important matter that has been overlooked since town councils were abolished.

This is the fact huge sums of money previously raised by councils in Castlebar and other towns in Mayo are now spent in areas far outside their urban boundaries.

This is a serious aspect of the abolition of town councils and one that should be taken on board by the business people in the affected towns.

Councillor Kilcoyne has the support of Councillor Blackie Gavin, so there is an onus on the remaining councillors in the Castlebar area to lend their support.

Liamy MacNally, Westport, has consistently written about the urgent need to revive town councils and I have no doubt councillors in the area will lend their entire support.

Liamy’s father, the late Joe MacNally, manager of the local bus office, was a member of Westport Urban Council for a number of years, a man never afraid to speak his mind. A sweet tenor who adorned many a stage, Joe wrote two splendid histories about the history of his native Westport, its people and many notable events in the town, both classics in their own right.