The rise in Mayo house prices creates chaotic situation
by Auld Stock
HOUSE prices in Castlebar and other towns in Mayo have gone through the roof.
To be honest the prices of properties in Ireland have literally gone mad.
I cannot think of any other words to describe the chaotic situation in regard to the cost of houses.
There are hundreds of people working and living in Dublin who wish to move to Castlebar and other parts of Mayo.
However, those people haven’t a hope in hell of coming to Mayo with the scarcity of housing in the county and the cost of rented accommodation.
It’s a frightful situation right enough.
Hardly a day passes without reference being made to the drastic shortage of houses in this country.
To be honest, I am fed up writing about the housing crisis.
And I am damn sure the public are bored with the constant mention of the word housing.
I’ll give my readers a welcome break.
Until I hear some good news on the housing front I’ll keep my big gob shut.
What a relief!
*On a historical note, in 1924, the house and lands on Westport Road, Castlebar, known as Creagh Villa, owned by J.H. Peyton, were sold to Thomas H. Gillespie, proprietor of The Connaught Telegraph, for £900. The Gillespie family lived in Ellison Street in a house later purchased by A.V.G. Thornton, State Solicitor.
When I was messenger boy in The Connaught Telegraph I frequently delivered letters to Thornton’s office. The office was packed with ancient files and had a musty smell. The building resembled a scene from a Charles Dickens novel. When Miss Carney, a clerk, who came from Westport, saw me coming, she told me ‘state your business and leave immediately.’
Messenger boys had a lot to put with in those years.
Thornton’s offices were later purchased by the Trustees Savings Bank and developed into a modern building. The bank was officially opened by Albert Reynolds, Taoiseach, and the renovation of the building was carried out by Ruanes, contractors, Ballina.
I insisted at the time that the cutstone feature at the entrance to the bank be maintained. The first manager appointed to the bank was Aneas Lane, a native of County Cork.
Incidentally, a priest named Fr. McGough was born in the Ellison Street premises in the early 1900s.
Creagh Villa was purchased some years ago by Mayo County Council and is now an internationally known holiday resort, close to the shores of beautiful Lough Lannagh.