Blackie on Fianna Fáil, his political future and his hopes for Mayo county town
By Nathan Keane
Long-serving Mayo Councillor Blackie Gavin has responded to questions about his political future and his association with the Fianna Fáil party.
Despite leaving the party's grouping on Mayo County Council in the aftermath of the 2024 local election as a result of its decision to form an alliance with Fine Gael, the Castlebar-based representative insisted he remains a member of Fianna Fáil despite being part of an independent lobby on the authority.
Asked if he will be contesting the next local election as an Independent, he remarked: “Well, I’m still a member of the Fianna Fáil. I have been elected by the party since 1994.
"If I get the nomination from the local Cumann ahead of the next local election, I certainly will be running under the Fianna Fáil flag. And if I don’t get the nomination, I will run as an Independent.
"At the moment, I’m Fianna Fáil, I go to a lot of the meetings, and I’m involved at a national level with Fianna Fáil.”
Councillor Gavin was welcomed to a Fianna Fáil event hosted by Minister Jack Chambers in Westport, further fuelling fresh speculation about his future.
He has also met and spoke to party leader, Taosieach Micheál Martin, on a number of occasions since stepping away from the FF party grouping on the council.
Despite the ongoing controversy about his political situation, he is persistent in his intentions to continue to help Castlebar develop as the county town.
One of his biggest projects in recent times has been the Lough Lannagh car park, as well as the climbing wall.
He explained: “I’ve been campaigning since I got elected for the extension of the car park.
“Lough Lannagh has been a runaway success. It’s open from 6.30 in the morning to 10.00 at night.
“Between the gym, the swimming lessons, the swimming club, the yoga classes, there is so much activity going on.
“We had to extend the car park, as well as build the climbing wall.
“The car park is going to cost a lot of money. It will be the same size as the existing one, so we will have over 50 new car parking spaces. It’s a great addition.
“The climbing wall is something for which I have been fighting hard. It is one of the capital projects within the Castlebar Municipal District.
"It is something that I have been raising at nearly every municipal district meeting.
“I’m absolutely delighted about it getting the go-ahead at last with the required funding in place."
Blackie was keen to stress the benefits of these developments for the town.
He stated his aim "to make Castlebar the sports tourism capital of the west.”
He expressed his delight with the tourism the town is seeing, and will be continuing to see, as a result of the facilities in Lough Lannagh.
“We have people coming from all over the west of Ireland.
“For example, the Connacht swimming galas are being held in Castlebar, because it's the only eight lane, 25-metre pool in the region. We have Lough Lannagh, we have the park run every Saturday morning.
“We have people coming from beyond the county. We have people from the United States, from Australia. It’s unbelievable.”
Councillor Gavin asked the county manager at the June meeting of the county council for a plan of capital works for Castlebar.
"We were granted nearly €12 million a good few years ago under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund but the pace of delivery is very slow.
“You have a red light, you have an amber light, and you have a green light.
“But this amber light is flashing all the time and we are not getting the green light for investment.
"The funding should be coming 100% from the government.
“We got a grant for a running track and football pitches in the town, beside the Mayo Roscommon Hospice, but we have to borrow over €5 million to match that grant.”
On his wider goals for the Castlebar community, he stated: “I represent the Castlebar Municipal District. It’s an area as big as County Louth. It has a population of over 30,000 people.
“I would like to see more money being dispersed to rejuvenate our towns and villages on the outskirts.
"We have a lot of commuter belts outside Castlebar, and these places want playgrounds, carparks, bus stops.
“The likes of Turlough, Ballyvary, Belcarra - we work with them and we fund and support them in every way.”
Blackie also spoke about his work with the Castlebar Community Cleanup Group.
“I was one of the founding members of the organisation.
“We do a lot of work around Castlebar every Saturday morning and sometimes during midweek.
“Our flagship project is Lough Lannagh. We look after the Leo O’Shaughnessy memorial garden at the Lough Lannagh car park and are proud to do so.
"It is a beautiful tribute to one of the old stock of Castlebar.
“We are involved with different organisations and we have also started a number of biodiversity projects.
"When there are big festivals and events in the town, we back them up and support them.
“We get great support from the officials and staff of Mayo County Council and the Castlebar Municipal District.
"Castlebar is a great town, you know. People who come here can’t believe the facilities at Lough Lannagh.
“I spent 20 years with the town council, and it was the best money ever spent. It’s something else. If you ever go up there at night time, and look over the whole campus, it's fantastic."
On his vision for the future of the county town, he said: "There are huge landbanks that have opened up along the new N5 and they should be used to build more houses for the people of Castlebar.
“But we’re very curtailed by our development plan. We have land that we want to zone for housing, but the regulator says ‘No, you can’t do this’."
Councillor Gavin said he would like to see greater powers given to the local councillors going forward.
"We should be allowed to make our own decisions like we did in the days of the old town council.
“For example, we made the decision to bring the pay and display into Castlebar and we were collecting €1 million a year. We could then spend that million in Castlebar. We can no longer do that.
"Now, that goes into the county pot, and it's shared out among the areas. We need that money back so we can fund Castlebar projects as well as driving on projects in our communities and villages. That's how I see it."