A link in the chain
THE INTERVIEW
Sean Rice
Seanrice@mayonews.ie
Castlebar may be booming, but complacency is proscribed. Soon a €200 million plan will be lodged to resuscitate the heart of the county town. Business will be revitalised and balance restored to the lopsided nature of its current trading pattern.
Slowly, life is returning to the old commercial centre which had almost been abandoned to the ghosts of antiquity. The sidewalks will pulse again with shoppers, and visitors will pack the street that for Cllr Brendan Henaghan characterises the town of Castlebar.
The plans have been drawn up. Some work – like the ten million euro revamp by Elvery's of the building known as Bolgers – is almost complete, while an access road over the river has opened up the back of the main street for new business ventures.
It is all part of large-scale undertakings, much of it embarked upon by local business people, prompted by an energetic and ambitious Town Council which in the past year had been presided over by Cllr Henaghan.
"It was a demanding year," he said. "Twelve months ago I was delighted to have been elected Mayor. It was a great honour, but it is quite demanding especially for anyone with a family and in business, and I was delighted to pass it on to Eugene McCormack."
The councillor is one of three former mayors on whose fathers similar honour was bestowed. Brendan's father, the late John Henaghan, served as chairman of the Council for two terms and was the first to wear the chain of office.
Past councils laid the foundation for the prosperity the town is enjoying. Dunnes and Tesco and Aldi, and the Royal Theatre and their offshoots have been the attraction for shoppers from well outside the borders of the county.
But while Castlebar grows by the day, so too, are the surrounding towns. "We are entering a very competitive time in the retail business. Claremorris has come on in leaps and bounds. It is very well located geographically and has huge potential. Westport and other towns are also progressing, so Castlebar cannot afford to rest on its laurels," said the outgoing chairman.
The progress has come at a price, however, with the neglect of Main Street, and future plans are now focused on its revival. The derelict buildings are disappearing, says Cllr Henaghan. Bolgers old store was a bugbear for the Council for nine years . . . until Elverys took it over.
"Easons have come to Main Street, Castle Street is being rejuvenated, and the Council have played their part in the work. That new artery into the back of Main Street has opened up huge possibilities for further development. Life is slowly coming back to Main Street.”
This new life will be sustained by a mammoth development planned by local entrepreneurs Stauntons – the owners of Elvery’s – and a company headed by Tony McHugh. Their combined proposal is to convert the car parks they own at Market Square and Main Street into a €200 million venture.
"It will bring more big-name retailers to the town and rejuvenate the whole town centre," said Cllr Henaghan. "There will be underground car parks, and a whole new area for shopping and retailing. It has all been modeled on a town in Connecticut."
He said he would like to see a project manager employed to oversee the development over the next five to ten years. The Council would benefit from a big rate intake and he wants to see the money raised in that area spent in that area.
"We welcome all that. Castlebar is the capital town and has come on in leaps and bounds and we want to keep it that way. I think that what characterises the town is the main street. I want to see it as a place where indigenous businesses can survive and thrive."
He said he was delighted to have been the first Fine Gael mayor to be elected in ten years. Co-opted to the Council in 2003 in place of Senator Paddy Burke, who retired because of the dual mandate requirement, Brendan, who runs a thriving health food business at Ellison Street, was returned at the last election on the first count.
As a unit the Council has worked well together, with party politics seen only as peripheral to their decisions. That esprit de corps was evident in the election of Eugene McCormack of Fine Gael as mayor when Fianna Fáil's Aidan Crowley seconded the proposal. For vice-chair, Cllr Kevin Guthrie was proposed by Fianna Fáil's Blackie Gavin and seconded by Independent Michael Kilcoyne.
Unanimity is seen as essential to progress, and every effort is being made by the body of councillors to deal with whatever problems arise. Plans are afoot to establish relief roads to ease the traffic burden, and it is Cllr Henaghan's hope that the restoration of the town centre would be augmented by the use of the Military Barracks for car-parking.
A €3m scheme is planned to improve the Lough Lanagh area, and the OPW, fisheries bodies and the Council are also to undertake the enhancement of the town river.
The councillor would also like to see Market Square utilised to accommodate a consortium of traders in Westport who operate country markets. Local produce should be encouraged, he says.
He said it was good to see the growing immigrant population who brought a new culture and a new side of life to the town. And he noted so many people returning to retire because of the quality of life it had to offer . . . despite so many incidents of anti-social behaviour.
Anti-social behaviour was endemic, but garda superintendents had told him that Castlebar had less of that problem than many other towns.
A new CCTV system is to be installed on the streets next year under the sole supervision of the Garda authorities. That, he expects, will make it easier to get prosecutions and will act as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour.
Cllr McCormack had also a proposal before the Council for greater communication and co-operation between the Council and residents groups, and that was something they hoped to develop.
There is also a need for further major industry. A lot of people like the Stauntons and McHughs are ploughing their money back into the town, putting their necks on the line, but empty shop units would not make the bank repayments if there were an economic slump.
The innovative centre at the GMIT now houses ten micro industries established by people innovating, reskilling and developing new products. "That's where the future lies for Castlebar. The entrepreneurial zeal is there,” he said.
But a new major industry is also required. In towns like Tullamore, where there is a government minister, the industrial estate is full. Castlebar's has lain empty even though the IDA had spent hundreds of thousands of euro developing it. Without a minister, Castlebar has boomed. What would it do if there were a minister living in the area? Enda Kenny was the last cabinet minister to reside in the town. Before that, the Flynn highway spurred the growth.
Cllr Henaghan returned recently to Ballinasloe, the town of his alma mater, and which in that time stood comparison with Castlebar. "But Ballinasloe has stood still. Returning there was like going back in time. It is so near Athlone it may not have had a chance to thrive, but Castlebar has gone way ahead."
He paid tribute to all those with whom he worked during the year and from whom he received great co-operation. But while there was genuine goodwill for the Council, some county officials were afraid to make a decision.
Bureaucracy was clogging the system. There was a lot of passing the buck and it was frustrating when trying to get something done. It will be easier, he thinks, for the county and town councils to work closer together when the town's new civic offices are established at Pavilion Road.
He is also critical of the company who came to town in the eighties, dug up the streets and laid down ducting to accommodate cable TV and broadband facilities for which they received a substantial grant from Europe . . . but never returned to finish the job.
Otherwise, as he winds down from his term as Mayor – a title he prefers to that of cathaoirleach or chairman, because it is internationally-recognised and understood – Cllr Henaghan’s was a year of fulfillment. While he was glad to pass on the torch, his term was enriched by the diversity of activity that representing Castlebar entailed. He has joined the pantheon of distinguished mayors who have added their stone to the growth of the capital town.
Contact
MJM finance
MJ McGreal,
Address
Market Square,
Castlebar
Telephone
094 9027488
