OPINION: Castlebar needs bold vision

Recent comments from architect Hugh Wallace, describing Castlebar as ‘depressing’ and lacking in vision, must surely have stung. It’s not the first time Wallace has taken aim at Mayo; back in 2019, he basically suggested that we may well just turn off the lights in North Mayo and stop bothering to try, because town and city living is where it is at these days, apparently.
So, the good people of Castlebar have this writer’s sympathy – it’s not nice when someone, even if they’re not all that famous, takes aim at the place you call home.
But there is nothing like it to motivate people either.
We must be doing something right in Ballina these days. Doubling down on his comments about the county town, Wallace used Ballina as an example of a town that has taken significant steps forward with public works and community-driven initiatives to make it better. High praise, but the man seems fickle.
Whatever about the work of officialdom, I can certainly testify to the contribution of hundreds of community volunteers to driving Ballina’s fortune. So much so, that Ballina has just been announced as a candidate for the title of European Volunteering Capital 2026 by the Centre for European Volunteering in Brussels, one of just three European municipalities shortlisted for the prestigious title. But I wouldn’t say that proving Hugh Wallace wrong was the main motivation.
There is no denying the issues that Wallace has highlighted in Castlebar. I work in the town now, and I see it up close every day. I love it there. It is a place for which I have always held a soft spot, and it is home to some of the best people I know. It’s a town that has only this year been publicly named as a great place to live, and in which to achieve a great work-life balance. As an outsider looking in, I can’t help feeling it deserves better, both from public authorities and from its own people and businesses.
Wallace highlighted the dearth of town centre dwellings. He pointed out the use of a huge swathe of town centre land for a car park. He mentioned dereliction and a lack of vision. To be fair, the only remarkable thing about these observations is that he targeted Castlebar, when it could have been any town in Ireland. Ballina certainly suffers from plenty of these issues, but has perhaps had better PR.
Wallace did, however, point out that €11 million had been allocated to Castlebar in 2021 under the Urban Regeneration Development Fund (URDF) with very little visible evidence of this money having yet been spent in the town. Aside from the welcome plans for the old Post Office, is anything else even happening?
Ballina, having received a comparatively small €3.2 million in 2018, has meanwhile transformed its town-centre military barracks into the modern Innovation Quarter. Volunteers from Ballina have also worked incredibly hard – fought, in fact – over the past decade, in large numbers to create a vibrant programme of events, and to address some of Ballina’s unsightly public-realm issues.
These things have been achieved, it must be noted, sometimes with the help of officialdom, but sometimes in spite of it. Could a similar effort happen in Castlebar?
Town planning has played a huge role in Castlebar’s problems. Unlike Ballina, which kept its town centre intact, commercial development on the fringes has hollowed out Castlebar’s nucleus, and creeping dereliction and boarded-up buildings have taken its place, with no penalties for those irresponsible property owners. Yet it is still home to some lovely shops, eateries and bars. It just lacks people.
Town-centre living is not regarded as sexy these days (and being honest, I cannot fathom why not), so town-centre land is used to park cars, including my own, five days a week. Active volunteer groups, such as Castlebar Tidy Towns and Castlebar Community Clean Up, are doing great and visible work, but there is only so much they can achieve. It is frustrating, because the raw materials are there; some of the buildings being left to crumble and rot are, heartbreakingly, some of the most beautiful. And Ballina would kill for a green space like the Mall in the centre of our town.
So why isn’t Castlebar capitalising? Is the issue one of a lack of leadership and vision, as Wallace suggests? Is it a lack of consensus and common will, or a lack of volunteerism? Is it down to bureaucracy stifling development? Who will step up and take the bull by the horns? Or does anyone have the time and energy these days to take on the responsibility and meet the demands of this often thankless work?
Cllr Ger Deere was absolutely right to invite Mr Wallace to visit and engage with the community, risky though it might be. People are the main strength of any town. Wallace’s criticisms, though uncomfortable and maddening, can potentially serve as a catalyst for the county town to reassess its direction and inject it with a shot of pride.
There’s nothing like adversity and criticism to light a fire.
Revitalising Castlebar’s town centre won’t happen overnight, and a clear rethink of government policy is required to assist towns like it all over Ireland, but with vision, strategic collaboration and community input, it is still possible for it to flourish.
Let’s hope that in a few years, Mr Wallace will be eating his words.