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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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West on Track received prestigious award in recognition of the extraordinary campaign conducted by the group over the past 20 years to re-open the rail line from Limerick to Sligo
At a gala ceremony hosted in the Inter-Continental Hotel by the Mayo Dublin Association, the voluntary community organisation, West on Track was awarded the prestigious Paddy Joe Moran Meitheal Award for 2024.
Over 300 people attended the Meitheal Awards which included Minster Dara Calleary TD, Alan Dillon TD, Rose Conway Walsh TD, Seán Canney TD and many councillors from across the region.
The conferring of the award was in recognition of the extraordinary campaign conducted by the group over the past 20 years to re-open the rail line from Limerick to Sligo. The section of the line from Ennis to Athenry has been re-opened and is operating successfully since 2010.
Last July, 20 years after West on Track launched its campaign, the All-Island Rail Review recommended the reopening of the Athenry to Claremorris section. This will allow the rail-connected towns of Westport, Ballina, Foxford, Castlebar, Claremorris and Tuam to be reconnected to Galway and Limerick and facilitate Mayo and Galway companies to send freight directly to the southern ports of Waterford and Foynes.
The next section of the railway linking the designated growth centre of Sligo to the regional capital in Galway is now the focus.
West on Track is determined to ensure that the towns of Kiltimagh, Swinford, Charlestown, Tubbercurry, Collooney and Sligo as well as Ireland West Airport are brought back onto the national rail network and reconnected to the regional capital of Galway.
The Mayo Person of the Year award went to Rita Casey of Charlestown for her inspirational work in raising awareness of cancer and fundraising for the Mayo-Roscommon Hospice. Despite several serious prognoses in the course of her illness, Rita has battled back each time and in autumn of last year she ran the Dublin City Marathon for the hospice.
A Garda by profession, Rita is a native of Donegal and is married to John Casey, the former Mayo footballer. A huge crowd of family and well-wishers from Charlestown and Donegal attended and she received a five-minute standing ovation from all present on receiving her award.
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