Snippets
 16
December 1998
Record passenger numbers through
Knock
SOME 13,000 passengers will pass through Knock
International Airport over the Christmas period.
Knock Airport Board Chairman, Mr. Cathal Duffy said there
would be a total of 112 flights into the base between Sunday
next (December 20) and January 6.
" We are expecting good traffic over the Christmas
period", he said.
Record passenger numbers used the airport during 1998. By
the end of this month he forecast that the figure would be
194,000 ˆ up 36,000 on the 1997 figures.
Mr. Duffy added: "With the low fares people are
travelling oftener. Where people only traveller one a year
before they are travelling ten or twelve time now."
Mr. Duffy said his Board were pleased that there was to
be a rethink by EU officials on the ending of duty-free
shopping.
But he accepted that it would eventually be phased out
over a number of years. But he stressed his Board would be
pressing Government to take the necessary steps to counter
the move.
Death of Mr. John (Jack) Rice,
Moneen, Castlebar
THE death has occurred of Mr. John (Jack) Rice, Moneen,
Castlebar, one
of the town's oldest and most respected personalities.
Aged 90, he was a former Town Foreman with Castlebar
Urban Council. Previous to that, he was employed as a ganger
with Mayo
County Council for many years.
The deceased enjoyed a long and good life, and his
passing is widely mourned.
He is survived by his wife, Judy, sons, Sean
(Islandeady), Seamus (London), Gus (London), Tom
(Castlebar), Michael (Swinford)
and Nacy (Dublin); daughters, Maureen (London), Mrs. Carmel
Archbold (Newbridge), Mrs. Pat Heyl (Glenisland), and Mrs.
Eileen Lynn (Dublin).
He is also deeply regretted by a sister-in-law, nephews,
nieces, grandchildren and other relatives, to whom heartfelt
sympathy is tendered.
His remains were removed from Thomas Street Funeral Home,
Castlebar, yesterday (Tuesday) evening to the Church of the
Holy Rosary, Castlebar.
Burial takes place in the New Cemetery, Castlebar, today
(Wednesday) following Requiem Mass for the repose of his
gentle soul at 11 o'clock.Seasonal Waits
Mr. Joe Geraghty and Mr. Stephen Guthrie are busy
continuing the tradition of the Waits in Castlebar ˆ
the only town in Ireland with such a custom remaining.
Nightly they trek the streets bidding a 'good morning' to
householders.
Children's hospital
boost
A TOTAL of £911.43 was raised by the Castlebar Daily
Mass Choir who gave a carol recital outside SuperValu in
Castlebar on Friday.
The proceeds will go to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick
Children, Crumlin. The recital was organised by Frankie
Ford-Waldron.
Presidential visit for
Mulranny
PRESIDENT Mary McAleese will perform the official opening
of St. Brendan's Day Care Centre in Mulranny
on January 19. The high support unit caters for thirty
residents.
MAYO MENTAL HEALTH PUBLIC SPEAKING
FINAL.
THE four Secondary Schools taking part in the Mayo Final
of the Mental Health Association's Public Speaking Project
are St. Patrick's Academy, Islandeady, Castlebar, St. Louis
Secondary School, Kiltimagh,
St. Brendan's College, Belmullet,
and Moyne College, Ballina.
The Mayo Final will be held in the Failte Suite,
Welcome
Inn, Castlebar, on Thursday 21st January. Winning team
goes forward to represent Mayo at the National Final in
Trinity College, Dublin in February.
Ernie nomination
CASTLEBAR literacy campaigner Ernie Sweeney has been
nominated by the National Adult Literacy Association as
"European Person of the Year".
Pioneers to descend on
Knock
PIONEERS from all over the world will descend on
Knock for the Matt
Talbot Pilgrimage on July 18th next. The Pilgrimage is one
of many major events organised by the PTAA to mark the
Centenary of the Association.
The highlight of the year's activities will be a massive
Centenary Rally in Croke Park on Sunday, May 30th.
Island post office proposal takes
'a licking'
By DEIRDRE KENNY
THE long running saga to find someone to run the Post
Office on Clare Island has taken a turn for the worse - an
islander has declined an offer to take over the postal
service.
The position was offered last week and all the signs were
hopeful that the Post Office would be back in operation in
the new year. However the offer has been rejected and now
negotiations must go back to the beginning again.
Island Manager, Mr. Donal O'Shea, said he was not
surprised at the decision of the person offered the Post
Office as the regulations and stipulations laid down by An
Post are too stringent, he said.
Part of the criteria requires the operator to have a
separate building in their house and another room for
sorting. An Post don't finance the buildings required.
Another sticking point was that the person running the
postal service would receive £5,500 a year for a five
and a half day week.
What An Post were offering was "slave labour", he said,
and he was doubtful anyone else on the island will want to
run the postal service.
'I was not pushed out'
says Jack Heneghan
BY TOM
KELLY
BALLINROBE councillor Jack Heneghan has denied he was
'pushed out' by the Fianna Fianna Party after 31 years. The
long serving member of Mayo County Council said he decision
to resign was 'totally his own.'
Mr. Heneghan was responding to speculation that
behind-the-scenes moves were on-going to persuade him not to
contest next June's local elections.
He explained: "There is no truth to that whatsoever. I
made the decision for my own reasons. As far as I am
concerned, there is no difference between the Fianna Fail
and Fine Gael parties on Mayo
County Council any more.
"I had become disillusioned with the party, particularly
in regard to promises made to me in relation to a number of
local water schemes that were never fulfilled."
Mr. Heneghan, who has been a member of the council since
1967, did not rule out the prospect of him standing as an
independent.
But it is understood that decision may be influenced by
who Fianna Fail select as his replacement in the Ballinrobe
Electoral Area.
Connaught Telegraph - News &
Sport - December 1998
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