FROM CYCLE lanes in Belmullet to swimming pools in Westport and Ballina, Co Mayo has been enjoying the benefits of Government grants to improve its tourism and sport infrastructure.
Since July, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has announced more than €5 million in grants for a variety of projects in the county. The list includes at least seven cycling projects, two swimming pool upgrades and two new coast guard boats.
The fact that the Minister of State at the department, Michael Ring, hails from Westport in the county has excited local comment, both positive and negative. The Fine Gael chairman of the town council, Christy Hyland, has boasted that Ring must have “a direct line to Angela Merkel” while Fianna Fáil has claimed that many of the projects were in the pipeline before Ring was appointed.
Four out of five Mayo TDs are from Fine Gael, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Last week Councillor Ger Deere, a member of Kenny’s constituency staff, told Castlebar Town Council that nobody should be under any illusions about who sanctioned a recent greenway project – it was Kenny.
Ring himself says his presence in the department has nothing to do with Mayo’s record in securing grants. Other counties have done better than Mayo in obtaining grants so there is “no point blaming me” for the allocations, he says.
The junior minister says he is seeking an apology from Dublin Fianna Fáil Councillor Jim O’Callaghan for his claim that Ring was favouring his own constituency in the allocation of sports grants at the expense of Dublin. O’Callaghan had said that in the October allocation of local authority sports grants, Mayo County Council obtained twice the amount of funds as Dublin city.
“It appears the only rational explanation for the people of Dublin being treated so unfairly is that the Taoiseach and his Minister for Sport, both Mayo men, are more concerned about looking after their own backyard rather than sharing limited State resources in a fair fashion,” O’Callaghan said.
However, Ring says the four local authorities in Dublin as a whole received more than €1 million in funding, compared with €678,000 for Mayo. Every project that applied for funding got it under the scheme, so long as it was lodged in time, he says.
The Irish Timesasked the department last month for details of the allocations made under various grant schemes since the Government came to power. Yesterday, it provided figures which confirmed that eight projects from Co Mayo received €678,000 in grants from a total of €4.5 million allocated under the sport capital funding scheme, while two projects from the county received support worth €726,000 as part of grants totalling €10.9 million under the local authority swimming pools scheme. From the information provided, it was not possible to ascertain with certainty Mayo's share of grants made under other schemes.
The success of Mayo in attracting grant money is charted in the Mayo Newsand Ring's press releases from the department. It started last July 11th with a grant of €97,150 for 20km of cycle lanes in Ballina. In the same month, Castlebar train station got €28,000 for an upgrade, and €200,000 was provided for a new boat for Killala Coast Guard.
In August, Ring announced a grant of €359,550 to Westport Leisure Centre as part of a €4.4 million package to improve access for people with disabilities to 19 swimming pools across the State. In the same month, Connacht rugby got €424,207 to develop the sport in the province.
September saw 12 sports and infrastructure projects in the county obtain grants.
They include €200,000 for a new boat for Achill Coast Guard, almost €600,000 for games areas in Balla, Ballina, Castlebar, Polranny and leisure or sports projects in Westport and Ballinrobe.
Projects in Mayo accounted for two of the nine allocations under the local authority sports scheme.
Some €620,000 was provided for road improvements in Bohola/Westport and Mayo County Council got €82,000 to prepare for extreme weather.
A project to build a “greenway” for walkers and cyclists from Westport to Pinewoods got €155,000 while in October two more greenway projects for a cycleway from Westport to Croagh Patrick and a similar route linking Castlebar and Islandeady obtained €1.78 million.
Also last month, €90,000 was provided for a variety of “smarter travel” projects, including 100m of cycle lane in Ballinrobe, 54km of “cycle-friendly roads” near Louisburgh and 800m of cycle lane in Belmullet. Ring also announced a grant of €366,700 to Ballina swimming pool and another €100,000 for cycle lanes in the town. He says he wants to turn Mayo into “the walking capital of Ireland”. “Westport and west Mayo are prime tourism destinations but the infrastructure is not there,” he says.
Two of the four people appointed to the board of Fáilte Ireland by Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar are from Mayo. Ring issued a press release welcoming the appointment of Westport hotelier and supermarket owner Noel Kavanagh, but says Kavanagh is not a supporter of his or a member of Fine Gael.
He says he doesn’t know another appointee, Gina Murphy, who hails from Ballina but now runs restaurants in Dublin and Tullamore.
List of projects approved in Co Mayo since summer
JULY
€97,150 Ballina cycle lanes
€28,000 Castlebar train station upgrade
€200,000 Killala Coast Guard new boat
AUGUST
€359,550 Westport Leisure Centre
€424,207 Connacht Rugby grant
SEPTEMBER
€200,000 Achill Coast Guard new boat
€620,000 Bohola/Kiltimagh road improvements
€82,000 Mayo County Council extreme weather preparation
€82,800 Balla games area
€68,248 Ballina games area
€103,995 Castlebar games area
€85,000 Westport greenway
€106,925 Polranny games area €70,009 Westport Leisure Park
€155,000 Pinewoods to Westport town greenway
€85,872 Ballinrobe sporting projects
€75,142 Westport sporting projects
OCTOBER
€90,000 Smarter Travel Projects in Mayo
€366,700 Ballina swimming pool
€100,000 Smart Travel Scheme in Mayo
€830,000 Westport to Croagh Patrick cycleway
€950,000 Castlebar to Islandeady cycleway