Three week free parking on the streets of Boyle
A viewer has been in contact to highlight the abuse of free parking on Elphin Street. This week, a car that has been parked on the street for close on three weeks was finally moved when the owners, suitcases in hand, arrived back to town on the train. One could assume they were on an extended holiday and instead of using the paid car park at the train station, they seem to have left their car on the street. The viewer also told of cars parked for up to a week in the ‘one hour only’ parking areas on the link road from Elphin Street to the Train Station.
In recent times our attention was also brought to a car that is now parked on upper Bridge Street for over a year!! Tax and insurance are well out of date and there is even grass growing from the roadway into the car it is so long there!
Abuse of free parking like this is only going to lead to one thing – paid for parking – and only then will people realise how lucky we were when we did have free parking in our town.
Report shows county has high number of vacant dwellings
A report published during the week shows that County Roscommon has one of the highest number of vacant dwellings in the country. The Q2 report by GeoDirectory found that there were 82,031 dwellings recorded nationwide as vacant in Q2 2024, with Roscommon recording the 3rd highest rate in the country at 10.2%, with Mayo (10.7%) and Leitrim (12%). The report also showed data on residential property transactions, based on Eircode. The Eircodes are based on the areas for which An Post town sorting centres have responsibility. In Boyle, the report indicates that there were 144 residential property transactions in Q2, 6.3% which were new dwellings with an average property price of €186,111.
The Geo Directory report came out on the same week as an exhibition was being held in Birr titled ‘The Reason of Town’s’. The exhibition is part of a series of Irish Architecture Foundation Reimagine projects aimed at exploring sustainable solutions to the housing crisis. Architect Valerie Mulvin of McCullough Mulvin is the lady behind the exhibition and in an article in the national media this week she suggests five things that would be crucial to unlocking the potential of some of our more forgotten towns and all the housing spaces they contain and they certainly could apply to Boyle. 1. People need to want to live in a town. 2. Access to information and support is vital (she suggest Council led clinics where you can avail of advice and support from the town architect, conservation architect, the planning and fire departments all in one room). 3. Appoint a county architect in every county. 4. Local authorities and the Government need to be proactive in working with banks and insurance companies to help town centre living to happen and 5. There needs to be an investment in the upskilling of people to make the ambitious plans a reality.
You can read the article here
Survey on one of Boyle’s top requirements
Apart from a hotel, one of top facilities people say is needed in Boyle is additional child care. With both parents in most families now having to work to make ends meet, adequate child care in a town is a priority, especially if the likes of Boyle is to attract more people to live here. With this in mind, and to advance a plan for a suggested new childcare facility for Boyle, the voluntary local Community Childcare Group has compiled a short survey to firmly identify if there is a need for a community early years service in Boyle, and if so, find out what type of service is most important to families. If this applies to you, please complete this three minute survey to share your thoughts and support the development of additional services for families in Boyle. You can access the survey here.
Assisting students in getting college accommodation
Around this time every year, we publish a piece asking home owners in Dublin, Galway and other student centres if they have a room to rent or a property to lease to students from around Boyle who are going to college. This year, Grainne O’Hagan who has family connections with the Corrigeenroe area has got in a head of us and is offering a room in her home for a student who may be attending DCU or other 3rd level college in Dublin. Grainne wrote: “I have a double room available in Whitehall, Dublin for rent for academic year 24/25, single occupancy for a 1st year MALE student, Sunday night to Friday morning, home cooked dinners included , 500m from DCU, 2 mins to buses to all other colleges/universities”.
Thanks you Grainne for this kind offer and Grainne informs us the room is now rented by someone who saw the post. If anyone else has any rooms or property to rent in the college cities, please send details to [email protected] and we will publicise same here on Boyletoday.com.
Lazy parking in Lough Key Forest Park
As was expected, the lovely weather last Saturday and Sunday ensured Lough Key Forest Park was extremely busy. But unfortunately indiscriminate parking once again posed a problem – not because there were not enough parking spaces – but because of laziness on the part of many. From early morning on Saturday and Sunday, visitors (and indeed some locals who should know better) took to parking on and in the grass opposite the lake instead of using the car parks to the rear that had plenty of spaces. Others parked on double yellow lines while more abandoned their cars on the approach roads to avoid paying the car parking charge. It was a similar scene at the entrances to the cycle path just past the second gate and past the Beech Walk, as cars parked directly in front of the ‘Do Not Park Here’ signs and in the process, blocked access for emergency vehicles if they needed to head into the forest or onto the cycle path. It was great to see the Park so busy but can those who visit or use the facilities, please be more considerate when parking.
News snippets from around Boyle
A coffee afternoon fundraiser in aid of Childhood Cancer Ireland in memory of a remarkable little man, CJ McCann who sadly passed away in October 2023 at just 23 months, from a rare, aggressive brain cancer will take place in Fitzpatrick’s Bar, Grangemore, Boyle tomorrow Saturday from 2-6pm. All donations gratefully accepted…….Big game tomorrow (Saturday) evening for Boyle GAA when they take on Clann na nGael in Enfield at 18.30 in Round 2 of the Senior Football Championship. This all ticket game will also be available to view on Ros GAA TV……….Plenty of events on locally for Heritage Week. Check out our news story from Wednesday on the homepage of Boyletoday.com……..If every tenant and/or property owner in Boyle town centre made an effort to pull the weeds from in front of their premises, it would make such a difference to the town……….Don’t miss the last Boyle Historic Walking Tour of this season on Saturday August 17th, 2pm meeting at Boyle Craft Shop. For more information or to book, call +353(0) 71 96 63033. Walk in’s welcome, booking recommended. Cost: €5………..Boyletoday.com was delighted to have played it’s part in publishing details of the collie that went missing from Corrigeenroe after last Sunday nights storm and who turned up in Co Leitrim on Tuesday – 33k away. As the dog was microchipped, he was able to be reunited with his owner once he was located near Drumkerrin………Yesterday’s talk on the 425th anniversary of the Battle of the Curlews by Archaeologist David Swift in King House was a most enjoyable event. Held at 2pm and again at 7pm, weapons similar to those used by the Irish and English forces in the famous Battle were on show and discussed. Well done to King House for organising such an event on such an historic day that every year goes unnoticed by the majority in our town.
And finally….!
Madge and Arlene are sitting outside their nursing home, having a drink and a smoke, when it starts to rain.
Madge pulls out a condom, cuts off the end, puts it over her cigarette and continues smoking.
Arlene: What the hell is that?
Madge: A condom. This way my cigarette doesn’t get wet.
Arlene: Where did you get it?
Madge: You can get them at any pharmacy.
The next day Arlene hobbles into the local pharmacy and announces to the pharmacist that she wants a box of condoms.
The pharmacist, somewhat embarrassed, looks at her strangely and very delicately asks what brand of condom she prefers.
‘Doesn’t matter my Dear, she says, as long as it fits a Camel.’
……. The pharmacist fainted.
