A good week for Boyle
It was a good news week for Boyle with contracts signed for the new €7m library and work commencing on the long awaited public realm upgrade of Bridge Street and Shop Street to include the former Royal Car Park. If you add into the mix, An Rioga, the work that is planned for The Lawn, the recent upgrade of the Pleasure Grounds, the lane way along by King House and the previous work on The Shambles, then you have a total transformation of the lower part of the town centre that is referred to as the ‘King House Cultural Quarter’. The initial project had included the Crescent area but following concerns and submissions by a number of parties, the Crescent was excluded from the plan.
The current public realm work will see the footpaths increased in size along most of Bridge Street and Shop Street. Once completed, this should give an opportunity for businesses to put seating outside their premises and also allow planting and landscaping which will really add to the town from next summer on. The carriageway will be reduced in size but within acceptable limits and while parking will be gone on the bridge in town, there will be additional parking in what will be a beautifully landscaped car park off Shop Street right in the town centre. Despite the picture some like to paint, Boyle is progressing and it was always the view of those who strive to see Boyle develop that we needed to have our town looking right so private investment will follow and that is exactly what is happening right now with more good news to come over the next few months.
Condemnation of yesterday’s events in Dublin
Every normal thinking person will condemn the events in Dublin yesterday evening and night, including the ‘gratuitous thuggery’ that followed the awful stabbing of a number of people. As Uachtaran na hEireann Michael D. Higgins said in a statement “This appalling incident is a matter for the Gardaí and that it would be used or abused by groups with an agenda that attacks the principle of social inclusion is reprehensible and deserves condemnation by all those who believe in the rule of law and democracy.”
Don’t for one minute think that the far right, racist element who orchestrated these attacks are confined to Dublin. They are not, and many are living among us here in Boyle. They have been seen at a number of far right led protests in Sligo and Dublin over the years and are always waiting for an opportunity to push their ideology and agenda on the public.
New Library will house more than just books
The announcement of the new library for Boyle generated a lot of comment on our Facebook page with many questioning the need for such an expensive piece of infrastructure in our town while others suggested it’s housing and a hotel that we require not a new library.
Members of the public need to understand this new library will not be like the libraries of old – or indeed the one we currently have. For those of a certain generation, libraries were seen as places where you could not talk and where you were regularly told to ‘keep quiet’ and as such were places you frequented with fear. The proposed Boyle Community Library will not be like this. It will be a bright modern community facility housing more than books and magazines. It will be a community space with meeting and study rooms and places for people to gather and socialise and will compliment the An Rioga building and performance space adjacent to it.
People should also be aware that there are no grants available at present to build a hotel. If there was you can be quite sure developers would be popping them up left, right and centre. The fact remains that hotels of a certain size are not financially viable options – but that is not to say a certain type of hotel would not work in Boyle – it would and the establishment of a viable hotel in the town is being worked on weekly behind the scenes.
But in this instance grants did become available for libraries and Roscommon Co Co and Boyle Town Team moved quickly to secure funding for such a facility in our town. If RCC and BTT did not do this then the funding would have gone elsewhere and Boyle would have lost out, which would have generated further controversy. This round of financial assistance that was available could not have been used for a hotel or housing.
While it is a large sum of money, we should be delighted that Boyle got this investment as other towns tried and were not successful. In addition, once the library is operational, it will release the site of the existing library in King House which lies adjacent to the large building currently occupied by the army and were all of this to become available – it would open up further opportunities for other infrastructural developments in that area.
Fake Facebook accounts are still in existence locally
We previously mentioned how this website had to block a number of fake Facebook accounts that were established to cause controversy and debate concerning local developments and plans. We are told the same Facebook accounts are still in existence posting mistruths and eliciting comment and debate from people locally over last weekend on another social media account (not Boyletoday). People should not get sucked into this rubbish and should give some thought and use critical thinking before commenting online. Furthermore, facilitating the publication of these mistruths where individuals are obvious by inference, is leaving social media account administrators open to libel while also portraying Boyle in a negative light when there is absolutely no need to do so.
Community Information Morning in Boyle
Well done to the good folk in Boyle Family Resource Centre who are organising a ‘Community Information Morning’ next Friday December 1st in the Centre. The information morning is open to anyone new to Boyle where they can meet local community groups, Community Gardai, Roscommon Volunteer Centre and GRETB reps. The event takes place between 10am – 12 noon and all those who are new to our town are welcome.
Resumption of Garda patrols will be welcomed
The power of ongoing constructive dialogue between Boyle representatives on the County’s Joint Policing Committee and local Garda management will result in increased foot and mobile patrols in Boyle and environs this December (see story on homepage of this website). This is great news with the JPC reps trying to get patrols back to previous levels for many months now. With lines of communication now firmly established, the JPC reps will continue to liaise with and assist Gardai management to ensure Boyle gets additional Gardaí and that the Garda Station will open at more appropriate and hopefully longer hours in 2024.
News snippets from around Boyle
In the run up to Christmas, traders really should be marketing the fact that car parking is free in Boyle town. Many other towns would be delighted to have this asset to attract shoppers………Petes Pizza is outside Daly’s Wine Bar once again this evening………..Santa Claus and his team of elves, Rudolph, Mrs.Claus and Frosty the Snowman will be making a special stop at Lough Key Forest & Activity Park on Sunday 17th December from 1pm-3pm………Any chance the mound in the centre of the Shilling Hill could be repainted to stop people driving over it or worse still – cutting short around it. Maneuvers like this are accidents waiting to happen………..If ever there was need to gauge the popularity of Boyle and Roscommon footballer Enda Smith, just look at the last Friday’s Facebook post on Boyletoday after Enda won an All Star. The post was liked by over 1000 people with a post impression of 30,375 and a reach of 29,878……….We now have an additional food venue in Boyle in which to have lunch (along with evening meals) with ‘Yomari’ on The Crescent opening for lunch from 12 noon since yesterday (Thursday). They are also open for evening meals from 5pm – 10pm. (see advert on homepage of this website)……….Thank you to Roscommon Co Co who have cleared the leaves from the cycleway between the first and second gate lodges………….The Fine Gael selection convention for the Boyle Municipal District in next year’s local elections is scheduled to be held on Monday next. It is understood there is no candidate from Boyle town going before the convention which will be held in Elphin……………Chances are it’s happening in every other town in Ireland, but right now, the level of unfounded rumour that is doing the rounds in Boyle in relation to public safety needs to be addressed. Please ensure you have the real facts and first hand information from credible sources before making comments and remember once again, just because you read it on Facebook does not mean it is true.
And finally……!
Sam died and left €50,000 in his will for an elaborate funeral.
As the last attenders left, Sam’s wife, Rose, turned to her oldest friend, Sadie, and said: “Well, I’m sure Sam would be pleased.”
“I’m sure you’re right” replied Sadie, who leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper: “Tell me, how much did it really cost?”
“All of it” said Rose. “€50,000.”
“No!” Sadie exclaimed “I mean, it was very nice, but really…€50,000?”
Rose nodded. “The funeral was €6500. I donated €500 to the church for the priest services. The food and drinks for another €500. And the rest went towards the memorial stone.”
Sadie computed quickly: “€42,500 for a memorial stone? Exactly how big is it?”
“Seven and a half carats.”
