Cllr Sheila Buckley-Byrne offered her apologies to the residents of St Patrick’s Terrace in Irishtown after acknowledging a mistake of hers with regards to local geography at a prevous meeting.
When the question of correspondence arose at this week’s meeting of Athlone Town Council, town clerk John Walsh announced he had a protest letter from all 28 residents of St Patrick’s Terrace on Castlemaine Street demanding a retraction from Cllr Buckley-Byrne who had erroneously suggested at last month’s meeting that the old town dump backed up to this location.
“I accept it was not behind St Patrick’s Terrace. I want to set the record straight and apologise for any offence caused,” said Cllr Buckley-Byrne.
For the record, the councillor was 500m off, as the old town dump was situated on the opposite side of what is now the Golden Island campus, between the river and the recycling centre, on what is now a much more preferable landscaped park.
In other news, it was announced the official unveiling of the new memorial to former members of the defence forces stationed in Athlone, situated behind the castle, will happen at noon on Monday, April 12. There will be a number of road closures in the area and diversions for the duration of the ceremony and motorists are advised to avoid the area if they can.
Also, it was agreed at the meeting that an invitation should be sent to President McAleese asking her to return to Athlone this July 24 to officially open the Festival of Europe.
