Acting Ballina town manager Paul Benson has said that funding figures for tourism and sports projects in the three major towns in the county in the last 18 months that were published this week were “erroneous”. Mr Benson was speaking at the November meeting of Ballina Town Council, where he was giving a presentation on the numerous capital projects that have been undertaken in the town over the past 10 years, by local authorities, other State bodies and private investments. At the start of his presentation he said: “I don’t share that view on the news report on funding for Ballina in relation to Castlebar and Westport, that there is an anti-Ballina bias.”
The figures came in for plenty of criticism from members of the council during discussions on the presentation, with Cllr Mary Kelly initially calling on the council to write to both Dep Michelle Mulherin and Dep John O’Mahony about the issue. Cllr Peter Clarke said: “It’s a disgrace, that the major money is going into Westport and Castlebar, they are just feathering their own nests” [An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and Minister of State, Michael Ring].
However Mr Benson called on the members to refrain from sending any letter, telling the meeting: “The figures they were sent were erroneous, because it’s a snapshot of 18 months. Some of the roads projects in Castlebar are double counted straight away, and the smarter travel in Westport and the Sports Complex in Castlebar are further down the line, but no commitment given.” Mr Benson also referred to a commitment for funding on the Robinson Library which was not included in the figures. The acting manager also warned that looking at any funding in a small snapshot of time such as 18 months can lead to distorted results, saying, “You can’t go by 18 month windows anyway, because you could go back a further 18 months and Ballina could be on top of the list.”
