Fine Gael councillor Michael Burke said this week that “good news was coming, it’s very close” in relation to the halted village enhancement works in Shrule. The issue of the works which have stalled for the best part of the year was raised at the Claremorris Electoral Area by Fianna Fáil councillor Damien Ryan this week. Cllr Ryan said that while he knew that progress had been made, it has been a long ongoing saga for the past year almost, and “the village has been left in a deplorable state.” He continued, “the hold up is no longer acceptable for the people.”
Patsy Bourke, senior engineer for Mayo County Council, told the meeting that he had applied to the relevant government department for funding through the LEADER programme and there had been some issues over what was eligible for funding and what was not. He said he thinks that those issues have been resolved and he hoped that things could move on.
Fine Gael councillor Patsy O’Brien said one of the main problems was that there were too many organisations involved in this project and it caused a lot of issues, and that the funding should have been given to Mayo County Council to carry out the works. He went on to outline the frustration of the people in the village saying, “all the people wanted was footpaths.”
Cllr Burke told the meeting that he had met the Minister and the Taoiseach in recent weeks and that a lot of work had been done in the background and that good news was very close. He also said, “what has happened to the people in the village is a tragedy.”
