Search Results for 'Castlebar Urban District Council'

‘No person shall suffer death for any offence’ - no, it is not a medieval monarchical decree, it is in fact the first order of the Criminal Justice Act 1990. The Act prohibited capital punishment under all circumstances within the Republic for the first time. The death penalty had remained on the Irish statute books exclusively for the offences of treason and murder, but from 1990 onward those crimes would carry a sentence of life imprisonment. To say the 1990 Act ended centuries of capital punishment in Ireland would be telling only half the story.

Why should we study history? Well, frankly, history is the study of human nature, and history most definitely repeats itself. History can teach us lessons so that we are forearmed when facing situations, better informed when planning to proceed. The history of the long campaign to establish the Regional Technical College (RTC, now the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT) campus in Mayo contains, I believe, guidance on how the Castlebar based college can be rescued from those who oppose its survival.

In only a matter of days, the first of 86 weary, desperate, human beings will arrive in Mayo as refugees from war ravaged Syria. That figure is made up of 20 families, of which sadly, more than 40 are young children forced to live a life that no child should ever know. They are escaping a complex war being fought by President Bashar al-Assad's government, Syrian rebel groups, ISIL, and foreign allies on both sides. That Mayo is one of only eight counties taking part in this resettlement programme should come as no surprise. Our county's history of reaching out to and accommodating suffering populations is a trait of which we can be proud.