Mullagh responds to slight on image

There is an excellent community spirit in Mullagh, a town with myriad facilities for young and old, and any negatives resulting from the building boom are far outweighed by the positive energy in the area. Members of the development committee were critical of a story in The Irish Independent on February 8 about ghost estates - anyone could find negatives in any town in Ireland, they say, confident the hazards associated with a few unfinished sites will be addressed. Liam Daly, the chairman of the Development and Tourism Committee in Mullagh, told The Anglo-Celt that there was huge expansion in the area over the last 10 years. Mullagh had witnessed an influx of people from Dublin, England, America, from countries all over the world. The school currently has around eight nationalities on the register; there are 16 teachers and the number of pupils has gone from 80 to 380 in a decade. "The boom years were good to a small village like Mullagh. The new people are taken by the unique community spirit. People care for each other here and they watch out for each other," said Liam. The is a new community sports hall adjacent to the GAA pitch and running track and a new playground. The town also features the walk to Mullagh hill and the people's park. There is talk of a new bowling club being established in the hall. The list goes on and includes Girl Guides, Scouts and the drama group. The active Tidy Towns committee has transformed all the green areas and the town has new footpaths. Liam said moaning about the recession won't change things: "We have to get on with it, look on the positive side and wait for the better times and help it to improve." He rejected national media claims that there were ghost estates in Mullagh, but admitted that some estates had small numbers of empty houses. They will be sold in time, he said. He accepted that work had stopped on a couple of estates, but had no doubt this situation will be addressed in the near future. Pat Turner is one of the many Dublin people who moved with his family to Mullagh within the last five years. He and his wife and son and daughter have settled well and Pat commutes to Dublin for work at Beaumont Hospital. They always wanted their children to grow up in a rural town like Mullagh so that their future would be safeguarded. The new motorway was also a factor in their decision; Pat leaves for work at 7am and is the office for 8am. Their son and daughter have now established a network of friends and are involved in the drama, Guides and Irish dancing. Pat is involved in the TT and every Saturday morning members gather and work at the continuous enhancement of the town and its approach roads. "When you get involved in one thing like this, it leads to other connections and Liam Daly also got me on stage with the drama society. We have made friends with local people and people who have moved into the area," said Pat, who is glad he made the move. Pat Gaynor, chairman of the development committee for 12 years before Liam Daly took over, said the town has developed out of all recognition. He accepted that some house-building was too dense and "I don't think there was enough thought put into the planning of such estates". He pointed out that there are now excellent facilities in the town, but none of those were put in place by developers. He added that the water supply would need to be upgraded to adequately cater the hundreds of additional homes, as some houses on elevated areas were left without water. Pat says that any unfinished houses or sites where work began will have to be made safe and cleared up in the near future. He noted that government money has been allocated to carry out such work. He said there was not much point in people keeping the entire town and environs tidy, and leave such sites with scaffolding lying there. Ownership of such sites and who has authority to go in an tidy them up and return them to green areas will have to be clarified, he said. Former Cavan inter-county footballer Ronan Carolan, who was training U12s when we caught up with him in the new sports complex, thought that while the Celtic Tiger brought some negatives, there were a lot of positives too. "There are a lot of excellent facilities around Mullagh now and particularly this sports centre, which in invaluable to young and old," he said. There is great integration with the young people and the goal is to get them all out and active. "We are simply trying to include every child regardless of ability, size, shape or race." He also pointed out that there are two excellent football pitches and that young people are involved in various sports and activities such as martial arts, basketball, table tennis, soccer, rugby and Gaelic. He sees few negatives but points out that it is a pity that some of the estates were not completed.