Latest news with #GerryMurray
Irish Independent
16-05-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
Mayo school left without phone connection for almost four months following Storm Éowyn
Barnacogue National School in east Mayo have not been able to receive phone calls since the storm on January 24. One-hundred-and-eleven days after the record-breaking storm, the school issued an appeal to help them 'connect back with the rest of the world'. In a statement on Facebook, Barnacogue National School said: 'Our phone sounds as though it is ringing, but it isn't and we can't access any messages left. 'We have no phone line since Storm Éowyn and we are not having any luck having it reconnected. Our contract is with Vodafone Ireland , but they are blaming eir. It appears that small rural areas are not important to these companies. 'If an emergency arises in our school, we have to go out to the side of the road to make a call because we have no mobile phone coverage in our school either.' Anyone seeking to contact the school is asked to email the school. 'If anyone anywhere can help us to connect back with the rest of the world, your assistance would be greatly appreciated,' the school stated. A number of premises throughout Mayo remain without landline or broadband connections since Storm Éowyn. Local Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray said the state should nationalise eir to ensure adequate provision of services in rural Ireland. 'If eir was owned by the government, that job would have been sorted a long time ago. But unfortunately, you are dealing with a private utility. You are literally at their mercy,' Mr Murray told the Irish Independent. There are 23 students enrolled in Barnacogue National School which is situated near Ireland West Airport Knock.
Irish Independent
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Concerns in Mayo town over people walking on road to emergency accommodation hub
Elected representatives have expressed alarm about residents at an emergency accommodation hub who have been walking along the road to and from the facility. Bus Éireann intend to install a bus stop outside the facility following representations from Mayo County Council's Director of Services for Housing, Tom Gilligan. Mayo County Council began using the former St Anne's as emergency accommodation after it closed as nursing home in 2023. The 26-bed facility had been operating as a nursing home in the east Mayo town for 40 years and can accommodate up to 100 people. County councillors Adrian Forkan and Gerry Murray said they had received a number of representations about people walking along the road to and from the facility. 'There is somebody going to be killed along that road, and that is not 'maybe',' said Cllr Forkan. 'I drive the road myself to work every morning and during the winter especially, you cannot see people along that road,' continued the Kiltimagh-based councillor. 'It's waiting for someone to be killed along it, then they might do something about it. 'Another thing is the amount of rubbish which people are discarding along that road, and it is not fair on the people who live along that road,' he added. The Fianna Fáil representative suggested that an emergency footpath be constructed outside the facility. Charlestown-based councillor Gerry Murray said that some residents were reported walking in the middle of the road in recent weeks. 'If it went in for planning, it wouldn't have got planning, it's so far outside the town,' said the Sinn Féin councillor. Tom Gilligan said that Bus Éireann are currently preparing documentation to approve a designated bus stop at the facility, which is located on the Swinford Road outside Charlestown. 'I am hopeful that it will be this week or the next week that we will get confirmation that Bus Éireann will stop there,' said Mr Gilligan. 'It will be a positive because I am aware of issues. Some residents have their own transport, but others don't.' In line with government policy, Mayo County Council is trying to phase out the use of hotels and B&Bs as emergency accommodation. In the last week of March, 149 people in Mayo were accessing emergency accommodation.
Agriland
24-04-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Cllr calls for oil boiler grant for rural households
Sinn Féin councillor for Claremorris-Swinford, Gerry Murray, has called for the government to amend the individual home energy upgrade grants to include oil boilers and solid fuel appliances. Murray told Agriland that the government made changes to the grant system in December 2024, which came into effect at the beginning of 2025. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administer grants, which fall under three general schemes: the Better Energy Home scheme; the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme; and the National Home Energy Upgrade scheme. Murray said: 'If you are an old-age pensioner, up to December 2024, if you needed to replace an oil boiler or a solid fuel appliance, you would get a grant from the council, courtesy of the government, to do so. 'If it was an oil boiler, the grant would cover the cost of the boiler and the works. In December, the government decided to pull the plug on the grant for new boilers. 'Remarkably, they left a grant for anyone who needs to do repairs. In the case of an oil boiler, the cost of repairs would be well in excess of the cost of a new one – some of them are 25 years old.' The Warmer Homes scheme provides free home energy upgrades to homeowners who get certain social welfare payments, with the oldest and least energy efficient homes prioritised. Since January 1, 2025, the scheme does not cover a new fossil fuel boiler, such as an oil or gas boiler. However, it will cover renewable heating systems such as a heat pump. If a home was surveyed for the scheme before that date and a new fossil fuel boiler was recommended, it will still be covered. However, if an application was made before January 1, 2025, but the home was not surveyed before this date, the replacement fossil fuel boiler will not be covered. Oil boilers Murray believes the government need to reintroduce the grants for oil burners. 'If you're 75, 76, you're not going to try and get your house insulated and get the energy rating higher. When you're that age, you want the minimum disruption in your life, you don't want tradesmen coming in disrupting you,' he said. 'All of these ideas are grand, but people in the later stages of their lives don't want to make the investment. All they're doing is improving the asset for the person who comes along and buys it, subject to you having the means to do so.' 'A lot of pensioners in my area would have retired off marginal holdings of land. They're out in the countryside, their sons and daughters are basically doing the farming now, or they may have retired completely from farming. We all know that the income from farming is marginal at the best of times,' he added.
