Looking back at July 2022

This month we learned that a staggering 89% of domestic waste water systems inspected in Leitrim last year failed to meet the standards required by the EPA.

This statistic put Leitrim third worst in the country for septic tanks. The EPA revealed that between 2013 and 2021 139 septic tanks failed the inspection around the county, and by the end of 2021 less than half of those tanks had completed remedial works.

Leitrim County Council set out this month their Housing Action Plan to create 139 more social houses for Leitrim over five years.

These homes will be generated through local authority builds, turnkey and Part V arrangements to reduce the growing list of applications on the housing waiting list. The local authority informed the public that 30 of these homes will be delivered in 2022.

Leitrim's jump in population according to the census however pushed county councillors to call for a review of the housing strategy in the county.

Kinlough Cllr Justin Warnock criticised the current housing stock plan calling it “inadequate.” He pointed out that the Council has “no land to build social houses in Kinlough and Tullaghan and yet every week the housing list gets longer.”

Senior Planner Bernard Greene said it did not matter what the councillors said the housing strategy would not be reviewed until March 2023.

AIB came under local and national scrutiny when it made the shock announcement that it was changing 70 of its 170 branches to cashless including AIB in Ballinamore. The move which was due to take place on September 30 this year would have left the town without an ATM and the only bank in town would not be accepting notes or coins. The story made front page in the Leitrim Observer on July 20, but by the following week, AIB had made a serious U-turn and decided not to go ahead with the idea. The backtracked decision was welcomed by many, including Ballinamore Sean O'Heslins GAA club who wrote to Croke Park expressing their anger over the proposed changes. Deputy Marin Kenny commented, “people power has won out.”

The backlog of NCT tests and the issue of driving without a valid NCT certificate came to Leitrim when a man was convicted and fined despite having proof of a test booked in the Carrick-on-Shannon NCT Centre.

The defendant called for common sense and this was echoed nationally.