The Boyle’d PotWeekly Blogs

The Boyle’d Pot 15/6/’18

Pope Francis and the Connacht Final

With an estimated 45,000 people expected to travel to Knock in August to see the Pope, there will be many presently planning on how to cash in on the influx of people to the area. While Boyle is not on the main route to Knock, we could get some passing traffic through the town on the day of the event and businesses, especially food outlets and filling stations, should be planning now on how to get a piece of the action on the famous day. Similarly with the Connacht Final this Sunday, many from Boyle will be looking for a place to eat and drink when they return home. A ‘Connacht Final’ special in the restaurants and advertised well on social media and on roadside billboards would guarantee full houses for the Boyle restaurants as would a similar plan for the Pope’s visit.

 

The future of banking in Ireland

The assurance this website received last year from Bank of Ireland headquarters in Dublin that “Boyle branch is not closing or amalgamating with other branches” is most welcome. The assurance followed a query from Boyletoday.com in June 2017 in the wake of speculation that Boyle and Carrick on Shannon branches of the Bank would amalgamate. The denial that this could happen was and is still welcomed as we have lost two other banks in Boyle in recent years – AIB and National Irish and the last thing we needed locally was to have no main bank in the town. But one year and with a new CEO later,  things are changing yet again in Bank of Ireland who have announced plans to reduce their cost base by €200m by 2021 including “fewer people in the future than we had in the past”, according to CEO Francesca McDonagh. This week’s news comes following an article on irishtimes.com in April that suggested the Bank will close 27 back office service centres, affecting 420 employees and which is likely to lead to more than 200 redundancies. It also said it was in the process of cutting more than 200 middle management positions. While we have got an assurance that Boyle branch of Bank of Ireland will remain open, rest assured that following this week’s cost base reduction news there will be further changes to all Bank of Ireland branches in Ireland in the next few years.

 

Bus parking on Military Road

The recent addition of parking space on Abbey Terrace is most welcomed including a bus parking bay, but would it not have been better to have the bus parking on Military Road in the town? If we had buses faceing into Boyle then perhaps their passengers may go a small distance further and visit King House or if their passengers saw the town, they may wander into it for a bit of shopping. This blog has written before of the need to keep bus drivers and companies are kept on side to ensure we get included in the itinerary of the companies. having adequate parking IN Boyle would be a start.

 

The Garda division geographical mess  

Another example of the ridiculous geographical divide that governs Garda districts in this area was highlighted on Monday evening last. An alleged assault on a member of the force in Tarmonbarry saw back up called for from Boyle, some 44 kilometers away. Amazingly, Tarmonbarry is covered by the Boyle Garda District – as are parts of Arigna and up to Frenchpark. If a serious incident took place in Boyle when the Gardai were in Tarmonbarry or some other distant town or village, what could be the likely outcome?

 

The start of good news for Boyle

It was great to celebrate good news last Monday in Boyle at the handover of the new Fire Engine for the town. As is usual for occasions like this when good news is being delivered, the politicans were out in force and they joined local authority representatives and members of the management team of Roscommon Fire Service for the event. The choice of Boyle for the new appliance, swift water rescue and additional equipment may be the start of good news for the town. It is no secret that the close cooperation of the various civic bodies in Boyle has been noticed by the governing bodies and this augurs well for further investment in our town.

 

And finally….!

Three dead bodies turn up at the mortuary, all with very big smiles on their faces. The coroner calls the police to tell them his results after the examination.
“First body: Frenchman, 60, died of heart failure whilst making love to his mistress. Hence the enormous smile, Inspector”, says the Coroner.
“Second body: “Scotsman, 25, won a thousand pounds on the lottery, spent it all on whisky. Died of alcohol poisoning, hence the smile.”
The Inspector asked, “What of the third body?”
“Ah,” says the coroner, “this is the most unusual one. Paddy from Belfast, 30, struck by lightning.”
“Why is he smiling then?” inquires the Inspector.
“Thought he was having his picture taken.”

 

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