Aldi decision due in six weeks time
We should know in a little over six weeks time, or sooner, if An Coimisiun Pleanala agrees with Roscommon County Councils decision to grant permission to Aldi Ireland for their new store on St. Patrick Street in Boyle. Viewers will recall that the decision was appealed by Offaly man Brian O’Sullivan, with Aldi subsequently appealing a number of conditions that were attached to the grant. It is understood an Inspector from An Coimisiun Pleanala visited the site a number of weeks back, with the case due to be decided by Monday June 22nd.
While not connected in any way to the Boyle objection, residents of Mountmellick in Co. Laois are up in arms at an appeal being lodged to An Coimisiun Pleanala by a third party against Lidl’s plans for a store in their town. In Mountmellick’s situation, a local resident has appealed over concerns about potential damage to the street where she lives, infrastructure issues and a lack of consultation.
It is interesting to read the comments online from local people in Mountmellick who are outraged at the objection in their town and if you closed your eyes and had someone read them out loud, you could be forgiven for thinking it was the Boyle objection they were talking about such is the similarity of anger at the appeal in the Laois town.
‘Darkness into Light’ takes place Saturday morning
The Darkness into Light walk in Boyle takes place early tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Always an emotional yet enjoyable event, the walk, as the sun rises and the day opens up, brings awareness to mental health issues and the fight against suicide and also remembers loved ones lost to suicide. The Boyle walk will leave the Crescent at 4.15am.
Musician David Connolly and pianist James O’Loughlin will provide music before the event while Ciaran Casey will provide video coverage.
Community registration will once again take place today (Friday) outside Natural Options in Supervalu from 10am – 4pm.
Well done to the hard working voluntary committee on all the effort they have made this past few months in preparation for the walk, and well done also to the many Boyle businesses who have decorated their shop windows for Saturday morning. And a final well done – in advance, to all the participants who are making the effort to leave their warm beds and take part in this event.
In previous years, some participants headed out after the walk to Lough Key Forest Park to hear the Dawn Chorus, while others waited until they completed parkrun before heading for some well earned sleep.
New Veterinary Clinic planned for Boyle
Boyle could be inline for a new Veterinary Clinic with news that Emlagh Lodge Veterinary Centre intend to apply to Roscommon Co Co for the the change of use of an existing restaurant, cafe and farm shop on Elphin Street to a new veterinary clinic and associated shop, offices and staff facilities, alterations to existing elevations, construction of a new extension to the rear of the building, proposed new bin store, new building signage and new totem pole, upgrade of existing car parking facilities including the provision of two EV parking spaces along with all associated site works.
Traffic advice ahead of Sunday’s Connacht Final
All roads lead to Roscommon on Sunday for the Connacht senior Football final with throw in at 16.15. For those attending, An Garda Siochcna has issued the following traffic advice. Parking Guidelines – Utilize public car parks in the town center. Athlone Road: Strictly no parking permitted @ Athlone Road/adjoining estates & Parking facilities. This restriction is in place from Ard Aoibhinn Housing Estate outbound in its entirety. Local traffic allowable only.
Circular Road: No parking on the circular road but permissible at adjacent car parks. Golf Links Road: Limited parking but facing away from town center. Racecourse Road / Boyle Road: At permitted parking locations – Park facing outbound. Galway Road: Parking at permitted locations only.
Please follow all steward/Garda instructions. Cars causing obstructions or parking illegally will be ticketed/towed. Please respect local residents and secure vehicles and keep valuables out of sight. Large Traffic volumes are expected so delays are unavoidable. For assistance, contact Roscommon Garda Station at (090) 6638300.
Deadline now passed for submissions to Local Transport Plan
The deadline for submissions on the Draft Boyle Local Transport Plan has now passed and unless it has not been updated – Roscommon Co Co website is showing that no submissions were received on the plan. On April 7th, Boyletoday.com published details of the Draft Local Transport Plan which will have a big impact on how the town develops going forward, with suggestions of a change to the one way system, new cycle paths, new bus stops and a host of other ideas that could bring walking and cycling to the fore and facilitate an easier flow of traffic around the town. One suggestion that was made involved a major upgrade to the ‘back streets’ in the town so they could be pedestrianised and used as cycle and walking routes. These included Eaton Lane off St. Patrick Street, at the rear of Main Street along by the river, Courthouse Land off the Crescent and the construction of a new cycle/walking path along the river from Curlew View. Everyone had a chance to make a submission and if the changes, most of which are positive, come to fruition, then hopefully there will be no dissenting voices.
News snippets from around Boyle
It’s full steam ahead now for this Sunday’s Lough Key Legends Run. Full details are available in a news story on the homepage of this website…….Boyle Further Education and Training Centre Open Day will be held on Thursday May 14th from 10am-1pm………Melodies and Memories in Crossna Community Centre, Cleen Hall on Sunday May 10th at 8pm. Concert will commence at 8pm, Sunday May 10th. It promises to be a fabulous evening’s entertainment. Musicians/singers include Liam Purcell, Brenda Sweeney, Catherine Bolger, Maura Donagher, plus St Michael’s Connacht winning Scór Ballad Group. Spoken word pieces include reflections on John McGahern; Revisiting Kilronan Graveyard; Life in Lighthouses; Living Positively with Challenges; Living the High Life in California and Locked Down in Knockvicar. Tickets now available in Surprises and Úna Bhán, Boyle; Healy’s and Killorans, Ballyfarnon, Clancy’s and Organic Garden, Knockvicar and from May & Patricia….. and possibly on the door. Raffle on the night………….Social Dance in aid of Woodbrook National School in the Four Provinces on Friday May 8th at 8pm……..The next screening in Boyle of Cinema North West- Bringing the best of Irish cinema to the Northwest, will be this Saturday 9th May at 8pm in Boyle Family Resource Centre with the film- “A Quiet Love” 2026- Documentary directed by Gerry Keane……… The Legion of Mary will pray the Rosary on the Crescent on Saturday May 9th at 3p.m………It would seem a message received by many Barna Recycling customers in Boyle during the week was a scam. The message read: “Hello from Barna Recycling. Your waste and recycling bins have been re-scheduled for collection on Thursday. Please place your bins out on Wednesday night for Thursday collection. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by the delayed collection”. Eagled eyed customers would have noticed the last two words of the message “delayed collection”. A Thursday collection would have been an early collection. Barna were contacted and confirmed that the message was most likely fake……….Boyle Community Games Track and Field events will take place on Friday May 15th at 6pm………..A long trip to Thurles awaits Cian Smith’s U20 footballers on Wednesday next when they take on Kerry in the All Ireland semi final. Throw in at Semple Stadium is at 7.30pm. Good luck to Cian and his players and all from Boyle involved with the team and good luck also to the county minors, U17 and senior hurlers who are all in action this weekend…….The Roscommon/Longford Garda Division, which includes Boyle, received no additional Gardai from the most recent attestation from Templemore. 193 Gardai graduated from training college with 141 going to the Dublin Metropolitan Region, 14 to the Southern Region, 27 to the Eastern Region and 11 to the North West Region but none to Roscommon/Longford.
And finally….!
A Swiss man, on holiday in Dublin, needed directions.
He was standing outside Davy Byrne’s pub when he saw two local lads walking by so he stops them and asks, ‘Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?’
The two lads look at each other blankly and stare back at him.
‘Excusez-moi, parlez vous Français?’ He tries.
The two continue to stare.
‘Parlare Italiano?’ Still absolutely no response from the two lads.
‘Hablan ustedes Espanol?’ The Dublin lads remain totally silent.
The Swiss guy walks off extremely disappointed and downhearted that he had not been understood.
One of the boys turns to the second and says, ‘Y’know wha, maybe we should learn a foreign language!’
‘Why would we?’ says the youth, ‘Sure that fella knew four languages, and it didn’t do him any good!’
