There is welcome news today for voluntary groups in the Claremorris Municipal District area that had applied for funding under Mayo county council’s GMA fund.

The GMA fund has hit the headlines for some months now, as councillors across the county argued with the CEO of the county, Peter Hynes, over the paying out of the monies.

Mr Hynes had withheld the payment of the county GMA fund due to a shortfall in the authority’s revenue for car parking charges, as agreed by councillors at the 2018 budget of Mayo county council.

Festival committees, tidy town, resident groups and other voluntary organisations depend on this funding that can vary from a few hundred euro to thousands of euro, to carry out their work annually.

Revenue that was anticipated would be raised by introducing street car parking in charges in Westport has not materialised, as street car parking charges have not been introduced in the town.

Many councillors have been critical of West Mayo councillors in not introducing what was agreed, particularly as they argued it was now impacting on voluntary organisations across the rest of the county.

At the May meeting of Mayo county council Mr Hynes said he was in discussions on the matter and hoped the issue would be resolved by the June meeting of Mayo county council which is next Monday.

It now appears that the Municipal Districts may be working independently, as councillor John Cribben told Midwest News today that at the Claremorris Municipal District meeting held yesterday , Director of Services,Liam Hanrahan told councillors the monies will now be paid out in their district.