LOCAL business people in Mullingar have expressed annoyance at the negative image of a “drugs town” which they say Mullingar has again received, through adverse publicity this week on an RTE television programme called “Rural Addiction”, and in articles for two successive weeks on a Sunday tabloid newspaper.
“The fact that RTE chose to come to the town and interview at length a person who was addicted to heroin is enough to suggest to people everywhere else that Mullingar has particular drugs problems, which is not the case,” Tomás Nally of Rochforts told us.
Other towns had a far worse drugs situation, but for some reason, Mullingar was being singled out,” he said.
Another Dominick Street businessman Cllr Bill Collentine remarked this week: “It’s very disappointing that we have this documentary, and then they are bringing up this old stuff on Mullingar. We have no more problems here than any other town, so it’s a pity to be going back and blackening our name. The Sunday World has done so in the last two weeks. I don’t think we should be getting this bad exposure.”
“What happened years ago is not the case now. It’s wrong blackening Mullingar with negative publicity and we don’t need it.”
Annoyed businessman Tomás Nally remarked: “It’s a complete and utter disgrace. The article that was in the Sunday World had a picture from Dominick Street from about 15 years ago. Nobody was interviewed in the town about it. Obviously every regional town has drug problems to some extent, but the way Mullingar was portrayed was as if it was a drugs den capital.
“You had Niall Horan on the Late Late the same week talking about Mullingar and how great it is and then you have the Sunday World coming out saying it’s the drug capital outside of Dublin.
“How many people googled Mullingar after what Niall Horan said and got the Sunday World article?” he asked.
“I’m living on the main street 35 years. There’s drugs problems in every town but it’s not as if Mullingar is a leading one. The Sunday newspaper article alluded to the fact that regional towns are affected by drug problems, yet Mullingar was the only town named. Then the article the week before was about travellers fighting. In all fairness, these are not even one per cent of the traveller population, the rest of them are 100 per cent. It’s also portraying them in the wrong light as well. All the travellers in town come into our shop and the vast majority of them are the best of people. It’s been painted that Mullingar is the fighting capital of the country for travellers, which is bulls**t.
“Pavee Point have a role to play here too and should be coming out defending the people they are supposed to represent. Nobody has the b**ls to put their head above the parapet and the vast majority of them in the town are 100 per cent and do not get involved in fights. I’m involved with the Olympic Boxing Club and they provide services for not alone travellers but settled people as well and they too would tell you that they are the best of people.
“I was just furious when I heard about this RTE documentary. Are they asking the local people who provide business in the town for the last 40 years? Not as far as I know.
“I got a phone call some time ago from a rep asking me if it was safe to go to Mullingar. He was joking, but how many of the general public are thinking, ‘I don’t want to go to Mullingar because it’s not safe.’?
“Mullingar has so much to offer and there’s nobody coming out to say about the general tourism, the lakes, the clubs and the quality of the shops and boutiques. Somebody needs to take the lead and the politicians should stand up and fight for the people of the town and defend ordinary people going about their business and making it what it is, because it’s a fantastic town,” he concluded.
Another local businessman Cllr. Andrew Duncan said: “That video is up on YouTube going back years and every time there is an opportunity, out it comes and portrays a very negative image of Mullingar, totally unreflective of the reality. That said, there is a minority of families causing a problem in Mullingar. It’s unacceptable that this sort of behaviour can drag the town down. That is having a negative impact on people who are trying their best to promote and push the town forward. The coverage is unreflective of reality, but there is a problem.”
Commenting on the way the town’s is portrayed in relation to drug issues, he said.”There is no doubt that Mullingar is one of the cleaner towns. It has problems no more than any town, but it is limited to a particular minority causing problems all the time. Other than that we are a town with one of the lower drug and crime problems, no more serious than any other part of the country. There are much bigger problems in Mullingar to do with lack of housing and issues like that.
There are problems from a drug point of view, but again it’s just sensationalist media and lazy journalism to sell a few papers while at the same time having a very damaging impact on the likes of Mullingar.
“The problem now is we have a second video up there to be shown at every opportunity. It’s a real problem for us, particularly with people pushing very hard to try and promote the town. I see Mullingar Equastrian Centre ran a very successful sale this week, and we have so many people trying to promote and push and yet the minute there’s an opportunity for lazy journalism out comes this bulls**t. It’s not acceptable, no more than the behaviour of a small number of individuals who are promoting fighting online and giving a very negative image of Mullingar.
“It’s a very small number of individuals from the community causing a problem and unfairly reflecting back on the majority who don’t engage in this kind of behaviour at all.”
Another businessman, Brian Fagan commented: “Mullingar is a good town. There are incidents where the Gardaí have been called out and trouble occasionally but that’s only in a few areas and it’s not that huge. Mullingar town is a great town and it’s perfectly safe to walk the streets. The sensationalism is not helping and it’s just gone ridiculous.”
