Flagpoles in centre of Macroom are ‘not fit for purpose’

A COUNCILLOR has called for new flagpoles to be erected outside Macroom Town Hall because the current flagpoles in the square it is situated in are “not fit for purpose”.

Speaking at the latest Macroom Municipal District meeting on Thursday, councillor Martin Coughlan said that the flagpoles that are currently situated over the town hall and the castle in Macroom square are old and must be replaced with new poles placed at ground level.

“There was some flag poles made up for the town hall many, many years ago. They are really not fit for purpose,” Cllr Coughlan said.

“And I see Carnegie hall and a few more places where you have your flagpoles standing on the ground, its quite easy to put up a flag and take down a flag and things. If we want to change a flag at the moment we have to hire a loadall to do it.

“It’s the Tidy Towns with the Enterprise Board who have been doing it since the Town Council dispersed.”

Cllr Coughlan enquired into whether it might be possible for senior executive engineer James Dwyer to see if a suitable location could be found for three new flagpoles to be erected outside Town Hall.

“You see them in front of any other building, you have the European flag, you have the town flag and you have the national flag. We have a public building in Macroom where there is no national flag flying now,” the Independent councillor said.

“It was brought up by an American tourist sometime back, I saw it on Facebook.”

“I suppose in a sense, it’s a public building and the national flag should be flying on front of it. And it’s impossible to work on the ones that are there at the moment, they should actually be removed.”

“I would be proposing that there be three new flag poles stood somewhere on front of the building so that the flags can be put up and taken down. In fact, the national flag is supposed to be taken down each evening and put up in the morning.

“It would be very easy to do it if a fella could stand on the ground. At the moment you have to climb up the steps and rope keeps tangling on the pole. It’s a dose to get it up and it’s a dose to get it down.

“So I think that’s something that should be looked at. It’s a public building, it’s a fine as any building you’ ll see in any town, in Macroom and I think the national flag and the European flag and the town flag should be quite accessible and easy to put them up and take them down.”

Mr Dwyer said he would see what is possible regarding the new flagpoles proposed by Cllr Coughlan.