Sligo County Council Chief Executive Martin Lydon looks back with pride and forward with optimism

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

It may not have felt like it for those watching the closing stages of Sligo Rovers’ FAI Cup defeat at the hands of Kerry FC in Queen Maeve Square but there is a feelgood factor in Sligo these days that is hard to avoid. Whether walking through the centre of the town, escaping to one of our stunning beaches or being at one with nature on top of a mountain, ‘The Land of Heart’s Desire’ has enjoyed a bounce in popularity in recent times.

The man helping to oversee much of that positivity is Sligo County Chief Executive Martin Lydon. He previously spent 13 years working as a Director of Services in Roscommon but even before taking up his current role a little over four years ago he had some experience of life in Sligo as he worked as the local authority’s accountant between 2005 and 2008.

On a particularly wet and wild September afternoon Mr Lydon spoke as passionately about his adopted county as any Sligonian as he referenced Queen Maeve Square and Neolithic tombs, greenways and railways.

Looking back on his time in Sligo to date Martin joked his first stint saw him stuck with his head in a spreadsheet for much of his time but the last four years in his role as Chief Executive have been considerably different.

“It was good when I came back, when I got the job because one of the first things I did was I met councillors on their own patch and was able to find out what kind of things were of interest to them and what issues were burning and what they would like to see addressed. This was normal stuff to do with roads, improved infrastructure but then it was also looking at capital investment, for example in some of the leisure activities and tourist facilities that we make available to people.

"People wanted graveyard issues addressed. It was a mixture of different things, the councillors, what they are looking for and quite rightly, is good service from their local authority.”

With every councillor having their own concerns determining what may be the most pressing issues of the day could present challenges but Mr Lydon insists that is all part of the job.

"It can be difficult to prioritise but I suppose the way I look at it is the councillors are our board of directors. You have been to our monthly meetings, we are there to be cross examined to a certain extent as to what we are doing and not doing.

"You can only really work if you have got funding available, if the funding is available then you can deliver. Another challenge is that we have been near full employment recently so recruitment has been difficult. Yes there are challenges, because you are trying to redirect resources as you see fit but that is part of the job and that is what you have to do. We deliver 1,100 different services so there is always going to be a pull and a stretch and demand for different services.”

One such challenge was the realisation of the Queen Maeve Square project, something that the Chief Executive feels will benefit the people of Sligo for generations to come.

"I remember when I first turned up here at Queen Maeve Square, we actually had to go to tender three times for that project. It was a case of ‘are we going to do it, are we not going to do it’. We decided we would do it and I think it is a great asset to the town, a great addition to the town.

"Anyone that I hear that comes to the town, they always remark on Queen Maeve Square. I don’t know if it is because we are living in a social media age but people seem to want instant success or instant soup as I call it and to me Queen Maeve Square has been put there for the next 20, 30, 40 years to deliver for Sligo and put events on.

"It has only just started and we are all learning and it will take time but I have no doubt it will be that asset we all want it to be. Everybody talks about it and says it’s about tourism but for me that square is for the people of Sligo. We live in one of the safest if not the safest county in the country and to me it is a nice, safe space to meet and mix.”

While Queen Maeve Square has received almost universal praise, the issue of making it compatible with the Irish climate is one that has been raised on numerous occasions and it is one the Council have been proactive in addressing.

"This is where the relationships we have with the likes of Sligo BID are very important,” Mr Lydon explained. “We have put in the infrastructure underneath the ground for us to be able to put up canopies, the infrastructure is there. The beauty of having that relationship with BID is that allows them to go and seek funding that the council can’t necessarily bid for so it opens up two avenues to go and attack the same problem.

"We are in discussions and we are looking at it but it is making sure you get the right canopy because you don’t want it up all the time and you want to have something as basic as storage for it. These are the things you have to think about. People come out and say you could do this or you could do that and I am not arguing with you, it is quite simple but what do you do when you want to take it down? We are working on that.”

While delivering for the people of Sligo is arguably his main priority, it is also of real importance to deliver for visitors to the county and to deliver more visitors to the county.

"We have an outstanding product, Fáilte Ireland has acknowledged that now and has started putting quite a lot of money into Sligo. Yes, we do want more tourists coming here but if you actually speak to Fáilte Ireland, if you go to the Cliffs of Moher, as much as you say Galway is doing well, the south of the country is doing brilliantly on the Wild Atlantic Way and nowhere to the north of that is delivering to the potential that it could be but there are now moves afoot to work on addressing that with marketing campaigns and everything else. I have met people through that Destination Experience Development Plan and the tourism industry, they are really good people.

“We had Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran with us last week and he is right, unless you collaborate and work together you can’t achieve it, so that is what we are going to keep pushing and I know everybody is on the same page to do that. That said, I think Sligo is starting to get recognised as that place that people should come to because of what we have on offer – mountains, oceans, lakes, the town and then other elements to do with music, arts and culture. There is so much there and I think now we are just starting to hone in on it because we have our strategies to do that.”

When asked what he feels the visitor experience is like for those who choose Sligo as a holiday destination, Mr Lydon was again very positive, remarking, “It might be people trying to plámás me but I can only go on what people actually say to me when I meet them. We should always strive to do better but anyone I meet tells me the place looked good, the place looked clean, we had some fantastic meals and they enjoyed themselves and what better barometer do you need than that? I think we can always go down into the negative side of things but I think it’s better to have a glass half full approach than half empty.”

The issue of public transport has been a contentious in this region for many years but Mr Lydon was in full agreement that while not yet a perfect service, the Local Link bus network has been a huge boost for the entire county.

"The Local Link has been an amazing addition. It helps in every little way even with the night time economy. I know there are more routes that we would like and hopefully we can get there but it has been a massive addition, especially to rural Sligo because we are the County Council, not only the town council so it is in all our benefits to have as much access as possible. It comes down to quality of life issues as well. We know what damage Covid did and anything that can remove rural isolation can only be a positive,” he remarked.

While the bus network has improved considerably there remains room for considerable improvement with regard rail and road. Mr Lydon remains adamant that a desire for a railway should not mean a greenway is no longer viable as he strongly believes both projects are needed. He also reiterated his confidence that the N17 will receive the required upgrade.

“If you take the strategic rail corridor, as the executive we have little impact on that because that is down to Irish Rail. The strategic Rail Review is very clear, it is going to Claremorris and after that it is very quiet from Claremorris through to Collooney. There is an argument that if you have the railway you can’t have the greenway, if you build the greenway you can’t have the railway, I don’t sign up to that.

"I think it is imperative on everybody to be wanting both and putting a case forward for wanting both. Then it comes down to cost benefit analysis and you have accountants and economists making decisions but we need to be clear that we want both types of infrastructure.

“In relation to the N17 from Knock to Collooney, that is definitely going to happen. Myself and the Cathaoirleach met with Minister Darragh O’Brien and he categorically said it was in the National Development Plan so it is going to happen. There has been a lot of false starts. There was a couple of years of will it or won’t it but there was a lot of work done in the background to make sure it stayed on the agenda and I am pleased to say that it is taking in the whole route because it was going to leave out the most dangerous elements of it from just past Ballinacarrow to Tubbercurry but that is back in now.

"It brings certainty to everybody I think. We are doing our best working with the local politicians to improve all our roads infrastructure because I think what people don’t realise is it is all part of the offering of a county, if you haven’t got good roads and infrastructure you are going nowhere.”

As is the case all over the country the demand for housing is constant and Mr Lydon is currently overseeing a project that will have seen 500 new social homes built by the end of next year.

“Waiting lists have remained fairly static but that is not to say that homelessness is not an issue. I wouldn’t want people to think that man is living in some sort of an ivory tower, there is homelessness issues and our list is of a certain size but we aim by the end of 2026 to have delivered in the region of 500 brand new social houses, the time period for that was 2022-2026.

"The Minister and the Department will give us more targets and we will look to deliver on that as well. It is probably likely that by the end of 2030, if you took the whole period in, Sligo will have been involved in, either by the purchase of turn keys, building our own houses by using contractors, you are probably going to be in the region of 750 new social houses across the board.

"That is all based on Government funding, the economy holding up over the next number of years. We are a growing population, an increase of nearly a million people in 10 years. That brings pressure on services, there is no doubt that we will need to continue to get houses constructed.”

With four years under his belt in his role there is plenty to look back on with pride but there are also many projects that he would like to see come to fruition with a new museum, library, the Eastern Garavogue bridge and development of the harbour area all areas that would leave a lasting legacy for the county.

"I really want the public realm projects to be delivered in the centre of town. I want us to do a new museum and library in the town because I think we are crying out for a new museum and library and we are looking to do that under the City Campus project, the masterplan of which is being developed. You look at what we have got here, I said Yeats already, there’s the neolithic side of things, there’s the Spanish Armada, Westlife, look how popular they are around the world and now they are being put on a stamp.

“The Eastern Garavogue bridge was first spoken about in 1948 or 1949 so I think it's time we delivered on that as well, as long as we get the Government funding. We’re really proud of what we have done in Cleveragh and if anything we are looking to enhance it.”

“The masterplan for the harbour will be launched very soon and I think there is immense potential. The harbour is part of the town, if we could develop that, I think that changes the way Sligo is.

"It's an amazing thing that we can achieve there, if we want to. This is not a council project, it’s more a case of do the people of Sligo want that change? There is housing you could put down there, a hotel, there is a real opportunity to make that part of the town rather than allowing that road to separate and feeling that it is separate to the town.”

Looking for ways to improve and lessons to learn can be got what your neighbours are doing with Mr Lydon commenting, “I love Galway, but I actually think we have a great opportunity in Sligo. We can learn from their mistakes and it is up to us to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.

“When I came back to Sligo four years ago, like I said I was stuck behind a desk. I eventually went out and met people and I looked around Sligo and I thought this is an amazing place. We’re ready to go this time and I think that’s because and I like to use the term ‘Sligo Inc’ and that just means all the partners, all the stakeholders are geared to go and want to do it.

"You are always going to have disagreements, you should have disagreements because otherwise you are not really testing yourself. Whenever we go and meet the Government Ministers or whoever it is, it is more of a collective now. I’m not coming with my dimensions in terms of how I think something should go, we are all in one place, which is, we need to get it.”