Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Senator Craughwell has described Mullingar as all these things. In fairness, Mullingar is in the top section of the Tidy Towns competition. It also has a very active town team. It has a full-time chamber of commerce and is one of the few towns that has been awarded a purple flag. As I have said, I have talked to several business leaders in Mullingar town and they have told me that they were shocked and disgusted by this article. As an active businessman and member of the business community in Mullingar, I ask Senator Craughwell to rethink his piece in the paper. It would certainly be appreciated by the people in Mullingar. I ask him to amend it or to apologise. If one cannot make a good comment about a place it is not worth making any comment at all. We are very disappointed that the Senator has seen fit to run down our town.