Month: April 2007

THE issue of farming pensions was back on the discussion table last week as the IFA called on an all-par- ty agreement on pensions for exclud- ed PRSI contributors ahead of the election. Following the publication of the report and recommendations from the Human Rights Commission on State pension eligibility for eld- erly self-employed people, the farm organisation called for an all-party agreement to implement the recom- mendations of the Commission.

“It has been a clearly unfair system

whereby a group of self-employed people were obliged to make PRSI contributions from 1988 onwards, but were ineligible to draw down a pension if they were aged 56 or over when compulsory social insurance was extended to the self-employed,” said IFA President, Padriag Walshe.

“While a limited concession was introduced in 1999 when people with over five years’ contributions were eranted a half pension, the remain- ing group have been excluded.”

“T strongly welcome the recommen- dation of the Human Rights Com- mission that a pension at a reduced

rate should be paid to those elderly people who contributed PRSI on the expectation of receiving a pension but were denied by reason only of their advanced age.

“Farmers make up the single larg- est group of self-employed, and IFA has highlighted this anomaly in eve- ry pre-budget submission in recent years. We have sought a 75 per cent pension for those in the 56-61 age bracket in 1988, and a 50 per cent pension for those aged 61—66 at that nnealee

“Bearing in mind that the group who have received no pension to-

date despite paying PRSI are now 80 years of age or over, I expect that both the Government and the oppo- sition parties will come out quickly in support of the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission to pay a pension at a reduced rate; also I propose that the pension be back- dated at least to 1999 when the half pension was introduced for some of the over 56 category”.

“The Commission’s report 1s very thorough, and a particular acknowl- edgment must go to the elderly Don- egal couple who brought the issue to the Commission.”

THE issue of diminished respon- sibility 1s a central part of the case and it will be up to the jury to decide if Patrick O’Dwyer suffered from a mental disorder when he killed his sister, according to the prosecution. Outlining the facts of the case, sen- ior counsel for the prosecution, John Edwards told the jury of six men and six women that Marguerite O’ Dwyer was a 17-year-old Leaving Certifi- cate student at the Convent of Mercy, Ennistymon, and her brother Patrick was a 19-year-old apprentice butcher

in the town.

The two were staying on their own in the family home at Shrohill, En- nistymon, on November 29, 2004.

Their sister Louise was in Galway — where she was a university student — and their parents were on a week- long holiday in Gran Canaria.

Mr Edwards said that at 2.40pm on November 30, Patrick O’ Dwyer walked into Ennistymon garda sta- tion and said he had killed his sister.

Mr Edwards said gardai went to the O’Dwyer home and found a body in the sitting room.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cas-

sidy carried out a post-mortem ex- amination on the deceased’s body and found she died from blunt force trauma to the head, as a result of six blows.

“This type of injury would cause rapid death and it was irrecoverable,” he said.

He said Marguerite had sustained at least 90 stab wounds to the head, trunk, legs and body. Many of the wounds were sustained after the young girl had been immobilised and possibly dead.

Mr Edwards said the accused ad- mitted causing the injuries from

which his sister died.

‘Marguerite O’Dwyer was hit over the head viciously with a hammer on a number of occasions. Stab wounds were perpetrated on her body with a scissors. There were 90 odd stab wounds. It’s the State’s case that if you hit somebody over the head re- peatedly with a hammer, the natural probable consequences of that is that you are going to kill the person or seriously injure. It’s the State’s case that Patrick O’ Dwyer intended to kill her,’ he said.

“You may hear evidence that will seek to rebut that. It 1s the prosecu- tion’s case that this was murder and nothing else. What is likely to be a central issue in this case 1s whether or not the accused was a person of diminished responsibility. Up until recently, there was no case in Irish law of diminished responsibility. If a defence of diminished responsibil- ity is canvassed, that will be a matter for you to consider. I understand that it will be canvassed. You have to be satisfied that Patrick O’Dwyer com- mitted the act alleged and you have to be satisfied at the time he suffered from a mental disorder.”

“The issue for you is to decide whether this is a crime of murder or a crime of manslaughter,” said Mr Edwards.

MARGUERITE O’Dwyer was ly- ing on the couch, smiling, when her brother approached her with a ham- mer and repeatedly attacked her.

Patrick O’Dwyer told gardai that the two were watching television on Monday evening, November 29, 2004, when he left the sitting room to go into the kitchen.

“At about 11.30pm, I just remem- bered going out to the kitchen. I took the hammer out of the press. Marguerite was lying on the couch. She was smiling at me. She thought I was messing. I would often be messing with her with a hurley and things. I swung the hammer and hit

her on the head five or six times. I hit her on the chest,” he told gardai. He said his sister wasn’t scream- ing. She was alive. He then got a knife from the kitchen and a Scis- sors from the bathroom and started jabbing her to the ribs and legs. At that stage she was on the ground.

He later went down town, before returning to the house and drinking a half can of beer. He went upstairs and stuck a blade into a vein on his left wrist and hit himself to the head a few times with a hammer.

He brought firelighters upstairs and considered setting fire to the house.

He said he did not realise the sig- nificance of what he had done until

the following day when he touched his sister and her head was cold. He then went to Ennistymon garda sta- BLOyEE

He said he originally got the ham- mer to hit himself as he felt he had made “a fool” out of himself the previous Saturday night, by drink- ing excessively.

The court heard that when the ac- cused arrived at Ennistymon garda station on the afternoon of Novem- ber 30, he showed a garda a cut to his head and mark to his wrist. The garda noted that he had a mark on his nose.

Garda Alan Keane went to O’Dwyer’s home, where he found the young woman’s body in the sit-

ting room.

He said there was a considerable amount of blood on the floor and the woman was lying down, face up.

A white blanket covered her legs and there was no sign of a pulse.

Under cross-examination by the accused’s barrister, Patrick Gage- by, SC, the garda admitted that the scene was “shocking”.

Sergeant Brian Howard told the tri- al that, after the accused arrived at the local garda station, gardai were concerned about his health. He was taken to Ennis General Hospital.

A senior psychiatrist assessed him and concluded he “had not psychiat- ric problems and was not a danger to himself”.

PATRICK O’Dwyer drank a concoc- tion of alcohol at a party at his home just two days before he killed his sis- ter, the trial heard.

Marguerite organised a party at her parents’ house, just two nights before her death.

Patrick O’Dwyer told gardai that his sister initially invited a few friends to the house on the Saturday night, but up to 25 people attended, eight of whom stayed overnight.

He said that the party had been planned for a while. There was an assortment of drink at the house, he said.

The accused told gardai that he had four cans of cider, two cans of Red Bull with a full bottle of vodka, a mixture of shots in a pint glass, fol- lowed by other shots, all in the space of about an hour.

Asked by gardai was it normal for him to drink that amount of alcohol, he replied, “No.”

He said that some of his sister’s

friends smoked joints, but he didn’t take drugs.

He said that somebody wanted him to go to a birthday party. He passed out on the way there and fell and hit his head at around 10.30pm. He didn’t make it to the party.

One of his friends later gave out to him about his excessive drink- ing. His friend told him that when he goes out, he did so with the intention of getting drunk fast and not gradu- MUA

The accused said he told his friend

he was going to give up drink until Oi tetiaeerky

The day after the party — Sunday — Marguerite went to work in Lahinch. Patrick took paracetamol and later spoke to his parents on the phone.

Marguerite arrived home from work that evening. The accused was asked by gardai did she give out to him about his drinking and was told that she didn’t.

“She just told me she never saw me as bad. Everyone said that. I was mad with myself,” he said.

THE Department of Agriculture last week announced a series of last minute events designed to help pre- vent the expected chaos as the dead- line for the applications under the Single Payment and Disadvantaged Area Schemes.

Informal information roadshows will take place nationwide and the help-line number will have extended hours of operations to help farmers deal with the complex application ORO ete

Minister Coughlan confirmed on Friday that personalised Single Pay-

ment Scheme application forms, complete with pre-printed data con- cerning land parcels and start dates have been issued by her Department to all Single Payment Scheme partic- ipants. It was also confirmed that the department will provide an enhanced customer service in the run up to the closing date for the receipt of appli- cation forms on Friday, May 4. This will involve information meetings throughout the country and helplines which will also operate outside of of- fice hours.

“I believe farmers should have the most up-to-date information avail- able to enable them to correctly com-

plete and submit the 2007 SPS ap- plication forms by the closing date. For this reason I have made provision for the information roadshow and in- creased helpline facilities.” she said.

“I am aware that some farmers would prefer to speak directly to ex- perienced staff from my Department prior to the completion of their SPS application forms. In response to this need I have made arrangements for information sessions in 26 locations throughout the country between 16 April and 1 May where my officials will also be available to meet appli- cants.”

This will be achieved through

an extension of the opening hours of the Department’s help lines un- til 10.00pm on weekdays and from 1.00pm to 6.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays commencing _ yesterday, April 16, and continuing until the closing date for the receipt of appli- cations on May 4.

“The additional opening hours of my Department’s helplines and the opportunities being afforded to farm- ers to meet with staff will greatly as- sist them with inquiries about these and related matters,” she said.

Details of information meetings and lo-call numbers will be an- nounced in the coming weeks.

IRISH farming organisation gave a lukewarm response this week to the new Farm Improvement Scheme which is nearing the final stages of preparation in the Department of aNcau(Gullalvuce

Details of the scheme are not avail- able to the public but the organisa- tions were given a sneak preview by the Department of Agriculture last week.

The new Farm Improvement Scheme will replace the Farm Waste Management Scheme and the Dairy Hygiene Scheme which are currently operating. A general grant rate of 40 per cent will be available for most in- vestments, while some mobile equip-

ment will only receive 20 per cent.

Everything that qualifies for grant aid under the current schemes will continue to receive grant aid under the FIS while there will be a few new additions like rubber mats on slats and cubicles, automatic feeding systems for the dairy, computerised calf feeders, outwintering pads, meal bins, meal stores and meal silos.

“While everything that we sought to be included has not been accepted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, we will continue to pur- sue the inclusion of these items in an effort to enhance labour-saving and health and safety on the farm,” said Conor Creedon of the ICMSA.

The IFA have meanwhile called for the scheme to be implemented im-

mediately and have set May I as a deadline for this to take place.

‘The introduction of the FIS is an Opportunity to grant aid for the first time in many years to the moderni- sation of agricultural holdings,” said IFA Rural Development Chairman, Padraic Divilly.

“Grant aid under the new scheme will be 40 per cent with an additional 10 per cent top-up for young farmers less than 35 years of age. The invest- ment limit will be €120,000.”

In relation to the dairy hygiene scheme, a separate €120,000 invest- ment limit will apply with increased investments limits of €25,000 for bulk tanks, €40,000 for milking ma- chines. In addition feeders in the par- lour will be eligible for grant aid.

Divilly expressed serious concern that the Department of Agriculture iS proposing to discontinue grant aid for splash plates slurry tankers from the end of December 2008 with ap- plications having to be lodged by De- cember 2007.

“This 1S unnecessary as many farmers requires small scale invest- ment to meet their slurry spreading requirements”, he said.

‘There was no reason why the new FIS could not be introduced over the next number of weeks. Many farmers are anxiously awaiting this scheme, which will in many cases compli- ment investments which are already been undertaken under the Farm Waste Management Scheme.”

THE Drumbiggle Residents Associ- ation is to meet next week to discuss an ongoing dispute with Ennis Town Council.

Last month the group opted to with- draw from participating in the RAP- ID funding scheme. The group cited a number of issues regarding housing policies, illegal dumping, unfinished road surfacing and anti-social behav- ior among the reasons why.

According to Ferdie O’Donoghue, Chairman of the Drumbiggle Resi- dents Association (DRA), the group want further dialogue with the coun- ote

“They haven’t come to us yet. We are not budging until they come to us. We are going to have a meeting next week to discuss the matter. This has been going back for years. All of these things should have been sorted out years ago.”

The DRA represents eight areas in the town Clancy Park, Waterpark View, Waterpark Heights, Waterpark Court, Radharc na hInse, Ard Carrig, Stone Court and McHugh Villas.

Mr O’Donoghue added “People might think that we are against RAP- ID, but we are not. Our fight is with the council they should do what they are supposed to do. They say they are going to start the showgrounds road now and that is going to take six months. It’s up to them to contact us.

We are waiting to talk to them. It’s up to them to make the move.”

Ennis Town Council and RAPID delegates have urged the DRA to re- engage with the process.

Ennis RAPID area comprises six residential areas. The areas include Drumbiggle, Dalcassian/Turnpike, Old Military Barracks, Hermitage, Clancy Park and Cloughleigh. RAP- ID Projects rely on an inter-agency (HSE Midwest, Ennis Town Council, Clare VEC, Dept of Social & Family Affairs, FAS, etc) and are based on a strong partnership with the commu- nity and voluntary sector.

The programme aims to ensure priority attention is given to tackling the spatial concentration of poverty and social exclusion within the 45 designated areas through targeting state resources

Under the scheme, communities in Ennis have benefited through the provision of amenity projects. Im- provement works carried out include landscaping, improvement of open Spaces, white lighting and _ traffic calming measures.

A TUBBER inventor has come up with a system of letting doctors know at a glance what medical conditions a patients suffers from and what me- diction they are taking.

The Medical CV is the brainchild of Michael Quinn and can even include such information as blood groups

and organ donor requests.

Michael has just finalised design- ing the website for his medical CV at www.mymedicalcv.com

The idea behind the CV is that it gives a pre-designed form which pa- tients can download for themselves, fill in their medical history and then print it out to be carried around with Wetoeee

“I got the idea to do something when I was in a hospital waiting room one day and a woman was having difficulty remembering what medication she was being prescribed and what dose.

“The doctor had to get hold of her GP who had to consult her records. I was thinking, there must be some way to record information like that

and have it to hand.”

The idea of how it could be done struck Michael sometime later when he was delivering a CV to a recruit- ment agency.

“T thought, if you can put your ca- reer details into a CV then why not have some form that would hold all your medical details? Then, if there’s an emergency, doctors know imme-

diately if you have something like epilepsy or what blood group you are without any time being wasted,” Michael told

THE council’s practice of leaving eravel margins on the side of roads Where they have acquired land for road improvements is providing an opportunity for illegal parking, a lo- cal councillor has claimed.

Cllr Joe Cooney told a meeting of Clare County Council last week that

the practice of leaving such land open gives carte blanche for illegal park- ing and in some cases, dumping.

“IT had asked that Clare County Council maintain and fence off all waste ground which the council ac- quired for road improvements on the sides of roads throughout the county. I’m not happy with the reply,” he Sr HKOe

In reply to his motion before the council, officials told Cllr Cooney that “in many cases, on relatively mi- nor road improvement schemes, ad- ditional land is acquired to make the road safer by just providing addition- al sight distance. In these situations it would not be appropriate to erect any fencing as this would interfere with the available sight distance. In other

cases the improved section can have CBN Arc Da rca eneeCcoOlMmrstseMmAeCoMB Koni UOLMmOerelI a lay-by remains.

‘There are a number of such lay-bys around the county and in many cases they have been treated to discourage unauthorised parking. Where prac- tical, in carrying out re-alignments nowadays we endeavour to return the by-passed section of road to agricul-

tural use.”

The officials added that if there were any specific locations where action 1S needed, these would be as- sessed on an individual basis.”

Cllr Pat Hayes said that the illegal parking of Travellers caravans in some areas 1s becoming a problem. ‘In one place there were 15 caravans parked along the side of the road.”

IARNROD Eireann has apologized after commuters were left stranded in Ennis yesterday.

The scheduled 6.45am service be- tween Ennis and Limerick did not operate as planned forcing passen- gers to make their own travel ar- rangements.

A mix up in driver rostering has

been identified as the reason for the no-show.

Passengers were offered a place on a min-bus hired from a local tax1 firm after larnrod Eireann were un- able to locate a bus to bring passen- gers to Limerick.

However, many had already paid for taxis in order to catch a connect- ing train leaving Limerick for Dub- lin. Subsequent train services ran

as normal throughout the rest of the Cr MA ;

A spokesperson for larnrod Eire- ann apologized to customers for any inconvenience caused.

“We do apologise to passengers for what happened with the mix up. It was an unusual situation that I can’t remember happening before.”

He explained a mix up in the roster- ing of drivers was the reason for the

nen p.qnel oy

“It appears there was mix up in ros- ters and that there was no driver there in the morning. Inspectors in both stations contacted both Bus Eireann and local coach operators but weren’t able to get a bus at such short notice.

“They managed to get a mini-bus from a local taxi firm, but by then some people had made their own ar- rangements. That taxi left Ennis at

oer: 100 a

He added there was no further dis- ruption to services during the day.

“It was just the one service in the morning that was affected. Normally we have a back up arrangement in place either with our sister company Bus Eireann or with local operators. But it was particularly difficult to get one at that hour of the morning at such short notice.”