Month: July 2007

A MOTORIST who knocked down an athlete and then fled the scene has been jailed for four months and banned from driving for 10 years.

Declan McMahon (41), of Cappa Lodge, Sixmilebridge, was convict- ed of failing to stop his jeep, remain at the scene or report the matter to the gardai.

Shannon District Court heard that David Chaplin was out running on the main road between Shannon and Sixmilebridge at 10pm on October ope a

He was wearing a fluorescent jacket and was jogging towards home when a jeep came from behind, crossed over the incorrect side of the road and struck him, at Springfield. He was hit by the driver’s wing mirror.

An off duty garda was travelling behind the accused and saw what

happened. Sergeant Con Ryan said he seized the accused’s jeep the fol- lowing day.

In a statement subsequently made to gardai, the accused said, “I was suddenly on top of him. I heard a bang, slowed down, then panicked and drove home.”

He said that Mr Chaplin was “‘for- tunate enough. He is a very fit man. It could have been a lot worse.”

The court was told that the accused had two previous convictions for drunk driving but was not disquali- fied at the time of these offences. De- fending solicitor John Casey said his client “panicked and he went blank. He apologises to Mr Chaplin. He should have stopped, he didn’t stop.”

‘He had a few seconds. Unfor- tunately Mr McMahon chose the wrong option,’ he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

A WEST Clare man who viciously attacked his girlfriend was spared a spell behind bars when his victim asked that he not be jailed.

Senan Downes (31), of Westwood, Golf Links Road, Ennis pleaded cullty to assaulting his then girl- friend, causing her harm, on May 18 2006.

Garda Declan Keavey told Ennis Circuit Court on Thursday that the pair had been living together at the wbealee

He said that Downes “viciously” assaulted the woman at their home. As aresult she lost consciousness.

‘He put his hand around her throat, banged her head off the wall and said ‘I’m going to kill you’,” said the garda.

The young woman spent five days in hospital recovering from the as- sault. She sustained bruising to the side of her face and bleeding to the ear but made a full recovery.

Judge Sean O Donnnabhain noted an allegation that during the assault there were threats made that the ac-

cused would “get her.” Garda Keavey agreed that this was the case.

He said that under bail conditions the accused had been ordered not to contact the woman. However, he had phoned her and sent her text mes- sages prior to Christmas.

The garda said he believed the young woman was in fear of the ac- Iota

The young woman told the court that the accused had stopped sending her text messages. “He has been stay- ing away from me. If he continued, I’d be happy with that,” she said.

The judge told her, “The most I can do is send him to jail. He will get out and I’ve no control over it then.”

She replied, “I’d prefer if he could not go to jail. We were together for five years. I know he needs psychi- atric help.”

Defence Counsel Michael Fitzgib- bon said his client – who now lives in west Clare – was involved in a road accident when he was a child and re- ceived counselling on and off since then. Downes addressed the court and said, “All I can say is I’m sorry.”

The judge told him he would have

“no hesitation in sending you to jail if you go near her.

“T accept it was a nasty assault on his then partner,” said the judge.

He said he must take into account the seriousness of the case coupled with the protection of the victim.

He imposed a two year jail term suspended on conditions. These in- clude that the accused does not come within 100 yards of the young wom- an and does not phone or text her for two years. He also imposed a curfew and ordered him to continue with his treatment.

A MAN who was punched to the face has lost 50 per cent of his hear- ing in one ear when the eardrum was perforated, a court has heard.

Ennis Circuit Court heard yesterday Patrick Murray was punched by Paw- el Kubiciel (28), Ennis Road, Kilm- hil, in Kilmihil in August 2006.

Polish native Kubiciel was jailed for 10 months for assault, in the Dis- trict Court. He was also handed a six month sentence for possession of a Gt Kor

Kubiciel’s solicitor Eugene O’ Kelly, in his appeal to the Circuit Court, said his client had considerably changed his ways since the incident and the two now get on well together.

He said that his client had since moved to Ennis and no longer “moves in the circles he was moving in.” He said he would “suffer very consider-

ably” if sent to prison.

Sergeant John Ryan told the court that Mr Murray still had loss of hear- ing of 50 per cent to one ear.

Judge Carroll Moran said the con- sequences of the assault were very Serious.

‘The victim lost 50 per cent of his hearing. Mr O’Kelly, shouldn’t your client pay some compensation?” said the judge.

Mr O’Kelly said his client might have some difficulty coming up with a large sum of money. The judge sug- gested a sum of €6,000.

“This man lost half of his hearing in one ear. I have to tailor it to the means of the accused,’ said Judge Moran.

Mr O’Kelly suggested a sum in the region of €2,000 or €2,500. The judge then agreed on €3,000 and said he would revisit the matter in October.

A JUDGE has warned a young man who was “half asleep” in a jury box after being sworn in to hear a crimi- em eer-de

The 19-year-old west Clare man was sworn in last Tuesday morning for the trial of four young men who were accused of violent disorder.

He took his place in the jury box but later told the judge that he was half asleep and was not in a position to take his place on the jury for the

were ;

Judge Sean O Donnabhain told the young man to remain on in court and he would deal with him later.

“Your behaviour was quite simply appalling. There are three solicitors here. | am thinking of holding you in contempt. You got into the witness box, you tried to fall asleep, you sud- denly woke up and connected with it. It’s simply not acceptable,’ said the judge.

“TI will grant you legal aid because your liberty is at risk. Your behaviour

is contemptuous of the court and is a disgrace to yourself,’ he added.

Solicitor Daragh Hassett, repre- senting the young man, told the court that his client who was from west Clare, was up at 4am that morning to collect his brother from the Willie Clancy Music Festival.

He said he was not out himself but had worked long hours during the previous days.

The judge replied, “What I saw in the box doesn’t smell of bed, rest or sobriety.”

Mr Hassett said his client was very apologetic for his behaviour.

“My particular concern is this man performed in a very contemptuous way to the court.

‘He took the oath, he went into the jury box and threw down the head,” said the judge.

“You are a lucky man Mr Hassett spoke up on your behalf, I think I’ve said enough. You know my view. Please don’t come up any other day for jury service,’ he told the young jnarenee

Knife attacker granted bail

THE construction of an artificial reef on the Clare coastline could gener- ate knock on benefits for the county’s tourism industry, a meeting of Clare County Council heard last night.

Putting forward the motion coun- cillor Brian Meaney (GP) said any such project would help establish Lahinch as a destination for water sports and provide for considerable coastal protection.

He also stated that the reef would

help generate consistently bigger waves making Lahinch a mecca for Sele ace

The reef is made up of huge sau- sage-like bags of sand placed in around six metres of water around 250 metres from the coast with the waves peeling off from either side of the triangular shape.

The reef can be custom built to provide waves of varying shapes and SIZES.

Cllr Meaney said a similar project was already underway in Bourne-

mouth on the south east coast of England.

Bournemouth Council are planning to begin construction of an artificial reef in early Autumn 2007, the only such reef in Europe.

Original estimates put the cost of the project at £500,000 but experts say that the reef could be built for less than that amount.

Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind) wel- comed the motion but asked that the issue be first discussed by local councillors at the north Clare area

nelexel mu etee

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) also requested that the motion be put before coun- cillors living in the area.

“There should be a facility where issues like this can be brought to the area meetings. I would suggest that the motion be forwarded to the next north Clare area meeting.”

Mayor of Clare Patricia McCarthy (Ind) advised that the issue go back to a local committee meeting before being fully debated at county council aoe

A POLICY to charge schools and community groups for water on a metered basis has drawn criticism from councillors.

Clare County Council are replac- ing the fixed water charge currently in place with a new metered system based on the volume of water usage. Domestic houses are excluded from the scheme.

Senior Executive Engineer, Wal-

ter Walshe, told last night’s monthly meeting of Clare County Council that water consumers would be charged a basic fixed water charge and a vol- ume charge where applicable.

He said the council would adopt a “reasonable attitude’ when it came to collecting outstanding charges. Mr Walshe added that many schools in the county had already started to ENA

Mayor of Clare Patricia McCarthy (Ind) also queried the implications

for local authority employees result- ing from Clare County Council’s ex- pansion of the contract to Treatment Systems Ltd, which includes admin- istration as well as fitting water sys- 3 00te

Independent councillor Gerry Flynn suggested that schools and community groups be charged de- pending on the level of water usage and welcomed the non-metering of domestic houses.

Fianna Fail councillor Pat Hayes

said, “In no uncertain terms can this council be seen to be supportive of the charging of schools and volun- tary groups for water.”

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) expressed concern about the involvement of private companies in the provision of essential service.

“Certainly if you look at the expe- riences of countries like France and England where this has happened, quite frequently it has been appall- That

THE knee was heavily bandaged, but it didn’t cost Gerry Quinn a thought as he took on the role of sideline mo- tivator as this game went down to the wire.

Sligo’s Eamon O’ Hara did the same in the Connacht football final the fol- lowing day – kicking every ball after injury forced him from the fray.

Quinn pucked every ball, just like he had when he was out on the field. It was the Corofin/Clarecastle game all over again. That day Quinn was immense at centre-back — he was the same on this day as Clare finally drew a line under the controversies that have dogged their years so far.

That was the gospel according to the vice-captain after the game as he reflected on a new dawn for the team. “After everything that’s happened this year, that win out there was a great boost for ourselves. That vic- tory has put all the past and what’s happened behind us, it’s onwards and upwards.

“We have our fan base again, peo- ple are back behind us and I think beating Galway in the park couldn’t have been much sweeter for us.

“We didn’t perform against Cork in the Munster championship and we knew that there was a lot more in us. Today proved that we have a good team and we’re still in the champion- ship. That’s for sure.

“Going into the game we knew we had nothing to fear from Galway. There’s nothing there that we hadn’t seen before. There’s nothing new We uer

“Overall we knew we were every bit as good as them. The goals came at the right time for us, especially Gilly’s goal.

“We’re aiming high. There’s no reason not to. We are among the top three or four teams in the country. Who knows where we can go from here. We still have a lot of work to do, but it was much better from us. Now we have to finish the job on Sat- urday and beat Laois.”

Quinn aims to be there, wounded knee or not.

TWO. separate developments op- posed by local residents in Doolin have been refused planning permis- sion.

Clare County Council refused plan- ning permission to Finbarr Tierney to develop six permanent homes. The planning authority also expressed “serious concerns” in relation to a proposed hotel extension in Doolin.

In their opposition against the planned 20 bedroom extension to the existing Tir Gan Ean Hotel, which also includes four new holiday homes, local residents stated that ad- ditional holiday homes in the village would result in a “dead” settlement for much of the year.

The objection also claimed that “there 1s no need for more holiday homes or for more long term rental properties in Doolin at present. There are already 65 holiday homes built or in the process of being built.”

‘Further development is premature in the absence of public sewage sys- tem… acting on the precautionary principle, the development is prema- ture. We have no objection in princi- ple to the hotel extension when the public sewage system is installed,” it added.

In putting the proposal on hold,

the council stated: “The planning authority has serious concerns with regard to the design and height of the proposed development and its proxi- mate location to the adjacent build- ings to the south-west. Please submit revised plans.”

Separately, the council refused planning for six permanent homes at Coogyulla in Doolin, which was also opposed by local residents who claimed that the proposal was premature in the absence of public sewerage facilities. Residents also argued that there is an over-supply of holiday homes in the area.

The proposal was refused on a number of grounds including con- cerns “with regard to the high water table and the poor percolation prop- erties of the soil on this site, it 1s con- sidered that the proposed develop- ment site would be unsuitable for the disposal of domestic effluent.

“Having regard to the suburban design and layout of the proposed dwelling units, it is considered that the proposal would be out of charac- ter with the existing pattern of devel- opment in the vicinity and of future occupants.’

The council also ruled that the “proposed development would set an undesirable precedent for other such developments in the area”.

A NEW International Tour of Ireland Cycle Race was officially launched on Friday by Mayor of Ennis, Tom- my Brennan, at a reception held in the Town Hall.

The race, which passes through Ennis on Friday 24th August, will complete stage 3 of the route at Sta- tion Road near the Old Ground Ho- tel. Stage 3 will also bring cyclists through Kilaloe, Tuamgraney and Moymore.

Approx 112 riders will compete in this five-day nationwide event, tak- ing place from 22nd -26th August. The 864 km race begins in Kilkenny

and will pass through areas of Cork, Kerry and Clare before moving on through Galway.

The event will also bring the cy- clists through many other parts of the South, West and Midland Ireland before, on the 26th August, the vic- torious winner will arrive at Dublin’s Merrion Square.

The event, promoted by The Events Group in association with Shade Tree Sports and substantially funded by Failte Ireland as a means of show- ing the countryside of Ireland as a world class sport and tourism venue, will be covered live on television in a number of countries and will feature some of the top teams and riders in

the world. The race has been ranked 2.1 on the European Tour by the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), the world governing body for cycling.

Top European teams have already signed up to enter the inaugural tour including David O’Loughlin and Ci- aran Power (both Navigators Insur- ance), and the successful Irish based Murphy and Gunn team. Invitations have also been extended to other Irish professionals who are part of successful professional teams in Eu- rope and in the USA including Philip Duignam and Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole), David McCann (Coalvita) and current Irish road race champi- on, Paul Griffin (Giant Asia).