Month: July 2007

The other six days of the week how- ever the Shannon based councillor IS dedicated to the community, with the belief that the community is an ex- tension of family and knowing what

concerns a family helps understand the plight of a community.

It was while caring for her young family that Patricia first became in- terested in the world of politics.

Having given up her job to be at home, Patricia laughs as she remem- bers her attempt at being a house- BE Kon

““T hate house work,” she said. Like many families in the 1970s she was looking at the pay cheque and the amount of taxes being paid every Neto) e

She continuously brought the issue up with her late husband, Denis, who eventually called her bluff.

‘He told me to do something about it,” she laughed, “So I did.”

The young mother got involved

with the Labour Party. She believed it was her natural political home. Fianna Fail was in government for 16 years and it was associated with a lot of the poverty and hardship of the time.

‘I never considered Fine Gael,” she SrHKOe

In 1977 the outspoken party mem- ber argued that the party should run a candidate in the General Election. When no one else stood up to the mark, the young woman did it her- self.

Although not elected to Dail Eire- ann she was elected to Clare County Council in 1979.

She chuckles as she remembers how she brought her youngest son for his six-week check up, before spend-

ing the afternoon on the hustings.

This was a mother looking for change.

It is her family, in-laws and beloved late husband Denis that she credits with keeping her feet firmly on the eround and her life of politics on the road.

Despite coming from the Convent of Mercy, Kilrush, the school that produced the county’s first two fe- male councillors, Patricia had no in- tentions of engaging in a life of poli- tics in those formative years.

After leaving school she worked in DeBeers and moved to Shannon when she married the late Denis McCarthy. Her eyes light up as she mentions Shannon and her beloved husband.

While admitting home is where her family is and acknowledging that the first two Clare towns will always be part of her life, she said Shannon in- stantly felt like home.

‘When I moved to Shannon I had a sense of place, a sense of town and a sense of freedom. We were Settling in with other young families,” she said.

As the new mayor talks of her de- parted husband her tenses change between present and past.

For her he is never far away, and the advice and support he gave her throughout their marriage echoes near her still.

“We were very lucky,” she said, “and I realise not everyone was that lucky.”

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THE new mayor of Clare was quick to put her mark on her term in office, as she vowed to tackle one of the most contentious issues facing Clare Soliiia Seale

Just minutes after she made history by becoming the first woman elected to the chair of the local authority, the straight talking politician told the members that she would like to see the planning issue in the county re- solved.

‘At the start of the council in 2004, we promised an audit of planning. I would like to see that being carried out by an independent academic, who would give us a report in a set period of time.

“It we continue to have that frac- tious issue over the council for the coming year we will do untold dam- age to the council.

“IT would ask everyone to take a deep breath, stand back from plan- ning and see if we can sort plan- ny b ayo

As one of just two female members in Clare County Council, Councillor McCarthy is well aware of the chal- lenges facing women in politics hav- ing been first elected to the council When she was the mother of three boys under six.

‘Women make up 50 per cent of the population and the council chamber should reflect society. I would ask women to look at politics as a ca-

reer,’ she said.

The newly elected mayor was also conscious of the need for a secure future at Shannon Airport and told

her fellow colleagues “it beholds us all to recognise the sacrifices of the employees.”

In front of a packed public gal-

lery, which included her three sons and her father John O’Connell, Cllr McCarthy was nominated as the first citizen of Clare by fellow Independ- ent councillor Martin Lafferty.

In his nomination Cllr Lafferty paid tribute to the councillors deep involvement in community affairs, and named just some of her political achievements including being one of the first women elected to the coun- cil, first female chair of SPC, her service to the health board and other political authorities.

He described her as a good con- tributor to the council and “sharp on Cle oy rome

Seconding her nomination Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) said, “I think the pinnacle of her career in local gov- ernment is here today.”

The first female mayor of Clare in the 107 years of the council was elected unopposed and with the support of all the councillors in the chamber.

In congratulating his replacement, outgoing mayor Cllr Flan Garvey quipped, “I will go down in history as the first mayor of Clare to kiss the incoming mayor.”

FAMILIAR faces will occupy the top spots in Ennis Town Council for the next 12 months following last Thursday’s AGM.

As expected veteran Independ- ent councillor Tommy Brennan was elected Mayor of Ennis.

Alongside him, filling the role, as Deputy Mayor is another experi- enced campaigner, Fianna Fail coun- cilor Peter Considine.

Proposed by fellow Independ- ent councillor Frankie Neylon, Cllr Brennan saw off a rival mayoral bid

from another Independent, Taiwoo Matthew.

The Nigerian born councillor was nominated by Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn.

However when it came to the crunch, Cllr Matthew found himself outflanked. A vote of the nine mem- ber council resulted in a 6-2 victory in favor of Cllr Brennan.

Green Party Councillor Donal O’Bearra abstained from the voting process. Cllr Peter Considine (FF); Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind); Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG); Cllr Frankie Neylon (ind) Cllr Tom Glynn (FF)

and Cllr Joe Reidy (FF) voted for Cllr Brennan.

Cllr Coote Ryan’s party colleague Johnny Flynn and Cllr Matthew vot- ed for CUr Matthew.

Accepting the chain of office, Cllr Brennan commiserated with Cllr Matthew, saying his time would fey nates

He said, “I’d like to thank the peo- ple of Ennis who have elected me to the council 28 years ago and all those who supported me. Cllr Mat- thew, there will be other days. I was elected 22 years before I became Mayor of Clare”.

Cllr Matthew’s hopes of a consola- tion prize in the form of the Deputy Mayor position were then dashed when that position was conferred on Cllr Considine. Cllr O’Bearra nomi- nated Cllr Matthew while departing Mayor Cllr Joe Reidy proposed Cllr Considine. Three votes – Cllr Mat- thew, Cllr O’Bearra and Cllr Flynn – were cast in favor of Cllr Matthew with the remaining six going towards Cllr Considine.

Cllr Considne said, “It is unfortu- nate there are clashes like this in the council but in the fullness of time everyone will achieve the position of

Mayor. I was in the council 16 years before I got there”.

Earlier, Cllr Matthew had called for a change of mindset in the Council. He stated newer members should be given the chance to take up office.

He said, “Experience doesn’t come to everybody without them first get- ting a shot. Everyone in this chamber is competent enough to be a Mayor or Deputy Mayor, everyone elected has the ability. In the spirit of fair- ness we have to have a second look at how we do things”’.

THREE men who were intercepted by gardai on their way to commit a armed robbery on a bookie’s in East Clare have each been jailed for three years.

Cathal O’Neill (40), of Upper Lim- erick Street, Limerick, John Mur- phy (47), of Ballina, Killaloe, and

Michael Gerard Heelan (47), of Bo- herbue, Mallow, Cork, admitted pos- Session of an imitation firearm, with intent to commit robbery, at Drum- line, Newmarket-on-Fergus, on June 24, 2005.

Murphy also pleaded guilty to pos- session of a sawn-off shotgun, five shotgun cartridges and a _ pepper spray canister.

Ennis Circuit Court was told that gardai received intelligence that an armed crime was about to be car- ried out in East Clare. Armed gardai from the ERU, who were on duty in the area, stopped a hiace van. The three men, who were travelling in the van, were arrested and charged.

Heelan was driving the vehicle while the other two defendants were

in the back.

A bag in the van contained a sawn- off shotgun and pistol, the latter which was incapable of firing. Also found were 100 cable ties, black ba- laclavas, wire cutters and acon saw.

At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Judge Carroll Moran said by plead- ing guilty, all three accused acknowl- edged they had done wrong. “These

men were in possession of a gun and ammunition. They were intending to commit a serious crime and in the course of it were going to use cables, balaclavas and other matters and tie up innocent persons in the shop.”

He said if they had pleaded not guilty but been convicted by a jury, he would have imposed sentences of SIX years.

A MAN who indecently assaulted three of his granddaughters in Clare- castle when they were aged between six and 12, has been jailed for five years.

Kenneth Barnes (73), a widower, of 42 Church Drive, Clarecastle, plead- ed guilty to 46 counts on indecent assault, at his home, between 1988 and 1993.

Barnes, a native of the UK, has lived in Clarecastle for several years

Judge Carroll Moran said the case was “bad” and said Barnes’ three victims had their “innocence and childhood robbed” by a man in a po- sition of trust – a grandfather.

Barnes’ victims – Rebecca Barnes (25), Jennifer Ward (25) and Caro- line Ward (23) – yesterday waived their right to anonymity, at Ennis Circuit Court.

Although the young women did not give evidence, their Victim Impact Statements were read out in court. They pointed out that they were left

with feelings of “shame and guilt,” due to his behaviour.

Jennifer Ward recalled her grand- father telling her he had a secret he wanted to tell her. He would get close and then indecently touch her. She was abused on a weekly basis for four years, starting when she was 1D.

The abuse on Caroline Ward also started when she was six and con- tinued until she was 12. She recalled him indecently touching her inside and outside her clothes.

Rebecca Barnes suffered abuse at the hands of her grandfather, between the ages of 7 and 11, mainly in the sitting room of his house. The court was told that one of the victim’s par- ents did not make a formal complaint about the abuse initially, in the hope that “time would heal all.”

Barnes’ barrister Michael Fitzgib- bon said his client had “been ostra- cised by the community in Clare- castle”, adding that Barnes is now in “chronic” ill health.

Judge Carroll Moran said, “It re-

ally is appalling to take away the in- nocence of a child at such a young one

“The abuse was so persistent and so dreadful in its details, I’ve no al- ternative but to impose a prison sen- tence,’ he said.

He jailed him for five years and suspended the final two years, be- cause he had pleaded guilty. He said Barnes was to have no contact with children under the age of 15, unless supervised and no contact with his victims, unless they agree.

A MAN who “elaborately” concealed four bars of cannabis resin under the seat of his car has been jailed for 18 months.

Fintan Shanagher (39), of Kilna- soolagh Park, Newmarket-on-Fer- gus, was “merely delivering” the drugs, valued at almost €7,000, when he was caught by Clare gardai last year.

He pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis resin for sale or supply.

Detective Garda Seamus McMa- hon told Ennis Circuit Court yes- terday that the accused was stopped and searched at the Carrigoran inter- change on May 5 2006.

He said a kilo of cannabis resin was found in the car and was “extremely well concealed,’ underneath the rear seat of the car.

Shanagher told gardai he had hand-

ed over €2,000 cash in Limerick for Some MUESaCE

The money was not his own, it was belonging to three people who had pooled together and Shanagher didn’t have any financial stake in it.

‘He was merely delivering the bars. They were to be handed over in Quin village the following day because it was ‘out of the way’,” said the garda.

Defending barrister Michael Fitz- gibbon said “at all stages he was car-

rying these drugs for third parties.”

‘He very foolishly got involved in the wrong sort of people.

He is not part of a drug ring or a eroup of people involved in moving era bneacmr-uOlUb ALOE

“He got involved on this one occa- sion rather foolishly and got caught,” he said.

Judge Carroll Moran said the mat- ter was “most serious.”

“The drugs were very elaborately

concealed in the car. It shows a level of premeditation.

Couriers of drugs, while they are at a much lower level than those deal- ing the drugs, are an essential cog in the business,’ he said.

He took into account the fact that Shanagher had pleaded guilty and imposed a two-year jail term.

He reduced this to 18 months, be- cause of the accused’s previous good record.

A MAN threatened to rape relatives of a garda, then exposed himself and urinated all over the floor in the pub- lic area of a Garda station.

Joseph Gannon (46), a native of Dublin and with an address in Sta- tion Court, Ennis, was jailed for four months, when he appeared on charges of assaulting two gardai and public order offences.

Garda Cathal O’Sullivan told Ennis District Court on Friday that the ac- cused arrived at Ennis Garda Station at lam on January 22 last.

‘He was intoxicated and was shout- ing in the public office. He said he

wished to make a statement,” said the garda.

The garda told the accused he was too intoxicated. Gannon then started banging on the hatch and was direct- ed to leave the area. “He said, “I’ll get every female in your family and I’ll rape them’. He exposed his penis and began to urinate all over the floor. He stripped naked and grabbed his geni- tals and said, “Do you like this’,” said the garda.

‘He threatened to kill me and Garda Ryan,’ added Gda O’Sullivan.

Some hours later, two gardai went to Gannon’s cell, to release him. He was lying naked on the floor and made a lunge at the gardai.

The court was told that Gannon had a number of previous convictions in Dublin, including two of a sexual na- UN Ken

He was jailed for 12 years for a rape offence, at Dublin Circuit Court, in 1988, while he received a three year sentence at the same court for anoth- er rape offence, also in 1988.

However, defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client, who was born in North Inner City Dublin, would maintain he has only one con- viction for an offence of a sexual na- ture. She said the “‘alleged rape mat- ter – for which he spent nine years in jail – absorbed much of his life” and was the subject of the Court of Crim-

inal Appeal and the Supreme Court.

‘He believes the rape conviction was a miscarriage of justice. My client has never once stopped main- taining his innocence. He spent nine years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit… The file is still open, she said.

Referring to the charges before the court, she said, “He can’t believe he had it in him to say what is alleged. He doesn’t believe he said them.”

‘He sees his visit to the Garda sta- tion as acry for help.

‘He had come to the end of his tether.

‘He was in crisis, in a very serious way, She said.

A KILRUSH man who “fabricated a tissue of lies” to cover for having thrashed two cars has been sent to jail for a week while a judge decides on his sentence.

Martin Walsh (49) of 20 Island View had denied causing almost €4,000 worth of damage to two cars belonging to Mary O’Brien and her partner, Anthony Shannon at 22 O’Gorman Street, Kilrush, on No- vember 28, 2005.

Ennis Circuit Court heard that Mary O’Brien was roused from bed by her sister in the early hours of the morn- ing on that date and she looked out

the window and saw “Martin Walsh with what looked like a baseball bat. I saw him strike the back window of my partner’s car and smash it”.

O’Brien told the court that her own car had already been damaged.

When challenged by the defence barrister, Lorcan Connolly on her statement to the gardai, O’Brien agreed that she had not said in that statement that she saw the accused actually breaking the window of her partner’s car.

Garda Michael Ryan told the court that he went to Walsh’s home after speaking to the injured parties and found him “sitting on the ground in a coal shed in the back yard.”

The court heard that glass shards found on the accused’s clothing matched the glass in one of the car windows.

Walsh denied having anything to do with the damage to the two cars and the court also heard alibi evidence from his sister, Margaret Reilly, that he was nowhere near the scene of the damage.

Walsh told the court he was in the shed because he had a row earlier with his partner and she was not al- lowing him back in the house. “She threw me and my dinner out – the shed is the doghouse. I’m there fairly often’, he said.

After a jury found Walsh guilty

on two counts of criminal damage, Judge Sean O Donnabhain said he could give him no credit in the mat- ter and refused a defence plea that he be allowed organise compensation before sentencing.

After hearing that Walsh had re- ceived some compensation after be- ing seriously assaulted, the Judge said that he had experienced “some restorative justice but he has dragged these people through the court and or NN Tere Mm daosne mere Dace

‘He has fabricated a tissue of les,” the judge added.

He adjourned final sentencing and remanded Walsh in custody until July 5.

STAFF who are arriving first day on the job without experience are demanding minimum wage, causing headaches for employers, according to the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber says there is confu- sion about who is entitled to the new minimum wage of €8.65 which was introduced by new Labour Affairs Minister Billy Kelliher last week.

“It’s important to note that the min- imum wage applies to people over 18 years of age with experience in their field,” said chamber CEO, Rita Weal tious

“People who are coming straight from school with no experience can- not be paid the minimum because there is a cost involved with training them,’ she said.

While the increases had _ been agreed as part of a national plan, the CEO said that businesses would hope that once the level had been reached, further increases would not come as quickly on each other again.

The increase to the National Mini- mum Wage is the second this year. The first increase to took effect on January 1, last. Overall it is the sixth increase to the national minimum wage since it was first introduced in

April 2000.

Ms McInerney said that the increas- ing cost of paying wages was one of a number of mounting expenses which were putting businesses under pres- sure.

“With the review of valuations on property in Ennis coming up, we re- ally need to examine the costs. If a business improves its premises, it’s caught for higher rates. The cost of renting a premises in Ennis is also something which needs to be looked ale

“We are concerned with the number of empty premises in the town. It’s not good for business or for the 1m- age of the town.”

Introducing the new wage, the minister said that the increase would “clearly benefit low paid workers in society, in particular part-time and younger workers”.

Anybody seeking information on the increase in the national mini- mum wage can telephone the Em- ployment Rights Information Unit at Ol 6313131, 1890 201 615 Co-call if outside the O1 area) or visit the web- site www.entemp.!e.

THE number of people living in Clare who have a third level degree has risen by almost one third in the last five years.

The figures were revealed in latest results from the 2006 Census which show that the number of people in Clare with a third level degree or higher has risen dramatically by 30 per cent since 2002.

This means that 16 per cent of all adults in the county have at least a primary degree, which is the same as the national average.

“Tt is really encouraging to see that Clare is retaining its well educated and increasing the knowledge base of the region,’ says Western Devel- opment Commission (WDC) Chief Executive, Gillian Buckley.

“Attracting and retaining well edu- cated people is the key to the west’s future in the knowledge economy. We know from the population trends and our LookWest.ie campaign that well qualified people want to stay in, or return to, Clare. The latest Census results confirm this,” she added.

The Census information also showed that the numbers in mana- gerial and professional jobs in the county have risen by 13 per cent while those categorised as unskilled

have fallen by 18 per cent.

“At the WDC we have set it as a priority to make prospective employ- ers aware of the skills pool available in the region. The next phase of our LookWest.ie campaign will specifi- cally target businesses to highlight the numbers of skilled and educated people who want to live and work in the west,” said Ms Buckley.

Commenting on the Census results regarding internet access, Ms Buck- ley continued, “It’s clear that Clare fares badly in terms of broadband. Just under 30 per cent of those with internet access had a broadband con- nection compared with the national average of 43 per cent. Widespread affordable, high-speed internet ac- cess 1s critical to Clare’s future in the knowledge economy and must be a national priority.”

Figures also revealed that 85 per cent of households in Clare have at least one car compared to the nation- al average of 80 per cent.

Ms Buckley said that this “points to the need to continue to invest in road infrastructure across the county but also underlines the importance of public transport provision, particu- JENe Weve meceyeebeslll(osmpKeleiKonwe

The 2006 Census was conducted across Clare and nationwide on April PRM MES Misr: