This article is from page 10 of the 2007-11-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
SEVERAL firemen had eggs, fire- works and bottles thrown at them as they attended bonfires on Hallowe’en night.
The fire services in Clare had 23 call-outs last Wednesday night, 18 of which involved bonfires. This com- pares with an average of three or four incidents on a normal day.
According to the acting Chief Fire Officer, Denis O’Connell, it was a very busy night. Although there were no hoax calls, he said that the behav- iour of a number of individuals cre- ated trouble for firemen.
“Ennis and Shannon fire brigades ran into a lot of difficulty trying to carry out their duties. Fireworks, eggs and bottles were thrown at crews and many firefighters received a lot of verbal abuse over the evening. Ennis fire brigade had bottles and fireworks thrown at them at a bonfire near Oak- wood Drive, Ennis. They received a lot of verbal abuse and had fireworks thrown at them at a bonfire in Quin Gardens, Quin,’ said Mr O’Connell.
“Shannon fire brigade had timber and eggs thrown at them at a bonfire in Rineanna, Shannon and they re- ceived a lot of verbal abuse and had bottles thrown at them at a bonfire in Newmarket-on-Fergus,” he said.
“It is very regrettable that firefight- ers should have to deal with this type of behaviour while carrying out their duty. Fortunately, there were no inju- ries received by any firefighter on the
night,” he added.
In Ennis, a garda was assaulted as he intervened in a dispute in the Mar- ket area of the town on Hallowe’en night. The garda had to receive stitches to a wound on his face, after he was struck.
Gardai say that a number of nui- sance calls were made over the course of the evening. Overall, how- ever the night was “no busier” than any Hallowe’en night.
Meanwhile, locals in Kilkee were angered after 22 steel rims of cars and trucks were left on the beach after bonfires there on Hallowe’en night. While the rims have since been removed, there are still remnants of
car tyres lying on the beach.
Former Mayor Manuel di Lucia said the situation is not acceptable.
‘There are something like 100 coils of wire still there and they are going to cause problems if they are not moved. Some years ago, a young girl cut her hand after the wire became embedded in the sand and she was playing with the sand,” he said.
“It happens every year but this is the worst I have seen it,” he said.