Month: September 2008

A MAN who pestered his former girlfriend through offensive text messages and phone calls after their relationship ended found himself before a court on charges of harass- ment. The man sent flowers to the woman and also played requests for her on several radio stations, a court heard yesterday.

John Considine (29), of Bramble Lane, Ennis, pleaded guilty to har-

assing his former girlfriend over a period of time and also admitted as- saulting her, by throwing a drink at her in a nightclub last year.

Detective Garda Andrew Hayes told Ennis District Court that Con- sidine persistently contacted the woman, between August 2 and Oc- tober 25, 2006 and between October 31 and November 27, 2006.

The court also heard that he rang her last Tuesday and left a voice mes- sage on her phone, saying, “See you

in court”.

Defending solicitor John Devane said his client was contrite and said his affections “went a little bit too far” but the garda said that last week’s phone call to the woman showed that he hadn’t changed his ways.

Considine apologised in court and said he accepted he had sent curt, an- noying and rude text messages to her > ercannseulsselem

Asked about last week’s phone call, he said, “I was very drunk and very

bitter at the time over this. I accept now I put myself in this position.” The court heard that his former girlfriend had made a complaint to gardai in 2005, but this did not go any further as they got back together. Asked about this, Considine said in court, “She liked the attention.” Judge Joseph Mangan asked him, “What attention?” Considine re- plied, “In fairness, with all due re- spect, calling the guards and then getting back with someone… It was

my own fault. I should never have got back with her.”

Considine said he would undertake to stay away from the woman and her current boyfriend.

Judge Mangan put it to Considine, “You have leveled criticism at the in- jured party here today. I don’t think you are in any position to criticise anybody.”

The judge said he would adjourn the case for six months when the matter will be reviewed.

THE Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has dismissed allega- tions that it has been turning a blind eye to breaches of it’s code of practice regarding advertising on Clare FM. The commission received a number of complaints from former Clare FM employee, Tommy Kelly, earlier this year in which Mr Kelly alleged that the station was consistently exceed- ing the 10 minutes of advertising al- lowed per hour by the BCI.

A letter sent to Mr Kelly by the BCI earlier this year stated that a number of breaches had been uncovered.

“Our review of the programme logs from the dates highlighted by you has indicated that Clare FM has operated in breach of the 10-minute hourly limit on a number of occasions last August,” read the letter.

“Our subsequent discussions and exchange of correspondence with the station also show that a misinterpre- tation of the sponsorship regulations contributed to these breaches.

“The station has confirmed that a new process has been put in place to address these issues and the com- mission will monitor progress in this regard over the coming months.”

Despite this however, Mr Kelly be- lieves that Clare FM have continued to breach the 10 minute per hour rule and has also accused the BCI of turn- ing a blind eye to the situation.

“T brought this to the BCI in August of last year and after much delay they came back to me last April,” said Mr Nhe

“T have continued to check Clare FM following this incident and they have continued to breach this. I don’t know are the BCI implementing this law at all or are they willing to turn a blind eye to this law.”

A spokesperson from the BCI told

A MAN suspected of attacking his cousin with a hatchet, slept with a machete in his pillow case, it has been alleged in court.

The revelation came in the case of Anthony McDonagh (22), of Wa- terpark View, Ennis, who has been charged with assault causing harm to his second cousin David McDon- agh (24), at Browne’s hair salon, The Market, Ennis, on September 18 last.

He appeared before Kilrush Dis- trict Court last Wednesday, having been arrested the previous day. Bail was refused after gardai voiced grave concerns to the court.

Detective Garda Jarlath Fahy told

the court he believed that the inci- dent at the hair salon was part of an ongoing feud between two families.

“At 3 o’clock last Thursday, David McDonagh was sitting in a barber’s shop when he was struck twice on the head with a hatchet and beaten with an iron bar,” said Dt Gda Fahy.

He said there had also been previ- ous incidents in July. On one occa- sion, the accused, Anthony McDon- agh was attacked by a number of men with a machete and wheel brace while he trained at a gym in Ennis. On another occasion, shots were fired through the McDonagh home at Waterpark View. A loaded sawn-off shotgun was subsequently found in a laneway near the house.

He told the court that a machete was found in a pillowcase in the accused man’s bed when he was arrested on Tuesday morning.

He said that while gardai were not suggesting this was used in last Thursday’s incident, “we are saying he had it. The likes of that may be used in further incidents”.

“If bail is granted, the feud will es- calate and somebody will get injured or worse,” he said.

However, defending solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client – who is unemployed – has no previous con- victions and has no history of failing to answer bail. “There is no fear of flight. He has just finished the Ap- plied Leaving Cert. He’s going no-

where,’ he said.

He said his client was denying that he was involved in the hatchet in- cident and would be contesting the charge.

“He said he was at home. He is de- nying being involved in it,” said Mr Hassett. He said it would be a “total injustice” if his client was kept in custody.

Det Gda Fahy then said, “The in- jured party has made a statement identifying Anthony McDonagh as the man who struck him.”

However Judge Joseph Mangan re- fused bail and remanded the accused in custody.

He will re-appear in court next month.

BUDGET airline, Ryanair is “on target” to deliver on it’s promise to bring in excess of 1.9 million pas- sengers to Shannon in 2009, airport director Martin Moroney revealed eer Ne

However the airport authority was not being drawn on claims by mav- erick airline boss, Michael O’Leary that he could in the future be flying people across the Atlantic, using Shannon as a base, for as little as ten bucks.

O’Leary was in Shannon last week to announce two new routes and 26 more weekly flights from Shannon Airport from November.

Ryanair will base a sixth aircraft in Shannon which will allow it to launch two new routes to Frankfurt- Hahn and Newcastle and 26 more weekly frequencies to destinations like Bristol, Edinburgh and Paris.

This sixth aircraft, which is a fur- ther €70 million investment by Rya- nair in Shannon, will generate more than 100 more jobs at the airport this NA Us Koa

SU ilexor coe Bibtdelnm sel Moura r me ReLee more passengers each week through the airport.

Ata press conference, O’Leary said that he is scanning the skies for air- craft to suit long-haul trips.

Predicting that if he can get the aircraft, “the motorways around Shannon will be jammed with peo-

ple looking for $10 (€6.80) flights. We would empty Dublin Airport of transatlantic passengers and nothing would give me more pleasure.”

O’Leary said that he is consider- ing setting up the transatlantic hub in Shannon, but only if he can get air- Coe-VA e-em d slow wed sl moe lee

He told reporters that he needs the recession “to go on a bit longer and be a bit more severe”.

Ryanair’s Chief Financial Officer, Howard Millar has said that any long-haul venture would not be un- dertaken by Ryanair itself but by a new company.

To accommodate the new routes and increased frequencies of flights, O’Leary said, Ryanair will discon- tinue flying the Shannon-East Mid- lands route and reduce frequencies on the Shannon-Luton route from October 31.

In welcoming the news, Martin Moroney, Airport Director said, “We are delighted that Ryanair 1s expand- ing its base at Shannon. In what has been a challenging year, these ad- ditional services will boost our pas- senger numbers and see Ryanair on target to deliver over 1.9 million pas- sengers to Shannon in 2009.

He continued, “These services offer an additional opportunity for tourism promotion in the west of Ireland. We look forward to working with them in achieving that aim and thank them for their renewed commitment to Shannon and the mid-west.”

RESIDENTS of an estate on Lough Derg are to take legal advice today on whether they can appeal a judge’s decision to uphold the rights of a family of Travellers to move into a house bought for them by the local authority.

The family at the centre of the row have spoken for the first time of their distress over some locals’ reaction.

Residents of Cullinagh at Ballina have mounted a_ round-the-clock protest outside the house since Tip- perary County Council bought it to accommodate a family of ten Travel- lers at a cost of €465,000.

The O’Reilly family have been living in the lakeside town for nine years in a number of caravans, a short distance from the property.

Last night, Tony O’Malley, solici- tor for the O’Reilly family said the family are “very upset. They have been under a lot of pressure because of this. They are a family which has lived here peacefully for more than ten years. They have helped with community events, their children are going to school in the area. All they want to do is to continue to live peacefully in the community into which they have become integrat- ed.”

The residents were due to take le- gal advice on an appeal last night, but were instead meeting to discuss a development yesterday afternoon in which housing staff from the council arrived escorted by gardai to enter the house.

“They had a lock smith with them and I think they changed the locks,” said Paddy Collins, spokesman for the protesting residents.

Last week, High Court Judge Mr Peter Justice Charleton ruled against the residents application for an in- junction to stop the local authority entering into a tenancy agreement with the family for the house on the grounds that members of the Travel- ler community have the same rights to be housed as anyone else.

The locals are objecting to the house being bought for the family because, they say, the council went outside it’s normal procedures to make the purchase.

“They are supposed to keep with- in a certain budget and they didn’t. This is taxpayers’ money. They are supposed to keep within the social housing scheme to house people but they went right outside of that in this case’, said Mr Collins.

“We would be raising the same objections no matter who this house was bought for,’ he added.

THE future viability of St Joseph’s Secondary School in Spanish Point is in serious jeopardy if the Depart- ment of Education doesn’t recom- mence funding to employ two part- time teachers at the school. According to the school principal, Mary Crawford, the school faces clo- sure if funding isn’t made available for the technical drawing, engineer- ing and art classes to be reinstated.. “The department has made an of- fer to fund the teachers for the exam classes in third and sixth year for this year. But as part of that offer they insist that we do not offer this sub- ject to new first year students com- ing into the school and that we look for no more concessions in future

years,’ said Mrs Crawford.

“What they are essentially doing is getting rid of those subjects from out school. This is completely not acceptable. We cannot run a rural school without these subjects; they are vital. At the moment more than a third of our first years take art which is probably more than take up techni- or Ne bee hapten

A technical drawing and metal work room, refitted by the Depart- ment of Education just two years ago, is sitting idle following the decision by the department. The state-of-the- art room was developed to the high- est standards in 2005 and 2006 after being granted more than €90,000 by the Department of Education. “These rooms have been totally idle while this is going on. It doesn’t make any

sense, it’s a total lack of joined up thinking,” continued Mrs Crawford.

“We were back at school when we heard that the last appeal had failed. All through the summer I have gone through the normal channels that I have gone through every other year.

“We were caught right at the very last minute with this. We want these two teachers to be reinstated and we need for these subjects to be taught from first year in the school.

“We are going to keep this fight go- ing in the media. That is part of the plan. We would then hope that our public representatives would bring their powers to bear on the situation. Other than that the board of manage- ment will have to consider out next step before we escalate any of out ac- tions on this issue.”

CROKE Park is a place for winners — losers tend to blend into the back- ground, forgotten in the euphoria of others, save the post-match ritual of winning captains calling for those three cheers.

Those cheers and the stock in GAA trade of ‘is mor an ondir dom an chorn seo a ghlacadh….’ are two staples of All-Ireland finals days, whatever the code and whatever the grade.

So it was on Sunday afternoon when the Clare ladies inhabited this lonely existence. The week before it was Kerry who lost an All-Ireland they were supposed to win; Clare now knew how their neigbours on

the southern bank of the estuary felt, because this was an All-Ireland they were supposed to win.

But like Kerry, there were no ex- cuses. Only grace and humility in defeat.

“In fairness to Tipperary they de- Served to win,’ said team trainer David O’Brien. “We were talking about it during the week that you might dream all your life of having the game of your life in an All-Ire- land final, but it doesn’t usually hap- pen. World records aren’t usually broken in Olympic finals.

“But look at Tipperary. In fairness to them, probably eight, nine or ten players had the games of their life. We didn’t have anyone who could

come off the field and say that ‘that was the best game I ever played’.

“Things didn’t happen for us and a lot of breaks went against us, but Tip- perary still deserved to win. We’re not going to say that this went against us, or that went against us. The team that deserved to win won it — that’s being totally honest about it.”

There was nothing else that needed to be said. This was Clare’s darkest hour, but they have to look to the dawn and come back.

And, like Kerry they will be back.

THE Minister for Health Mary Har- ney last night personally apologised to the family of Edel Kelly, over her misdiagnosis.

The 26-year-old mother-of-two from Kilrush died from cancer in June, having previously been misdi- agnosed at Ennis General Hospital.

Last week, her parents Una and John and partner Noel McGreene came out publicly to speak of their anger in relation to the Edel’s situa-

intone

In the wake of their revelations, an independent review of services at En- nis General Hospital was announced by Minister Harney.

The Kellys met with Ms Harney in Dublin last evening and were heart- ened by her words.

“She apologised profusely. The family was appreciative of the apol- ogy. She indicated the terms of ref- erence (of the independent review) would include an examination of Edel’s case,’ said solicitor for the

Kelly family, Eugene O’ Kelly.

She said the Minister said the in- ternal report into the hospital will be disposed of as soon as possible and this will be followed by the independ- ent review, within three months.

“She has promised three months,” said the solicitor.

Fears that the revelations and subsequent review would lead to a downgrading for the hospital were raised by the Kellys, but the minister allayed any such concerns and de- nied that this would happen.

Mr O’Kelly said that Ms Harney was very sympathetic in her apology during the hour-long meeting.

‘The parents have a wish to remove themselves from the limelight and deal with their grief now,” said Mr O’ Kelly.

He said the legal action taken by the Kelly family, against the HSE, will proceed. This had commenced by Edel, prior to her death, and her family has pledged to continue it in her memory.

Mr O’Kelly said that the Kellys

were disappointed with certain as- pects of the meeting with the head of the HSE Professor Brendan Drumm last week.

“While Professor Drumm _ was apologetic to them, he would not apologise for the misdiagnosis. He apologised for the delay in treatment. They were impressed by the sinceri- ty of the apology but they felt 1t could have gone a little further,” he said.

He said the family remain grief- stricken but are pleased that the cir- cumstances surrounding the tragic

Meanwhile, the mayor of Clare has said that the announcement of an in- dependent investigation into the op- eration of services at Ennis General Hospital is “insufficient on its own to restore public confidence in the health system”.

Councillor Madeleine — Taylor- Quinn said that “only corrective ac- tion in areas of deficiencies will help restore that confidence, which has

been shattered”.

The mayor said that an investiga- tion into the specific cases of misd1- agnosis was absolutely essential. She added that the families of the patients deserved and were entitled to the full facts of what went wrong.

Mayor Taylor-Quinn stressed that the Health Information and Quality Authority’s (HIQA) review of serv- ices at Ennis General Hospital must take account of recent history.

“Will the HSE, its predecessor the Health Board, and the Department of Health and Children firstly acknowI- edge their negligence in lack of sup- port for the hospital over the last 20 years when 40 beds were withdrawn from the hospital? Secondly, will they acknowledge that for that pe- riod of time they have continuously downgraded Ennis General Hospital by stealth? And thirdly will they ac- cept that had they responded posi- tively to the repeated concerns raised by the Hospital Action Committee and public representatives that the cases of misdiagnosis may not have occurred at Ennis General Hospi- tal?” she asked.

Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen has given a guarded welcome to the an- nouncement of a HIQA review of

services at Ennis General Hospital. He warned that this review “must not be used to progress the Agenda of ending 24/7 accident and emergency services at the hospital.

“T hope that this review will lead to badly needed improvements at the hospital and that it is not being used to implement the Hanly Report by the back door. Staff and management at Ennis General Hospital have been forced to work in crowded conditions with poor facilities for years and in spite of numerous Government prom- ises of funding, not one cent has been seen yet of the ©39m redevelopment plan,” he said.

The review must “focus on provid- ing improved services and _ facili- ties for the people of the county”, according to Sinn Féin’s county spokesperson Cathy McCafferty.

Speaking after the announcement Ms. McCafferty said, “This re- view must concentrate on finding out what resources Ennis General needs to ensure the tragic events revealed in recent days do not happen again.”

NURSES’ representatives at Ennis General Hospital have welcomed the announcement of an independent re- view of services at the hospital.

In a statement the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) said they wel- comed the decision by Minster for Health Mary Harney to proceed with an independent review of services at the hospital to be undertaken by the Health Information and Quality Au-

thority (HIQA).

The organisation stated, ““Members of the INO at the hospital have for many years advocated on behalf of patients in relation to infection con- trol risks, overcrowding, understaff- ing and non-replacement of consult- ant posts.

‘In one instance in the Emergency Department at the hospital, it took the former Mid Western Health Board and the HSE almost five years to appoint one additional nurse to

this department, in order to cope with the demands of this service in a safer environment.”

The INO also claimed that, “at meetings held at the hospital in the last four to five years, nurses were frustrated and upset that their con- cerns on the clinical governance environment for patients were not receiving the appropriate response from the HSE.

‘Nurses believe that it is also nec- essary to review the episode of care

of Ms Ann Moriarty at St James’ Hospital, Dublin in particular, prior to her discharge from a Centre of Ex- oI Serene

INO Industrial Relation’s Officer Mary Fogarty said she anticipates that the review will address concerns at Ennis General Hospital, long held by members of the nursing staff.

“Our members welcome the inde- pendent review by HIQA and look forward to fully co-operating with it,’ said Ms Fogarty.

She added, “Members anticipate that this review will finally, throw light on the severe understaffing, un- der resourcing and concerns on pa- tient safety and outcomes that have prevailed for too long at the hospi- Ne

“Our members look forward to the opportunity to identify to HIQA their requirements for the hospital to ensure that clinical governance is central in the delivery of safe care to OTB elem