Month: March 2009

A BIRTHDAY celebration turned sour when a row broke out at a disco in Scariff and the man celebrating his birthday was assaulted.

As a result, cousins Gary Quigley (19), of Riverview, Scariff, and Keith Quigley (20), of Callaghy, Tuam- graney, were convicted of assaulting Raymond Durek, at McNamara’s dis- co in Scariff on March 20 last year.

Inspector John Galvin told Killaloe District Court that something was said to Mr Durek’s girlfriend and Mr Durek was then knocked to the ground.

‘A number of people jumped on top of him. He got struck. Keith Quigley was identified as one of those,” he said. “Gary Quigley struck Mr Durek later that evening,” he said.

He said the injured party did not sustain serious injuries.

Mr Durek told the court that he had been out celebrating his birthday that night and said he was punched a number of times.

Defending solicitor Sauls Loughnane said that while he was not trying to diminish what had hap- pened, it was at the “lower end of the scale” in terms of assaults.

He said that Gary Quigley got in- volved because he thought his cousin Keith had been under attack.

Keith Quigley had no previous convictions, while Gary had been in court previously, on a minor matter.

A one-month jail term was imposed on Gary Quigley, suspended for two years. He was also fined €1,500, while a fine of €1,000 was imposed on Keith Quigley.

THE swift actions of an eagle-eyed Ennis resident assisted in the pros- ecution in an investigation into a stolen sports car.

However, when it came to court last week, the case was struck out.

Paul Daly (19), of Considine’s Road, Cloughleigh, Ennis, was ac- cused of unlawfully taking posses- sion of a car without the consent of the owner, at Mill Road, Ennis, on May 20, 2008.

The owner of the car told Ennis District Court that he parked his sports car on the Mill Road in Ennis at 7pm on the evening of May 20.

When he returned 90 minutes lat- er, the car was gone.

It was later found by gardai, hav- ing been crashed.

A resident on the Lahinch Road in the town told the court that he was at home on the evening of May 24 Ee

He heard a car being driven past his house on its rims and it got ‘louder and louder”.

There were two individuals in the car. He took photographs of the two men who had come from the direc- tion of the car, as they passed by his house.

“Things didn’t seem right. The front number plate was missing,” he said. The court heard that this was the car that had been stolen.

The photographs were presented to the court – on a computer – and defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said, “The man in the stripy thing 1s my client.”

Garda Chris Power told the court that he was involved in the investi- gation and said he arrested the ac- cused in Ennis town on the evening of May 24, on suspicion of allowing himself to be carried in a stolen ve- hicle.

Ms Godfrey applied for the case to be struck out, on a number of

grounds.

She said that her client had been accused of an offence on May 20 and “there 1s no evidence adduced by the state to support the allegation that my client took possession of a car on May 20.”

She said the owner of the car did not see who had taken it and the res- ident’s evidence related to May 24.

She said one of the men in the photograph “probably was my cli- ent, but that’s irrelevant to the pros- Torn CO) 0 ae

Inspector Michael Gallagher said he accepted the solicitor’s point and Judge Timothy Lucey struck out the charge.

“What happened on the 24th can- not necessarily be connected with what happened on the 20th,” said the judge.

A TWO-MONTH jail term imposed on former doctor Paschal Carmody for an assault was lifted yesterday.

Mr Carmody (61), of Ballycug- geran, Killaloe, was convicted of assaulting summons server John Sommers at Mr Carmody’s home on March 8, 2007.

A two-month jail term had been handed down at Killaloe District Court in November.

Mr Carmody appealed the sever- ity of this sentence, at Ennis Circuit STAM Ko Kee hs

His solicitor Michael Staines told the court that his client, a father- of-five, had practised as a doctor in Killaloe for many years. However, he said he had been struck off, “due to other matters, nothing to do with this case”.

Garda John Kennedy agreed with Mr Staines that it was very unlikely that Mr Carmody would ever be in

this type of trouble again.

Mr Staines said his client had been under “unprecedented pressure from the media” around the time of the as- sault. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” he said.

He presented two references to the court, one from County Councillor Flan Garvey and the other from a doctor in Tipperary, on behalf of his client.

“Mr Carmody unreservedly apolo- gises for what occurred. Mr Sum- mers accepts this. The injuries, thankfully, were minor. He has other problems, which he is still facing. I’d ask you to take this problem away from him,” said the solicitor.

Judge Gerald Keyes asked was the case contested in the district court and was told that it was.

“It was a very severe penalty whether it was contested or not, for a man who had never been in trouble before. He’s still under a lot of pres- sure,’ said the solicitor.

“If you could see fit to deal with it perhaps by contributing to the poor box, he’d be delighted to do that,” he added.

He said that this matter would have a huge effect on his client in the event of him practising in the future, once other issues are dealt with.

Judge Keyes noted that the garda had spoken positively about Mr Car- mody. “I have no hesitation in re- moving the jail sentence,” he said.

“Obviously this man has been un- der terrible pressure, but no more than any member of the public as such. There is strong evidence this man will not commit an offence again,” he added.

“We are all entitled to make mis- takes and the consequences are more Severe for this man than others,” said the judge.

He applied the probation act and said if Mr Carmody wished to do- nate money to the poor box, he could do so.

REPEATED questioning of a garda over a confidential informant in a drugs case caused concern to gardai, during a court case where a man was accused of drug dealing.

The questioning by a barrister prompted the garda giving evidence to stress it was his duty to protect elu Keshe

Father-of-three James O’Toole (39), a stonemason, of Main Street, O’Briensbridge, admitted a charge of possession of cannabis but contested a charge of possession of the drug for sale or supply, on January 26, 2007.

Garda Ronan O’Hara told Killaloe District Court that he received confi- dential information from a “reliable source’ and on foot of this, he ob- tained a search warrant in court un- der the Misuse of Drugs Act.

He and a number of other gardai then went with the Garda drugs dog to the accused’s home on the evening of January 26, 2007.

He said that on arrival at the house, the accused shouted out a word to the back of the house, which sounded like “screws”. “He tried to impede my entry to the house,’ said Gda O’ Hara.

He said he immediately went to the back of the house, where another man was present. He said the ac- cused was “handcuffed and placed sitting down under supervision in the sitting room area” while the other man was placed under supervision in the kitchen area, but was not hand- cuffed. Gardai then proceeded to carry out a search of the house.

He said he found a bowl with loose cannabis on the kitchen table, where there also was a large vacuum sealed

bag of cannabis herb. He found three snap-top bags containing cannabis herb in the same area. A weighing scales was also found.

He said that the value of the items found amounted to less than €500, but said he believed that was a con- servative estimate.

Gda O’Hara told the court that when questioned, O’Toole said he smoked cannabis “as much as you would smoke cigarettes’, for pain relief, while he also used it for cook- ing. He told gardai he did not deal drugs.

Asked by defence counsel Laurence Goucher, BL, about the confidential source the garda had referred to, Gda O’ Hara said the source had been used in the past. Asked was this person on a list of confidential informants, the garda replied, “It’s my own duty to protect these sources.”

When the garda was asked was this individual on a register, Inspec- tor John Galvin, prosecuting, said, “IT fail to see the benefits in it. The garda went before a court (to obtain a warrant) and satisfied a district court judge.”

As the barrister continued to cross- examine the garda about the source, Inspector Galvin said he was “a bit concerned. We are here in the mid- dle of a drugs trial. I’m not sure where this is going.”

Judge Joseph Mangan then said he was not going to “compel the garda to answer” the question put to him by the barrister.

Garda O’Hara said there was a lot of herbal cannabis present and a lot of paraphernalia that would suggest drug dealing.

“It was the scenario of walking in on someone and catching them red-

handed. There was bags everywhere. There was cannabis,” said the garda. He accepted that there were no drugs found on either the accused or the other person who was in the house PLM NO Com BODO Lee

Detective Sergeant Oliver Nevin told the court he was part of the group of gardai who went to the house that night. He said the accused was “very aggressive and very abusive towards us while we were trying to secure the kitchen area”. He said there was drugs paraphernalia all over the kitchen. “Large amounts of canna- bis were being ground down and put into smaller bags. That would be my opinion,” he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan convicted O’Toole and imposed a six-month jail term. He refused an application to suspend this and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

CLARE intermediates had a lot to contend with in their maiden voyage as a second string side. Not alone was it the majority of this young side’s first adult outing at inter-county lev- el but facing into driving wind and rain and then a torrential blizzard of snow in the first half, it was arguably a proposition unlike anything experi- enced before.

In the end, Tipperary’s nine point haul in that first period along with a touch more experience carried them through and while Clare per- haps needed more of a cutting edge up front, manager Bertie Sherlock should be generally satisfied with the attitude and commitment for the en- tire sixty minutes on Sunday.

More than anything else, this was a learning curve for Clare’s second string who had to dig deep to keep the home side at bay, particularly in the opening half. Aided by the gale, Tipperary threatened to run riot early on but some dogged defending from the entire full-back line, Sarah Hoey and Aine O’Brien made sure that this did not happen. Points from Eimear Shanahan, Deirdre Dunne, Jackie O’Connor and a brace from captain Siobhan Ryan opened up a O-5 to 0-1 lead by the 13th minute, with Broad- ford’s Danielle Sheedy getting Clare sole reply from a placed ball.

However, Clare made changes and with Sarah Hoey moving to centre- back and the lively Carol Kaiser switching from the supply starved position of full-forward to the right wing, they ensured it wasn’t all one way traffic until the break.

As conditions worsened and the

snow increasingly hampered vision, Clare pulled a point back through another Sheedy free after Michelle Caulfield was fouled but Tipperary added four more before the interval through Joanne Nolan (2), Jackie O’Connor and Deirdre Dunne and Clare goalkeeper Denise Lynch also had to vigilant to keep out two goal- bound efforts late on, with the high- light being a smothered block on a Brid Byrnes pull.

At0-9 to 0-2, the players re-emerged to a now snow covered field but with no illuminous sliotar in the referee’s armoury, they had to be content to soldier on regardless. Clare made two changes at the break bringing on Kilmaley’s Helen McMahon at wing-back and Ogonnelloe’s Roti- sin McMahon to the forwards and it was the latter’s early sharpness that prompted an encouraging early fight- back. Two points in as many minutes from O’Brien breathed new life into Clare’s challenge but with pockets of sun now melting the ground and the wind dying down, it never really ma- terialised into a full-blown recovery.

Eimear Shanahan opened Tipper- ary’s account in the 35th minute, sandwiched by three Clare wides but as the clock ticked down, it was Tipperary who took advantage. A Deirdre Dunne free and a point from substitute Noreen Flanagan stretched the home side’s lead to eight by the 51st minute and while the result was now realistically inevitable, Tipper- ary manager Eoin Brislane emptied Web mmolone ee

Essentially though, Clare never gave up and that honest effort almost paid dividends late on. Carol Kai- ser started the rebellion in the 57th

minute when she gathered a puck-out and bore down on goal before being fouled and while she should have perhaps been given advantage, Dan- ielle Sheedy stepped up to point the resultant free. Gaining confidence, only minutes later, Danielle Sheedy, now operating in the half-forward line played a ball inside to Roisin O’Brien but again she was taken down, this time for a penalty. Denise Lynch came up from goals to take it but her drive was saved by goalkeep- er Christine Kennelly as Tipperary clung to all the points.

TWO games and no points but Clare senior and intermediate manager Bertie Sherlock was far from disillu- sioned from his opening competitive outing in his native Tipperary. Quite the opposite in fact as he consoled and encouraged his downhearted players leaving the field before wax- ing lyrical about both squads’ effort and commitment.

‘The two sides I thought were un- real today. The intermediates were

brilliant and then the seniors came out facing Tipp, who were back-to- back All-Ireland champions not so long ago and still amongst the top three or four teams in the country, and really put it up to them today. The players will go away disappoint- ed today because we should have won this game but in saying that, they were absolutely brilliant. Every girl worked like beavers, hooking and blocking in the air or on the ground, you couldn’t ask for anymore. I was over the moon with them.”

Sherlock’s long afternoon began with the intermediate game, a match that will be remembered as much for the snowstorms as the play but the Toomevara refused to use the condi- tions as an excuse for the defeat.

“It was unfortunate really. We had snow throughout the first half and it was a struggle. We were already play- ing into a strong wind and we clawed them back inch by inch but still, Tip- perary came out on top. In saying that, what’s good for the goose was good for the gander today because

the wind didn’t make any difference with the conditions. That’s just the way it goes but I’m still overjoyed by the attitude.” However, it was in the senior game that Clare really ex- celled, stiffling the home side with a spirited hard working performance, only to see victory dashed by a soft late goal. Sherlock though is con- vinced that this game will stand to Eee eyr es KoeNerKCe

“The girls have gone into the dress- ing rooms fierce disappointed but really they needn’t be disappointed

because they didn’t let down Clare today, they had great pride in the jer- sey. I really thought they were out- standing.”

And with Kilkenny to come this weekend, there 1s no time to dwell on those defeats.

“Those performances there today will be huge for Clare camogie as it shows that they can compete at the top with the best. The confidence gained from today will be very im- portant going forward and they will fear no-one.

ARGUABLY the most valuable three points of the season for league lead- ers Bunratty, who got back on track in the race for their first Premier D1- vision title in eight years. Earlier in the campaign when they were flying high at the top and not really threat- ened by the chasing pack, Bunratty’s confidence allowed them to carve out comfortable victories. However, a re- cent slide in which they only claimed one point out of a possible six had made them jittery, especially since one of those games was a 3-2 defeat to main title rivals Avenue Utd. The Ennis side had their own setback by losing to Moher Celtic a week later so Bunratty needed a win here to steady the ship and send out a mes- sage of intent.

Bridge Utd craved the three points just as much at the other end to give them some breathing space in their fight to avoid relegation and therefore a scrappy battle ensued, much like their last meeting at the beginning of January. The conditions were equally as bad as that 1-O victory to Bunratty in Sixmilebridge two months previ- ous, with a whole spectrum of weath-

er spells from sunshine to hail.

Considering all these factors, it was never going to be a classic as oppor- tunities on goal were few and far be- tween. In saying that, both sides hit the crossbar in the opening period with Bunratty’s Peter Ballough miss- ing an open goal while a opportun- istic chip from Bridge’s Derek Fahy eluded goalkeeper Gary McGettrick but not the woodwork.

Had either of those chances gone in, it could have been a different game but instead, both sides plugged away without making much headway in the final third. The home side always looked the more likely to break the deadlock though and in keeping with the game when it did finally arrive, it had to come from a set-piece. Time was ticking away for Bunratty until Peter Ballough’s corner was expertly headed to the net by Shane O’Connor in the 72nd minute. From that point on, it was really a game of cat and mouse but substitute Chris Griffin could have cemented victory long before the final whistle when put through one-on-one with Paul Tuohy but he failed to score. As it turned out, Bunratty didn’t need a second goal as they clung on for victory but

even though, they are eight points clear with five games to go, the title race is far from settled yet. Joint sec- ond place sides Avenue and Lifford both have games in hand, with Ave- nue able to leap-frog Bunratty if they win all three. This weekend’s game will tell a lot but Avenue know from experience that it’s better to have the points on the board than have a sur- plus amount of games-in-hand.

GERRY Adams has said that voters are “waking up to the fact that they have been fooled” as he set the elec- tion machine in motion at the week- end in Clare.

The Sinn Féin leader was in town for the Ennis Book Club Festival but he also met the party’s local election and European candidates and appear at a public meeting.

Speaking in a one-on-one inter- view with

Mantfacturing facility to change hands

ROWAN ‘Tree Hostel located in the heart of Ennis will open its doors on the March 17, following an extensive two year re-development project.

The work involved a major resto- ration of the 17th century Georgian building; including preservation of the original hand carved wooden staircase, entrance pillars and main fireplace. In addition, an extension featuring 28 purpose-built rooms with ensuite facilities has been built.

The original building overlooking the River Fergus is one of the oldest buildings in Ennis and is of histori- cal significance. Built around 1740 it was the County Club for the lords and gentry of the land and the Bull Hall was used for lavish balls and occasions. In the 1940s it was used by the military as barracks. It then became the Club House Hotel and most recently operated as the Abbey Tourist Hostel.

Under the management of experi- enced hostellers, Brian O’Neill and Marianne Maurer, the hostel has a capacity for 140. With a variety of rooms including double, twin and multi-bedded dorms sleeping up to 14, Rowan Tree will appeal to both groups and individuals.

Guest facilities are brand new and include a fully equipped self-cater- ing kitchen, coffee shop, outdoor pa- tio, recreational lounges, television

and free WIFI and Internet access.

A licensed café bar on the premises will provide a relaxed setting for so- cialising and meeting guests.

“We are excited to be reopening a hostel in Ennis with all new modern facilities’, says Brian O’ Neill, Man- aging Director of Rowan Tree Hos- tel. “There is a real need for quality budget accommodation in Ennis and we are filling that gap by providing a friendly hostel that will appeal to a wide range of people including;

international backpackers, groups, families and the younger business person. Additionally, we will be cre- ating up to 20 jobs for people in the local area.”

Welcoming the new venture, Siob- han King, Shannon Development Tourism Officer for County Clare said, “Shannon Development is de- lighted to see the reopening of this much needed hostel accommoda- tion in Ennis, the gateway to County Clare. The new hostel will comple-

ment the existing variety of accom- modation in the county”

Beds start at €16 per night and include a free light breakfast. For more information visit www.row- antreehostel.ie.