Month: April 2009

THE number of prisoners being admitted with heroin addictions and availing of rehabilitation pro- grammes at the overcrowded Limer- ick prison has increased by over 300 per cent in the past year.

In a stark indication of the increas- ing grip heroin is having on Clare and the mid-west’s criminal classes, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has confirmed that 37 prisoners under- went rehab programmes at at Limer- ick prison last year.

With just ten prisoners availing of the programme in 2007, the increase coincides with a significant increase in heroin related crime offences com- ing before Clare’s court system.

Separate figures confirm the con-

tinuing problem of overcrowding at Limerick prison with Minister Ahern confirming that on April 14 last year, there were 303 people in the 275 bed Limerick prison.

He said, “The prison system is sub- ject to peaks and troughs. Numbers are particularly high when the courts are at their busiest, giving rise to a high number of committals.

“This situation is particularly ap- parent over the past 12 months, where we have seen dramatic in- creases in the number of sentenced prisoners, those being committed on remand and a trend towards longer sentences.

“The prison service must accept all prisoners committed by the courts. For example, figures show, over the past 12 years, the numbers in custody

have increased by 65 per cent.

““T acknowledge that our prisons are Operating in excess of bed capacity and it is evident that the continuation of the current capital programme is necessary if overcrowding is not to become a problem going forward.

Clare Fine Gael TD, Joe Carey said that overcrowding created extra tension and made prisoner violence more likely.

“This issue is not about prisoner comforts but about having safe ef- fective prisons which function prop- erly. Prisons cannot work properly if they are packed to over capacity. The cycle of crime cannot be broken if prisoners are not rehabilitated. I don’t believe the conditions at Lim- erick Prison are in the best interests of society as a whole.

Hotelier stages stand-off against water supply

AN 18-year-old girl lost her life in a road accident just weeks before she was due to receive her Leaving Certificate results, an inquest heard yesterday.

Tace Gould Duff, from Rahona West, Carrigaholt, lost her life in an accident at Corbally, Kilkee on Au-

gust 3 last year.

At Ennis Coroner’s Court yester- day, Tom Lowry recalled that after- noon. He said he and his wife were driving along at a speed of no more than 40 mph, at around 4pm.

He said he saw a car approaching in their line of vision and then there was an impact. “I just remember a car and then impact,” he said.

Tace Gould Duff’s brother, David, recalled being at home that day when gardai called. They told him that his sister had been involved in a very serious road accident. Their parents were in the UK at the time.

Garda Patricia Lonergan attended the scene of the accident, between a Volkswagen Passatt and a Renault ‘liter

She said that Ms Tace Gould Duff’s Clio had ended up in a field on the left-hand side of the road and had been extensively damaged.

A female was lying across the pas- senger side of the car. She was pro- nounced dead at the scene.

Pathologist Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy carried out a post mortem examina- tion on the deceased’s body at Limer-

ick Regional Hospital. She concluded that death was due to acute cardiac respiratory arrest, secondary to head injuries, consistent with having been involved in a road accident.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

Inspector Michael Gallagher said it was “sad to see a life being cut so short.”

A WOMAN died due to smoke inha- lation after her cottage in east Clare took fire, an inquest heard yesterday.

Helen ‘Nellie’ Moloney (77) died in a fire at her home at Woodcock Hill, Meelick, on July 14 last year.

At Ennis Coroner’s Court yester- day, her son Tony, who lived with her, recalled the hours leading up to her death.

He said he had checked on his mother at 10pm, llpm and 3.30am and each time she told him she was ‘fine’.

He said he woke up at 7.55am to two loud bangs. He said there was black smoke coming through the roof of the house, to his bedroom. The hall- way of the house was full of smoke. He said he went outside and the win- dows appeared black with smoke.

He threw a flower pot in through

his mother’s bedroom window and through the sitting room window, in an effort to see her. He ran to their neighbour’s house and summoned help.

“IT was shouting, “Mammy, Mam- my’, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t get into the house with the flames,’ he recalled.

Another son, Tom, said he received a call to go home early that morning. He thought his mother had fallen as

she had fallen previously.

When he got to the house, he saw that it was in flames. The house had burnt down, but the walls were still standing.

His brother Tony told him that their mother was in the house and he couldn’t get her out. He was later told by a garda that his mother was in the sitting room and had died.

Sergeant Noel McMahon said he attempted to gain entry but was un-

able to do so due to the flames and smoke. After the fire had been put out, he went into the building, where he found the badly burnt body of Mrs Moloney.

Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy carried out a post mortem examination on her body at Limerick Regional Hospi- tal. She said she had suffered severe twee

She concluded that death was most likely due to smoke inhalation.

GARDAI are warning people in Clare to raise their awareness of the importance of crime prevention, for Community Safety Week, which got underway yesterday (Monday).

Clare Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Joe Downey said in recent weeks, thieves appear to have target- ed work tools in particular.

Dozens of houses across the county

have been broken into recently and gardai fear an escalation in this type of crime over the summer months.

“We do this once a year, to try and reassure members of the public of the benefits of crime prevention.

“We are re-emphasising the impor- tance of crime prevention strategies,” said Sgt Downey.

During the week, Sgt Downey will meet with various neighbourhood watch, community alert and business

alert committees, along with elderly groups.

“It is important to stress and em- phasise the importance of everybody playing a part in preventing their properties from being stolen.

“We are emphasising the impor- tance of marking property,” he said.

“When people notice any suspi- cious activity, they should contact gardai,’ he said.

“We have noticed that tools are be-

ing targeted. There has been a big in- crease in the theft of tools from vans and cars parked in driveways and in isolated locations.

‘There seems to be a ready market for property and people are not ask- ing enough questions when they are being sold these items,” he added.

THE men charged last week in con- nection with a feud in Ennis deny any involvement in the incident, with one of them telling a court, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Charles Foley, solicitor for the six McDonagh brothers, said his clients were not the instigators of the inci- elem

Jason McDonagh, a father-of-three, told the court he was not involved in a feud. He said he has two sick chil- dren. His wife Anne Marie said, “For Jason, it was the wrong place at the wrong time. He has been dragged into this unnecessarily.”

Edward ‘Ned’ McDonagh told the court, “These people came down uninvited. I never retaliated since

March 28. All that’s been made is al- legations. Whatever had to be done there was defence. We were defend- ing ourselves. There was young kids there.”

Asked why people from Limerick were in his home in March, he said, “We know them from horse fairs. I don’t know them individually.” He said he knew nothing about petrol bombs that were found by gardai at the house.

Michael McDonagh denied any involvement in the incidents. “I’m a lover, not a fighter,’ he proclaimed. However, Inspector Tom Kennedy put it to him that his “flippant atti- tude” in the witness box was an indi- cation of his “entire attitude for this court and for law and order the Su- perintendent fears is going to break

down.” The accused replied, “I’m not a violent person.” Mr Foley said the “flippant” remark was made by his client under pressure.

It was put to Gerard McDonagh that he was hiding in the hot press when gardai went to arrest him. He replied, “I was in the hotpress look- ing for clothes.” Inspector Kennedy said he did not want the court turned into a circus.

The fifth accused, David McDon- agh said, “This is not my feud.”

Joseph McDonagh, who is accused of damaging a car last week, told the court, “We are being victimised.”

He said he has not been involved in any part of the feud. “I have in- tervened in rows, to try and keep the peace in the town,’ he added.

Mr Foley said if granted bail, the

accused men would undertake to stay out of trouble. “This incident occurred effectively on their own doorstep. They were in their moth- er’s house at the time,” he said.

However, Inspector Kennedy said this bail application was _ unprec- edented in terms of the concerns outlined by the State. Relating to the alleged assault, he said, “It’s by any standards a grave assault. One would wonder how this man survived it.”

He said there was a huge risk that someone would be very seriously injured “if not left dead” due to the feud. “There is very good reason why the Supt is so concerned about what’s gone on and what’s likely to go on if these people are admitted to bail,” he said.

Judge Leo Malone refused bail for

Edward ‘Ned’, Michael and Gerard McDonagh. He granted bail for Ja- son and David McDonagh, on strin- gent conditions. He said the reason he was granting bail to Jason was be- cause he has disabled children. The bail conditions include that they re- main away from a number of people and addresses in Ennis; sign on at the garda station and abide by a curfew.

Joseph McDonagh was also grant- ed bail, with stringent conditions at- Ne tere b

Bail, totalling €13,000 (between own and independent sureties), was set for the three men who were grant- ed bail.

“If there is any breach of the bail conditions, bail will be revoked and they won’t get bail again,” said the judge.

A SOLICITOR representing six men charged in connection with a feud between two families in Ennis has claimed the arrest of his clients was “politically motivated”.

However, he later apologised for his remarks, after the local superintend- ent strongly objected.

Defence solicitor Charles Foley de- scribed the incidents as a “so-called feud”, to which Supt Scanlan replied, “This so-called feud is a feud.”

Supt Scanlan said he had attended an emergency meeting of Ennis Town Council last Wednesday in relation to ongoing violence in the area.

Mr Foley then asked the Supt were the arrests “politically motivated.” Supt Scanlan replied, “That is outra- geous. I have no political motivation to come here today.”

Mr Foley said it was a “remark- able coincidence” that the incident

had taken place on March 28, but no arrests were made until last Wednes- day, “a day in which you are to have a meeting with Ennis UDC. That’s the very reason and that’s the reason you are objecting to bail today.”

Supt Scanlan replied, “I’d object to that type of cross-examination and I’d ask it be withdrawn. It should not be tolerated.”

Judge Leo Malone then said, “Mr Foley, the Supt has outlined specific reasons. . . I’m disregarding the al- legation that it was politically moti- vated.”

Mr Foley later apologised for the remarks. “I apologise to him if I offended him by suggesting it was politically motivated. It obviously wasn’t,” he said.

the elected members salaries and expenses from 2004 to 2008 reached €287,725.40.

While this figure includes the meet- ing attendance allocation of three members that were not re-elected in June 2004, it does not include the three members’ salaries or any of their other expenses.

This figure does not take account of the councillor’s wages and expenses for the first five months of this year – that is up until the election on June

The figures obtained however give a good indication of the financial cost of democracy in the west Clare or TOUTE

The cost of maintaining and sup- porting elected representatives for the town of Kilrush costs each of its citizens an estimated €21.83 per year.

During the lifetime of the current

local town council the bill to sus- tain the council’s expenses and sala- ries will reach €300,000, a cost of €109.50 to its 2,657 citizens.

The top earner among the Kilrush town councillors for the last five years was former mayor of the town Cllr Christy O’Malley (FF), who claimed €43,700.91.

A mayoral allowance and a twin- ning conference, as well as a number of seminars and conferences under- taken by the councillor added up to bring the councillors total over the €40,000 mark.

The current mayor of Clare Cllr Liam O’Looney (FF) was the only other councillor to exceed €40,000.

Again the mayoral allowance, paid to the chairperson of the council, was included in the calculations, as were seminar and conference fees.

Each councillor received a tax- able salary of more than €17,000 for the five years costing the council €137,197.

Despite residing in the town coun- cil area, the councillors were also paid a fee for attending meetings.

This cost the council just over

€86,328 for the five years.

Expenses for twinning, seminars and conferences reached €51,407.80 over the five years.

Cllr Jack Fennell (Ind) was the only councillor not to have claimed seminar and conference expenses for the five years.

Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) did not receive a salary as a member of Kiul- rush Town Council as he receives one as a member of Clare County Council. The county councillor was however awarded an attending al- lowance for meetings, and expenses.

A GREEN party councillor has re- jected accusations that his party has supported policies that have “forced urbanisation” on rural Ireland.

Cllr Brian Meaney was responding to claims aired by Fianna Fail coun- cillor Tom Prendeville that the Green party along with planners and Gov- ernment departments had exercised policies responsible for the “herding of people into towns and cities”.

Cllr Prendeville was quoting from a book by rural housing advocate Jim Connolly, entitled “The Enforced Urbanisation of Ireland – Utopia or stile

“Tt is alleged that an accord exists between planners, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local government, An Bord Pleannala, An Taisce and political groups within Government to use their bureaucratic power to force urbanisation on rural Ireland by herding people into towns and cities,” read Cllr Prendeville.

He continued, “There appears to be a conspiracy aboard between all these groups to maximise developer greed. The 1.5 million people living in rural Ireland are being denied a voice or an opinion on this enforced urbanisation exercise. Basically, it is a deliberate pre-meditated exercise in what amounts to be the ethnic cleansing of the rural population.

“If this enforced urbanisation con- tinues apace, rural Ireland will be reduced to a green wilderness de-

void of any semblance of community life,’ read Cllr Prendeville.

Cllr Meaney told yesterday’s meet- ing of Clare County Council that he found it “unusual” that councillors could read out “rantings and claim them to be fact”.

Cllr Meaney said that everyone was entitled to their opinion but that no one was entitled to have their opin- ion held as fact, without it being sub- ject to rigorous questioning.

Cllr Meaney told the meeting that

the decline experienced in rural Ire- land had resulted directly from “Fi- anna Fail’s economic policies and from all those meetings in tents”. Cllr Meaney said he was quoting from the website www.politics.ie Cllr Meaney said that the “vast ma- jority” of people in Clare did not ac- cept claims that the Green party had colluded in anti-rural policies.

WHEN the hour was up, that Doon- beg had sneaked away with a two point win was surprising enough because had there been an extra five minutes in the game, Cooraclare, with enough late momentum to move a train, would at least have dug out Pete he

In some ways, they didn’t even de- serve to get a point from the game. Their kicking was patchy and they gifted Doonbeg two, arguably three, first half goals but on the flip side, the character they showed in clawing back a nine-point deficit did probably merit something on the league table.

While on the subject of gifted goals, Doonbeg also showed an unselfish side and allowed Cooraclare net two of the softest goals they’ Il receive all season.

Anyway, it was a game both sides needed to win for their own reasons; Doonbeg to push themselves into a position to nail down a semi-final place, Cooraclare to more than likely secure a final four spot of their own.

For the opening half an hour, it looked, for all the world, as though Doonbeg were about to stroll to vic- tory. With whatever possession they managed to secure in a threatening position, Cooraclare — albeit a rela- tively young side — did their chances of victory no favours. They lacked penetration and imagination and on

top of this, any loose ball that spilled close to goal was hoovered up by Enda Doyle, who put his stamp on the game from the throw-in. Doyle kept things tight in the absence of the injured Conor Whelan and once or twice, showed a couple of bursts forward that would suggest, come championship, his natural starting position will be wing-back.

At the other end, his forward col- leagues were ticking along nicely.

Doonbeg were leading by two after 19 minutes when the first Cooraclare donation was handed out. Shane Ryan played a tidy one-two with David Tubridy before shooting at the posts. The ball dropped in the danger zone only to be fumbled by Gearoid Meade. Jamie Whelan pounced on the breaking ball, fed Shane Killeen and Doonbeg were ahead by five. Four minutes later, things got worse for the home side. Joe Killeen in the

Cooraclare goals bizarrely decided to opt for a short kick-out, Ryan easily won possession and calmly walked the ball into the net. Then, with one minute before the break, a litany of defensive errors from Cooraclare led to Doonbeg’s third goal, a well- finished blast from Tubridy but the thing was, Doonbeg could have had two more.

Earlier, Tubridy struck well from 14-yards out but Killeen managed a quality save while wedged between their second and third goals, Colm Dillon blasted wide when hitting the net seemed easier.

So, with a 3-5 to O-5 lead at the break, Doonbeg would cruise the second-half. Wrong.

Four minutes in and Cooraclare had slashed the three-goal lead by four points. Padraig Looney scored an early point and this time, it was the Doonbeg full-back line to record an unforced error. Kevin Nugent fumbled a high ball, Cathal Lillis picked up the pieces and drove home Cooraclare’s first goal. Doonbeg set- tled again and popped over the next two points but for the final 20 min- utes, they failed to register a score.

Crucially, Cooraclare managed only three of their own. Substitute John Looney’s point with a quarter of an hour left put six between them. With ten minutes on the clock, he Stood over a 45, drifted the ball in at a decent pace and somehow, like a

bird on it’s last legs, it flapped past a bunch of flailing Doonbeg hands and rested in the net.

It wasn’t exactly game on, because even with three between them, Co- oraclare would always need more than ten minutes to close that gap, a third goal donation from Doonbeg notwithstanding.

With the handouts finished for the hour, John Looney’s final point, a minute into injury time, meant Doonbeg wrapped up the two league points.