Month: April 2009

AN extra councillor, extra area to canvass and extra people to vote.

The county councillors in Shannon must be inwardly smiling, but out- wardly they are panicking.

The very last thing any elected politician wants to hear about them- selves is that their seat is safe.

A scandal they can survive; a faux pas in the council chamber, no prob- lem; even taking the “wrong” side in a controversial local issue can be overcome — but for some journalist, political pundit or barman to say that they are a sure thing come June 5, that is the kiss of death.

So even though there are five sitting Shannon electoral area councillors hoping to be returned to a new six- seater area, they are taking nothing for granted.

All five — John Crowe (FG), Tony Mulcahy (FG), Gerry Flynn (Ind), Patricia McCarthy (Ind) and Pat McMahon (FF) — are putting their names on the ballot paper again, but this time around there are a few new strong contenders.

Already five new possibilities have declared as candidates, and at the time of going to press, there was one more Fianna Fail possibility from the Shannon town area waiting in the wings awaiting head office approval.

Fianna Fail in the area has always maintained that a strong Shannon town candidate was required, and this likely contender has the name and family history to his benefit.

His nomination will all depend on the powers that be in Dublin, some- thing that does not sit well with the grass roots level in light of the selec- tion process in the Shannon electoral area So far.

Many believe that former Fianna Fail stalwart PJ Ryan should have been put on the ticket ahead of new- comer Eamon Fennessy. While Mr Fennessy will have a strong GAA backing, it was felt Mr Ryan had a higher profile on the ground and was geographically better placed.

Head office disagreed, however, and Fianna Fail on the ground, who

are determined to secure that new seat, feel hard done by.

Mr Ryan was just ousted last time by newcomer Gerry Flynn (Ind), who was elected without making the quota. They fear the Ryan factor in Fianna Fail — and are determined that by letting this fear be known, he too may receive that kiss of death, the safe seat curse.

Even with the securing of a much needed town candidate in this elec- tion, the ‘Soldiers of Destiny’ will struggle to double their seats from one to two.

The big hope for the party is Patrick

O’Gorman, who was close to being elected to the council four years ago when he lost his seat, but who is in a new electoral area this time around.

With the transfer of Cratloe and Killeely into the Shannon area, the former councillor will be hoping to secure the majority of that vote to see him back in Clare County Council’s chamber.

Fine Gael is running three candi- dates, well aware that the extra seat is there for the taking.

Having nominated sitting council- lors Tony Mulcahy and John Crowe from the start, it later added Marcella

Rafftery Frost to the ticket.

A smart move — the party picked from a strong Fine Gael pedigree. Ms Rafftery Frost is the niece of former MEP Tom Rafftery, and is living in Bunratty.

A strong Independent and Labour support base has always been part of Shannon.

Cllrs McCarthy and Flynn have proved high-profile and _ popular campaigners in the last five years, and both were mayors of Shannon Town, with Cllr McCarthy the first woman to be selected as mayor of Orie

Another woman contesting the Shannon area is Cathy McCafferty from Sinn Fein. While there are high hopes for the Shannon woman in the town council election, her first out- ing in a county council election four years ago had her eliminated in the third count.

With a new seat for the taking in the Shannon area, however, the final shake down is anyone’s guess.

AUDITIONS for a talent competi- tion that has proved a major hit in west Clare will take place later this month.

The inaugural ‘West Clare’s Got Talent’ was hugely popular last year — so much so that the organisers were keen to follow on with a second con- test this year.

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) 1s the beneficiary of the event, which 1s Open to young people aged between 10 and 18 years.

Last year’s winner, 12-year-old Lisa Falsey from Cooraclare, has since built on her success. She won the accolade due to her musical and singing talents and has won several rounds of the national Scor talent

competition over the past year. Lisa, a daughter of Joe and Maura Falsey, has also won awards in piano, over the years.

The chief organiser of the compe- tition Teresa Carrig was delighted with the success of the first year of the competition. She said that en- trants can do “anything they want to do, as long as they entertain us for two or three minutes”’.

Thirty-four youngsters entered the competition last year and 20 were shortlisted for the final.

“Last year there was music, dance, poetry, hip-hop, Irish dancing and aerobics. Lisa had a confidence in herself and she had a great ability to perform.

“Tt was very broad last year and we would hope to have it as broad again this year,” she said.

€2,000 was raised through the event last year and hopes are high that this will be surpassed this year.

‘Helping children is the theme of it. There is a great buzz about it, this year more so than last year,’ said Ms Creare

She is encouraging young people across west Clare to take part. The auditions will take place at the com- munity centre in Kilrush on April 29, between 3pm and 5pm. The final will take place in Kilrush Commu- nity School on May 16, starting at 7pm.

Lisa’s mother Maura Falsey was delighted with the success in last year’s contest.

“It was great. She has a lovely little voice. For a 12-year-old, a lot of peo- ple would say she has a very mature voice. She loves music and is an all-

rounder,” she said.

Lisa —a sixth class student in Kilm- ihil national school — played the keyboard and sang the song Whitney Houston made famous, ‘One Mo- ment in Time’ in last year’s final.

There will be plenty of excitement on the evening of the final as Bert and Victor — who starred in

A YOUNG man yesterday recalled being dragged a mile, while attached to a car, being driven by a man who had almost twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

The horrific evidence emerged in the case of a Kildysart man, who pleaded guilty to charges in connec- tion with a hit-and-run accident in which two pedestrians were struck, in Ennis, on January 13, 2008.

One of the victims was trapped as he was unable to detach himself from the car, as it took off at speed.

Moments earlier, his friend was struck by the same car and flipped up into the air.

Donal Holohan (23), of Aylroe, Kildysart, admitted a charge of dan- gerous driving, thereby causing seri- ous bodily harm to Tommy Walsh.

Holohan, a plumber, also admitted failing to stop at the scene, at Clon- roadbeg, Ennis; driving with excess alcohol in his breath at Friar’s Walk, Ennis and driving dangerously, at Clonroadbeg.

Garda Dermot Siggins told En- nis Circuit Court that Sean Cud- dihy, Tommy Walsh and two of their friends were walking along Clon- roadbeg at 3.10am.

They were en route to Tesco, in pursuit of cigarettes, when the first incident occurred.

This involved Mr Cuddihy, who

was struck by the defendant’s Nissan Almera, before being flipped into the Za

Mr Walsh and another man pursued the Almera and tried to prevent it from leaving the scene. Gda Siggins said that Mr Walsh stood in front of the car and put his hand on the bon- aoe

However, the vehicle took off at speed and Mr Walsh’s leg became entangled with the car. His chest got caught under the right wheel and he was unable to release himself from the car.

As the car took off at speed, he was dragged along and was trapped un- der it. The car travelled a distance of 1.7 kilometres before he became

detached.

Mr Cuddihy told gardai all he could remember was waking up in hospi- tal, while Mr Walsh said he and his friends were practising marching up the road – as some of them are mem- bers of the defence forces – and he could see Mr Cuddihy being struck by a car.

“He was flipped into the air and landed on his head,” he recalled.

He said he himself was caught under the vehicle and could not get EEN

He said the car kept moving and failed to stop. He remembered wak- ing up on a roadway but had no idea where he was.

Mr Walsh (21) suffered multiple in-

juries – including injuries to his chest, abdomen, shoulder, elbow, groin and a severe injury to his left hand – and underwent surgery on a number of occasions.

He is still undergoing medical at- tention and requires further surgery. Medics say he may never fully re- cover from his hand injury.

Taking the witness stand, he told the court he has lost more than a year in the army and has missed out on duties on overseas missions.

He said he returned to work a month ago and must undergo tests to ascertain if he is capable of rejoining the army.

FORMER Garda Sergeant Ciaran Sheehan’s solicitor, Michael He- garty, outlined for a public meeting in Scariff the series of events which culminated in his client being dis- missed from the force.

The dismissal followed a complaint made by a local man in September 1995 that Mr Sheehan had allegedly

asked that man to withdraw a state- ment he had made regarding an in- cident in Scariff on St Patrick’s Day in 1995.

This complaint was adjudicated upon by the Garda Complaints Tri- bunal in June 1998 which issued a recommendation to the Garda Com- missioner that Sgt Sheehan should either resign or face dismissal.

Sgt Sheehan did not participlate at

this Tribunal on legal grounds. Fol- lowing an unsuccessful High Court application to review the decision, Sgt Sheehan appealed to the Supreme Court, which in February 2009, dis- missed his appeal.

After the first complaint, the Garda authorities directed Sgt Sheehan not to make any contact with the com- plainant. A second complaint was made by the same person in March

1996 against Sgt Sheehan, following which Sgt Sheehan was immediately suspended.

A 10-day garda enquiry took place at Ennis Garda Station between No- vember 1997 and January 1998 into the second complaint. During this, it was established that the man making the complaint had a criminal record for assault, that he had a grudge against Sgt Sheehan and wanted “to

nail him” and that a senior garda had arranged a job interview for the com- plainant with a security firm shortly after he had made his first complaint against Sgt Sheehan.

Commenting on Mr Sheehan’s cur- rent situation, Mr Hegarty said, “He now has no income and no pension after being the member subject to the longest suspension in the history of the force.”

WHEN Tulla woman Una Fitzger- ald and a group of supporters set out trestle tables and sold fruit and veg in the main street in Tulla three years ago, little did they know that they were paving the way for a de- velopment which could bring visitors from all over east Clare to shop in the village.

Una and her friends set up the stall for one day after she discovered that trading had to take place on at least one day before the ancient market charter for the town expired.

While the proposal to have a coun- try market in Tulla did not necessar- ily need a charter, if a meeting held

in the courthouse last night leads to the setting up of a market, having the charter means that the venture could eventually have an outdoor market going as well.

Local people interested in setting up a farmers market went along to the meeting last night to hear two representatives from Country Mar- kets Ltd outline what needs to be done.

It is hoped that the courthouse will be the venue for a new indoor market which will features stalls selling lo- cal produce and crafts.

Traditionally, local people would use the markets to sell produce such as eggs and vegetables, to bring in a bit of extra cash.

The people behind the new market idea say that there 1s again a big de- mand for the country market, both from shoppers who want to buy lo- cally-produced or organic foods and from people who are growing or pro- ducing foods and crafts.

“This is an idea I have had for a long time,” said Siobhan Mulcahy, who set up last night’s meeting.

“T talked to people about having a market and I got nothing but positive responses.

“There is such a great group of people here in Tulla – they have such energy and it is time to tap into that and get this going.”

One important aspect of the mar- ket would be a coffee shop, Siobhan

feels.

“The country market also has an important social function. While we have lovely restaurants, we don’t have anywhere in Tulla where people can just go to meet friends and have a cup of coffee, so this has an impor- tant social function.”

Already, producers of vegetables, plants, fresh eggs, baked goods, knitwear, artwork and woodcrafts have expressed an interest in taking part.

“And if the country market be- comes established, there’s every possibility in the future that an out- door farmers market might grow up around it so it’s brilliant that they kept the charter.”

Rival cave will bring job losses, claims Ailwee

PLANS for the development of a quarry near the village of Ruan have received a setback with Clare County Council demanding a year long sur- vey into bats on the 40 acre site.

Deferring the application by Lagan Bitumen Ltd, the council raised no serious concerns over the proposal and highlighted few of the concerns outlined by residents opposed to the development.

Documents lodged by Lagan Bitu- men Ltd show that Tony O’ Donoghue of 27 Cloughleigh Road, Ennis; Noel O’Donoghue of Ardcarney, Ruan and Gerard O’Donoghue of Ardcar- ney, Ruan entered a deal in agreed to sell the lands to Lagan Bitumen Ltd on January 29 last.

Letters of support for the quarry came from a number of areas includ- ing Ruan, Barefield, Ennis, Shannon and Sixmilebridge. Two previous planning applications to develop a quarry at the site were not successful after facing stiff opposition locally.

Putting the new plan on hold, the council stated that the proposed de- velopment was located within a’7km radius designated for the conserva- tion of the rare Lesser Horseshoe Bat, which is protected under the EU Habitats Directive.

“It 1s estimated that there are 600 breeding Lesser Horseshoe Bats within a night commuting route of this extensive aera of suitable bat

foraging habitat.

‘The Environmental Impact State- ment (EIS) states that habitat loss from the proposal will directly 1m- pact on them and landscape con- nectivity will be lost as the site is developed, particularly detrimental to Lesser Horseshoe Bats.

As aresult of a submission from the Department of the Environment, the Council is requesting an ‘appropri- ate assessment’ to include mitigation measures proposed for the site in re- lation to bats.

The four season bat survey is to in- vestigate bat usage at the site to in- clude foraging, hiberation and night roosting. The developers have also been asked to address traffic issues at the existing quarry entrance. A decision is not due to be made on the application until next year.

THE lack of adequate broadband coverage 1s “deeply frustrating” for communities across Clare, according to the Minster for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Ea- mon Ryan.

Speaking in Ennis on Thursday last, Minster Ryan said Ireland has been “playing catch-up” with the rest of the Europe in terms of broadband connectivity.

He said a multi-pronged approach was needed to deliver better broad- band services, particularly in rural Weer

He said, “Okay, while we’ve been playing catch-up and there is no doubt about it, the availability wasn’t available the way we want it. It has been deeply frustrating for people in areas who couldn’t get broadband. But we’re working on that. We’re putting in mechanisms where we can actually provide it and slowly catch- ing up. Our aim now is to get ahead of other countries and other similar rural areas in particular.”

Minster Ryan was commenting fol-

lowing recent statements by Eircom that communities living more than 5km from a telephone exchange may not be able to receive high-speed broadband access, because of the limitations of Eircom’s DSL technol- ogy.

“Their type of broadband, DSL, works up to about five miles from an exchange. If you’re not near that then the speed starts to lower and the quality doesn’t work as well,” said the Green Party TD.

Minster Ryan continued, “That’s only one of the options, in terms of broadband, that are available. There are a whole variety of others – wire- less technologies, fixed wireless. We have our new national broadband scheme, which is providing mobile broadband to areas that otherwise previously hadn’t got it, and a range of other operators apart from Eir- com. What we’re aiming to do Is to have broadband available across the country and across the county of Clare. And, on the back of that, to keep pushing the competition to get other operators in and to get systems available.”

A MAN behaved like ‘a madman with a knife’ during an early morn- ing incident at a house in Ennis town, after enormous amounts of alcohol had been consumed.

JJ O’Brien (22), with addresses at Main Street, Kilteely, Limerick and Grange, Kilmallock, Limerick, and Darren O’Grady (23), of Fahy’s Lane, Ennis, were charged arising out of the incident.

O’Brien faced a number of charges, while O’Grady was charged with possession of an iron bar.

Garda Shane O’Connell told En- nis Circuit Court yesterday that a number of people congregated in a house at Station Court in the town in the early hours of June 9, 2006.

Among them were the accused men, who were invited to the house after a night out.

He said that a lot of alcohol had been consumed by everybody and the drinking continued at the house.

He said that while they were there, Ian Hassett, who was a tenant at the house, was concerned that Darren O’Grady was going to wreck the property. He then asked both accused to leave. He said that they left, but Mr Hassett saw them at the back of the house a few minutes later, fight- ing with another man.

O’Grady had what appeared to be an iron bar. The fight was broken up, but then, “all of a sudden, JJ O’Brien pulled a knife on Mr Hassett.”

He said the knife was a 12-inch bread knife with a jagged edge. Gda

O’Connell said O’Brien put the knife to Mr Hassett’s neck and told him he would cut his throat. He said that Mr Hassett grabbed the knife and as he did so, it ripped backwards and cut his finger. O’Brien again swung the knife at Mr Hassett.

“Mr Hassett said JJ O’Brien was acting like a madman with the knife,” said the garda. The two accused men fled the scene on foot. He said that O’Brien threw the knife away and it was never recovered.

The court heard that both men have several previous convictions.

O’Brien’s barrister, Brian MclIner- ney, BL, said his client had consumed an enormous amount of alcohol on the night in question.

He said the accused was taken into care when he was young and ap-

peared to have “gone off the rails over a relatively short period of time, but has emerged from that fog. He’s off the radar.”

He said he had been addicted to drugs at one stage but was not abus- ing them any longer.

Mark Nicholas, BL, for O’Grady, said his client’s father died when he was young and he had been taken into care for a period of time. He said he had fallen into bad company in his teenage years and has struggled with orabteace

Judge Carroll Moran said that while the matter would normally merit a “lengthy prison sentence,” he was prepared to review that after hearing that both men had “turned their lives around.”

He remarked that garda evidence

was “‘very fair” in relation to O’Brien who had undergone a course of treat- ment for his addiction and was, ac- cording to the evidence of an after- care worker with the Health Service Executive, “unrecognisable” as the man who had been abusing drink, drugs and getting involved with criminality.

Similarly, O’Grady had “pleaded, changed his life and co-operated.”

Judge Moran imposed three-year suspended sentences on all four counts against O’Brien, each sus- pended for three years, on condition he commit no crime and continue under the direction of the probation Service.

The judge imposed a two-year sen- tence, suspended for three years, on O’Grady on the same conditions.

ALLEGATIONS that a man was sub- jected to an unprovoked attack as he walked through a boreen in Shannon have been aired in court. Dominic Hayes (18), of Inis Ealga, Shannon, is accused of assault causing harm.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Shan- non District Court that it would be alleged the accused punched another man into the face, breaking his nose in the process. He said the injured party was walking through a boreen in Shannon at midnight on July 27 last when he met the accused.

“The State will say he was attacked

in an unprovoked fashion,” he said.

‘He was headbutted by the defend- ant into the face. Dominic Hayes then Started to hit him in the face, five or Six times, with his fist and he was kicked on the ground,” he said, in reference to what would be alleged.

The court was told the matter would be contested by the accused.

Judge Joseph Mangan asked was the accused on his own at the time and was told he was in a group of four or five people.

The judge declined jurisdiction and adjourned the case for preparation of the book of evidence for hearing in WeomOvuRCUDL COLE ae