Month: May 2009

AN APPLICATION for free legal aid for an unemployed Ennis man has been deferred, to allow him to produce his unemployment card to a judge.

Bernie McDonagh, of Ashline, Kilrush Road, Ennis, is accused of engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in Ennis last NW islel @

Garda Albert Hardiman told Shan- non District Court last Thursday that he arrested the accused at 3.30pm WereLmereh VA

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett applied for free legal aid for his cli- ent, who is unemployed.

Judge Joseph Mangan then asked the accused if he owns a vehicle.

He told him that he owns a Volkswa- gen Polo, registered in 2000.

The judge then asked him for his unemployment card, but the accused told him he didn’t have it on him.

He was ordered to bring it to court on the next occasion and the applica- tion was deferred.

Bail was granted, with conditions attached, including that the accused abide by acurfew and stay away from the Waterpark area of Ennis.

He was also ordered to sign on at Ennis Garda Station every evening, except for tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, when he is due to attend his son’s wedding in Northern Ireland.

THREE prison officers ended up in hospital after a prisoner lashed out and attacked them, during a court sitting in Ennis on Thursday.

One sustained a broken arm and was bitten, another received head and shoulder injuries and was detained overnight in hospital, while a third sustained a badly swollen wrist.

The incident occurred after a pris- oner – in custody at Limerick prison – became irate when his solicitor was not present in court.

Daniel Darcy (30), of Tannery Wharf, Rathangan, Kildare, ap- peared in court on foot of a bench warrant that had been issued for his arrest on July 17 last year.

He is accused of assaulting Berna- dette Phiri, at Tullyvarraga, Shannon, on June 13 last. He is also charged with stealing a jeep at Ballymore Road, Naas, Co Kildare, on June 12.

He initially appeared before a spe-

cial court sitting in June last year but failed to appear the following month and a bench warrant was issued.

Solicitor Daragh Hassett told the court that the accused is represented by Limerick-based solicitor Chris Lynch. However he was not available to appear in court last Thursday and Mr Hassett was acting as agent.

As he was telling the court that the accused wanted to see a copy of statements in relation to the alleged offences, Darcy interrupted and de- manded that he be represented by Mr yee

“Don’t say any more. I’m waiting for my solicitor,” he shouted to the court. He told Judge Joseph Mangan that Mr Lynch was in the corridor and was on his way into the court- room.

The judge replied that it would take Mr Lynch about 15 seconds to get to the courtroom as the corridor was not a long one. He then moved on to the next case and Darcy was taken

from the packed courtroom by prison officers, amid commotion.

It took several prison officers and gardai to control Darcy, who was handcuffed, as he shouted outside the courtroom and later in the hold- ing cell downstairs.

At one stage, the roars on the corri- dor were so loud that Inspector Tom Kennedy suggested adjourning the court sitting until the noise abated, but Judge Mangan continued with the sitting.

This occurred around noon and the court was addressed by a prison of- ficer after the lunchbreak. Melissa Kiely told the court that the prisoner had become “extremely volatile” while being escorted from the court- room by three prison staff.

She said that one of the staff was bitten twice, another sustained an arm injury, while another received a wrist injury, when Darcy resisted be- ing removed from the courtroom.

She said she had contacted the pris-

on chief officer Pat Desmond, who instructed that the prisoner be held IMA NROOER

A specially trained control restraint team was dispatched to the court- house and transported him back to the jail.

‘He has a well-documented psychi- atric history and is currently receiv- ing treatment at Limerick prison,” she said.

Judge Mangan remanded him in custody for a week and said he ex- pects Mr Lynch to be in court on the adjourned date.

The judge later returned to the issue and asked why Mr Lynch was not in court. He was told he had commit- ments in Limerick. The judge stated, “I don’t for a moment want to con- done what happened but if Mr Lynch was here, things might have taken a CHS Rosle) Uso

Mr Hassett replied that Mr Lynch had arranged for consultations with his clients.

A MAN convicted of drug dealing — for the second time — in Shannon has been handed a jail term. Father-of-three John Paul Meaney (30), of Cluain Airne, Shannon, ad- mitted possession of cocaine for the purpose of sale or supply and posses- sion of cocaine, at his home on June

6, 2008.

Garda Pat Harte told Shannon District Court that he carried out a search of the accused’s home, under the Misuse of Drugs Act, and met the accused at the door.

“He immediately brought me to the kitchen and produced a lump of white powder. He admitted the pow- der was cocaine,” he said.

He said that 14.87g¢ of cocaine, along with a silver weighing scales and small plastic bags, were found. He gave €47/0 to the garda, which he admitted was the proceeds of drug ler Nba atee

Gda Harte said the cocaine was valued at €1,200.

The court heard the accused has a previous conviction, in 2001, for the

sale or supply of drugs. A suspended sentence had been handed down on that occasion, in the circuit court. Defending solicitor Caitriona Car- mody said her client had been before the courts nine years ago, having suffered from addiction problems at the time. “He was a cocaine addict. Unfortunately there was a relapse. It was in those circumstances that

he built up debts and he arrived at these circumstances. He was very small-scale engaged in the selling of CTU UTA MAMES) OLoeCT- BOR

Judge Joseph Mangan noted that the accused has a previous conviction for a similar offence and imposed a 10- month jail term.

He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

NO APPLICATION has been made for a taxi licence in County Clare WTA ore

According to the Commission for Taxi Regulation, the number of l- censed taxi plates remained at 196 at the end of April — the same as at the end of last December.

But there has been a decrease in the

number of hackney licences which dropped to 226 at the end of April from 237 at the end of 2008. There has also been a drop in the number of limousine plates from 46 at the end of 2008 to 41 at the end of April.

The only sector of the public li- censed vehicle business to show an increase was wheelchair accessible taxis which rose by one from 14 to 15 over the same period.

In all, the number of licences from public service vehicles has dropped from 503 to 488.

The figures show that while now having reached a plateau of 196, the number of taxi plates increased ten- fold since deregulation.

Prior to deregulation, the Ennis taxi market was one of the most re- stricted in the country resulting in exorbitant prices for one of the 20

taxi plates available. In a couple of instances, plates were sold for sums in excess of €100,000. It now costs only €6,250 to purchase a plate.

Director of Ennis-based firm, Bur- ren Taxis, Brendan Tuohy said yes- terday that the current situation is “a CN Riko uae

“If you are not a member of a com- pany like Burren Taxis and you are out on your own, it 1s very hard to

make a living. If a survey was taken of the 196 existing taxi licence hold- ers “you would find maybe a quar- ter that are not working, because the business isn’t there”.

He said that taxi drivers in Burren Taxis — which has 40 drivers — are working 70 hours a week.

Mr Tuohy added that vehicle stand- ards must be increased “as anyone can come in and be a taxi-driver”.

has learned that one last meeting of the current incar- nation of Clare County Council has been scheduled to take pace on June 8, three days after polling will take place for local election.

Counting for the local elections will take place on June 6 with a decision likely late on Saturday evening, June 6 or early on Sunday, June 7.

However, it 1s understood that all current member of Clare County

Council will be invited to attend the full council meeting scheduled for Monday, June 8.

Barring the unlikely situation that each sitting councillor going for re- election is returned, this will mean that some councillors will have the opportunity to make decisions, de- spite losing their mandate from the people.

Meanwhile, the May meeting of the local authority ended in a whimper last night as a host of motions were moved as several of councillors were not present to discuss their own mo- tions. At one stage it appeared that the meeting would not be able to maintain its quorum of nine coun- cillors and would have to be aban-

doned.

“It was the dying sting of an old council. The meeting was finished up early because all of the remaining motions had to be moved because the people who proposed were not there to discuss them,” said Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) after proceedings were completed.

‘‘T suppose you would have to ques- tion the wisdom of having a meeting so close to election time. Most of the councillors had their main focus on the elections and were more inter- ested in getting out and canvassing,” he said.

The meeting was completed after just over an hour, with a large number of motions still up for discussion.

THERE was a time when the Pope, JFK and De Valera graced the walls of Irish homes.

For Fianna Fail supporter Ethna Cleary her wall will soon be adorned with photos of more modern day politicians.

The native of Darragh has already a photo of herself and former Tainiste and current Minister for Health Mary Harney on the wall of her home close to the Kilmaley Daycare Centre.

This will soon include a picture with Taoiseach Brian Cowen who dropped into say hello during his visit to Kilmaley.

Ms Cleary, who had spent 40 years living in Dublin before returning to the assisted living houses in Kil- maley four years ago, was delighted with her visitor.

“T think I will put the picture of Brian Cowen above Mary Harney,” she said pointing to the wall.

“Although she was lovely too.”

Brian Cowen got a rousing wel- come to Kilmaley and the Daycare centre, which he admitted made a nice change to his week.

With the clients singing as he ap- proached, the Offaly man was in good spirits.

“When the contest 1s over after June 5 and we are all out trying to get our votes, when it is all over and you have made your decision, the job

for us all will be to work together and come behind whatever priority you have identified and make sure we make further progress in the months and years ahead,” he said.

‘And it is that spirit, that type of ap- proach and that positivity that may I say 1S a great antidote to what I have to listen to a lot of the time within the belt way. In the beltway, which is within the two mile radius of Dail Eireann, where everyone starts talking to each other and talking to themselves, and media people and they are all around and everyone is saying everything is very bad and we will never get out of this and we will all be in terrible trouble.”

‘I think really we need to see a bit of balance into the argument, and the balance in the argument is when you come down to communities like this that are getting on with their lives, getting on with building up their communities, getting on of course with contributing and quite rightly with critiquing us and having a go if necessary but doing it in the right spirit because at the end of the day even though I am an Offaly man we are on the same team.”

The Taoiseach also received a posi- tive reception in Shannon, at St Ca- main’s School.

The Leaving Cert Applied class, who were studying IT and spread sheets, were gracious enough not to offer any words of advice when it

came to accounting and the econo- my, despite the Taoiseach broaching the subject.

In Leaving Cert physics the topic quickly turned to hurling, as council

candidate and minor selector Eamon Fennessy spotted young hurler Kevin Lynch in the front seat.

All in all, press conferences aside, Brian Cowen’s visit to Clare was

sportingly positive.

www.clarepeople.com

TUBBER’S Derek O’Connor reached another landmark in his remarkable Point-to-Point career in Fermanagh last Friday when becoming the first ever jockey to ride 100 winners in a season.

O’Connor, who has been in the form of his life this season reached this century landmark at the En- niskillen Point-to-Point at Necarne When he guided Greenandredpar- son past the post in first place in a maiden race.

“It was great to reach the 100 win- ners,’ O’Connor told

With four weeks to Clare’s crucial Opening championship appearance, the county’s preparations appeared to suffer a significant setback in the last week as injuries to Jonathon Clancy and Gerry O’Grady made their avail- ability for the Munster semi-final clash with either Cork or Tipperary ime Co)v lo)

Clancy sustained a broken fin- ger last week during training with his club, Clarecastle, ahead of the first round tie against Tubber while O’Grady had to be withdrawn af- ter only six minutes in Crusheen’s Group | match with Corofin in Kil- lanena on Sunday after injuring his foot.

Initially, it was rumoured that de- fender O’Grady had broken a bone in his foot but it 1s now thought that the injury is not as bad as first sus- pected.

With the countdown to the Munster championship well underway, man- ager Mike McNamara is hopeful that both players will recover in time to

take their places in the side.

‘Jonathon broke his finger so hope- fully he will be back in harness in three to four weeks which might be cutting it tight, but that would appear to be the prognosis for now.

“With Gerry O’Grady, we are still awaiting the final report but again af- ter the initial reaction, there is now certainly hope that he will take part in the June 21st match.

Wa 0) er: SBMA AEE LMA WE DODLBE-DUR YANO ICE pected so of course, anything less than that would have to give us hope. To lose either of those players would be a horrific loss as both of them are part and parcel of the plans to launch an assault on the Munster champion-

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With more club action scheduled for a fortnight’s time, McNamara says he hopes there will be no further injuries to his squad.

‘As well as the second round of championship matches in two weeks, we also have a series of challenges matches which may take their toll as

well – but we have to go all guns blazing now.

“We must re-address where we stand and we must put ourselves in a

rightful position for June 21. If we can remain injury free for the next couple of weeks, then I can see no reason why we won’t finish the job that we started last year.”

THE behaviour of a business class passenger on board a flight forced the aircraft to divert to Shannon air- port on Friday evening.

The 46-year-old passenger, a ga- rage owner in Germany, was travel- ling on board the Condor Airlines flight between Frankfurt and the Dominican Republic when the pilot took the decision to divert to Shan- non after other passengers and cabin crew were verbally abused.

Arising out of the incident, Rainer Wainhart with an address in Munich was brought before a special sitting of Ennis District Court on Friday night.

He was charged with being intoxi- cated and engaging in threatening, insulting or abusive behaviour on board the aircraft.

Inspector John Galvin, prosecuting, said the cabin crew felt it was safer to land, after the passenger made a total nuisance of himself, having had too much to drink.

Garda Kevin Blehein told the court that the defendant had consumed al- cohol and became abusive towards cabin crew and other passengers. “He attempted to stroke a cabin crew member on the arm, which the cabin crew found offensive,” said the ee N Ker

He said the accused pestered cabin crew for alcohol and other passen- gers in his vicinity requested that he not be served any more alcohol.

“He became extremely un co-op- erative and demanded alcohol. He was refused due to his intoxication,” he added.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client was travelling from his native Germany to the Domin1- can Republic, where he was to join

his girlfriend on holidays. The ac- cused, she said, owns a car dealer- ship in Germany and was travelling on business class.

‘He accepts that he drank too much. He wanted to speak to the people beside him. They were very snobby. They didn’t want to talk to him. He felt offended by this,” said Ms Godfrey.

However, she said the defendant was denying that he was “in any way threatening” and said he has no pre- vious convictions in his native coun- try.

The court was told the accused had two small glasses of wine prior to the flight and had another three or four during the flight. These affected him, as he doesn’t normally drink much.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a fine of €100 on one of the charges and took the other into account.