Month: January 2010

A MAN WHO admitted dealing drugs to his friends has been handed a six-month suspended jail term.

Stephen Keane (19), of Main Street, Corofin, admitted possession of cannabis in Corofin on November 20, 2008.

He was also convicted of posses- sion of drugs for the purpose of sale oy mei bn 8) OAV

When the case was heard in the dis- trict court in November, Mr Keane’s solicitor said, “He will say he would gather money and buy drugs from somebody further up the ladder. He would have it and deal it out to his friends. He never made any money out of it.”

He said his client was an apprentice carpenter, but the business he was working with folded. He then went back to school. “Living in a small village, something like that is going to have an impact on him. This is a very serious conviction for this man

to have against him.”

“It was between him and his friends. He was not out on the street corner selling drugs,” said the solicitor.

The case was adjourned until last week, for preparation of a probation report.

At Ennis District Court on Friday,

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a six- month jail term. He suspended this on condition that the accused enter a bond to be of good behaviour for two years. He imposed a fine of €300.

A CASE alleging VAT fraud relating to amounts totalling €1.55 million will take three weeks to hear in the circuit court.

Derek Floyd (36), of 21 Lower Main Street, Tulla, is facing 41 charges, on dates between March 2001 and January 2004.

He is facing 14 charges of failing to remit bi-monthly VAT returns; 12 charges of claiming VAT repay-

ments which he was not entitled to; 11 charges of making false tax returns and four charges of mak- ing incorrect VAT returns. At Killa- loe District Court in September, Mr Floyd was returned for trial to the circuit court.

Stephen Coughlan, BL for the State, told Ennis Circuit Court yes- terday (Monday) that the case would take three weeks to hear.

Defence counsel Pat Whyms BL, applied for an adjournment. He said

it was a “very complicated case of alleged VAT fraud.”

He said there were 5,000 docu- ments and 15 volumes in the book of evidence.

Mr Whyms said that a forensic ac- countant has provided reports and the defence was not yet ready for the case to be heard.

He said the case had been in the district court for a year, prior to be- ing sent forward to the circuit court.

Judge Gerald Keyes said the case

should be heard at a special sitting of the court, given that it would take such a length of time.

He adjourned it to the next callo- ver of the circuit court, when a date is expected to be fixed for the trial.

A COURT has been told that a man believes monies he received for writing a song for world-renowned band U2 was taken from him by a family in east Clare.

Noel Molloy (40), with an address at Newline, Killaloe, was charged with criminal damage at Killaloe Garda Station on May 26, 2008.

He was also charged with criminal damage at a premises in Killaloe on September 26, 2009.

Inspector John O/’Sullivan told Ennis District Court that a shop window was broken and the accused admitted he had damaged it.

Defending solicitor Ted McCarthy said the accused “has a certain fixa- tion” in relation to the family who own the premises in question.

‘He believes monies he received

from U2 for writing their song was taken from him by the family,” said the solicitor.

He said the accused lives in a mo- bile home in the Killaloe area and there are no windows in it.

‘He benefits from the generosity of the people in the Killaloe area. That’s how he survives,” said the solicitor.

Judge Joseph Mangan remarked, ‘Perhaps in this weather he would be better off with a solid roof over his head.”

The solicitor said the accused has engaged with the mental health serv- ices, which, he said, tended to give up too quickly.

“There is nobody that is unsavable in my view,” he said.

Judge Mangan imposed two one- month jail terms.

A WEST Clare man has become a “soft target for unscrupulous people” and is easily manipulated, his solici- Koym erm Ke) (em meeltiae

The comments, from solicitor Eu- gene O’Kelly, came in the case of Gerard Meade, (20), of Milford, Mil- town Malbay.

He admitted passing as genuine a counterfeit €50 note at Cullinan’s bar, Church Street, Ennistymon, on August 10, 2009. He also admitted entering a barber’s shop in Miltown Malbay as a trespasser and commit- WTercam a etod Am

Ennistymon District Court heard that that the accused went into Cull- inan’s bar and ordered a vodka and blackcurrant. He handed over a €50 note and received change. He drank it and left the premises immediately.

Defending solicitor Eugene O’ Kelly said his client “1s of such disposition that he is easily manipulated.”

“*T believe he was subjected to such manipulation by people unknown to me. I believe he is a soft target for unscrupulous people,” he said. He said the publican was only at the loss of €10.

Meade was also convicted of driv- ing without insurance in Lahinch. Mr O’ Kelly said, “The reality of the situation is it doesn’t appear to sink in with him he was driving while dis- qualified.”

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a one-month detention term and dis- qualified Meade from driving for six years. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

CLARE County Council was forced to switch off the water supply to areas across north Clare over the weekend, as the impact of the big freeze con- tinued to be felt by local families.

The local authority was forced to temporarily shut off the supply to ar- eas around Lahinch, Liscannor and Ennistymon on Saturday and Sunday last because of low levels of water re- corded at the reservoir.

According to a spokesperson from the Ennistymon Area Office of Clare County Council, they are continuing to closely monitor the situation but levels at the reservoir appear to be returning to normal.

“We have also advertised in the media where people can collect wa- ter from the council yard in Ennisty- mon. A number of individual houses in the north Clare area have frozen stop-cocks and, even though there is water flowing in the mains system, it is not able to get into the house,” said the spokesperson.

“We have had to monitor water Supplies in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Liscannor closely over the last number of days. We have decent water supplies in the reservoir at the moment, but that situation can change quickly.

Meanwhile, the roads connecting Lisdoonvarna with Kilfenora and Ballyvaughan were closed by Clare County Council yesterday at the re- quest of the gardai. According to a council spokesman, the area around the Corkscrew Hill were particularly dangerous.

“We are monitoring the situation as closely as possible and we can say that all the major routes between the major towns are open at the mo- ment,” said the spokesman.

“Once you get onto the smaller, secondary roads then the situation is more difficult. It 1s a constantly changing situation. For example, the road between Lisdoonvarna and Kil- fenora was impassible this morning (Monday) but that situation could change again very quickly.”

A SENIOR Clare County Councillor has said lessons must be learnt and new building practice put in place if water shortages and burst pipes are to be avoided during similar weather in the future.

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said that the spo- radic bursting of underground water pipes connecting the mains to homes across the county during the freezing weather conditions was due in large

part to a lack of regulation in pipe laying.

He went on to say that while the location the pipes are positioned in is a condition of planning permis- sions, how deep those pipes are set is not.

The building regulations then con- tend with the structure of the house and not what is underground.

“We have to have better practice of best practice when supplying domes- tic water to homes,” he said.

“TWe need] Better insulation and for pipes to be laid in a certain way so they are adverse to these traitor- ous conditions,’ he said.

“A thing is only a mistake when you fail to learn from it. There are going to have to be new codes of practice in this area.”

Senior Executive Engineer with the Water Section of Clare County Council, Sean Ward said that under- ground pipes in numerous houses across the county had been frozen in

the past week.

In the same housing estates, the pipes in some houses froze com- pletely while the water in neighbour- ing houses flowed freely.

He said that issues such as insula- tion and the depth of pipes could have contributed to these differences in circumstances.

Burst pipes and people letting taps run all night to avoid pipes freezing has also increased the water usage in the county by 10 to 20 per cent.

EMERGENCY services in Clare are warning people to remain vigilant in this inclement weather even as the thaw begins in some areas.

Clare’s local authorities, including the Civil Defence and Fire and Res- cue Services, are working with other public service authorities such as the Department of the Environment, the Gardai and the Health Services Ex- ecutive to ensure a co-ordinated ap-

proach for dealing with the various TSS CeSe

Last night, the HSE predicted more risks to the public from slips and falls on icy footpaths in the days ahead.

Hospitals across the country are reporting a significant upsurge in the numbers of cases of fractures dur- ing this spell of severe weather while emergency medicine consultants are reporting that a high percentage of these fractures are complex, requir- ing surgery.

The minimum increases in the number of people presenting with fractures in the last week are in the order of 30 per cent with a large number of hospitals experiencing a year-on-year increase for the period of 70 per cent or more.

Exact figures for Ennis and Lim- erick hospitals were unavailable last payee ole

Meanwhile, the HSE 1s advising the public to wear well-fitted shoes with non-slip soles if they have to go

out but try to limit walking during the current cold weather. Boots with rubber soles and solid ankle support that are preferably waterproof are es- sential to preventing slips and falls on the ice. Clear the ice from your footpath and around your house and assist less capable neighbours in do- ing the same. If you have a fall, even a minor one, make sure you visit your doctor for a check-up.

Meanwhile, gardai in Clare say that while there were no major accidents

related to the ice and snow, there were several minor accidents across the county over the weekend.

‘There were a number of accidents around the county. The advice is to slow down and treat the roads with caution. Roads may look well on the surface, but there may be black ice and hidden icy patches. Drive within your experiences and capabilities,” said the head of the Clare Garda Di- vision Traffic Corps, Inspector John Grate

The most important consideration, the Chmaber CEO said, is that a bet- ter response be put in place for future dramatic weather events.

‘The emergency services are doing an amazing job but the real disaster

would be if we don’t learn the lessons we need from this. This may have been a very rare weather event, as were the floods, but we need a faster response to keep the country mov- ing. How long does something have to go on before it’s considered a na- tional crisis? We need better plans in place to ensure that people are kept moving. If people keep moving then commerce will keep moving.”

Ms McInerney said that there were some good things during the very difficult weeks leading up to and im- mediately after Christmas.

“There were lots of stories of how people in business and communities reached out to help each other and it was good that this was highlighted.”

For some smaller towns and vil- lages, the dreadful road conditions meant increased business.

Traders in Kilrush said that more people than usual did their Christ- mas shopping in the town and they are putting this down to shoppers re-

luctance to drive very far.

While many businesses have suf- fered losses because of the double blow of flooding and freezing, one sector will benefit.

The building trade, which has been going through a massive slump, 1s now in demand to repair damage to businesses and private property and to supply grit for roads.

Meanwhile, Shannon airport was one of the few airports which didn’t close at all during the big freeze.

A spokeswoman for the airport said that while there had been some flights delayed, none were cancelled.

“We were lucky. We remained op- erational the whole time and what delays there were were mostly due to conditions in UK airports.”

CLARE County Council still needs more then €3 million to balance its books after the devastation reeked on the county during last month’s flood- ing.

The local authority was last month granted more than €1.1 million by the Department of the Environment to pay for the extra expenses incurred during the massive flood efforts in the county in December.

However, it has emerged that this money will only cover the direct cost of the actions taken during the flood- ing and will not stretch far enough to repair any of the damage to infra- structure. This will cost an estimated €3 million, which the local authority last week contacted the Department

of the Environment about securing. It is not clear yet how much, if any, of this money will be made available from central government.

“The estimates involved in relation to the flooding has amounted to €3 million. The first allocation made before Christmas was just in relation to the management of the council in managing the flooding,’ said County Manager, Tom Coughlan

“The €700,000 estimate in Decem- ber was just an early estimate and when that was all added up it came to €1.145 million, all of which has been recouped by the council. The next issue is the damage which was cause by the flooding and that is the €3 million, which has gone to the department and we are not sure what will happen with that at this stage.”

CLARE will be the loser in matters of development consideration in the mid-west unless councillors and council executives act, it was warned last night.

At the first meeting of the local au- thority’s elected representatives this year, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) called for all members to be provided with a copy of the draft strategic planning guide- lines for the mid-west, so that they would be aware of what is proposed.

“It proposes that each local author- ity plan would leave a green belt around Limerick and that Limerick should be the core area for retail ac- tivity in the region – subtitled, to hell with everywhere else,” Cllr Kelly told the meeting.

He said the draft also suggested that each part of the county should have its own centre of development “to the exclusion of other areas. It says that economic activities for north Clare should be ‘coast based’. What does that mean?”

The Fianna Fail councillor de- scribed the draft as “hostile to our region. Instead of the description ‘draught’ it should say ‘daft’.”

Cll Cathal Crowe (FF) said that Whenever development in the mid- west 1s raised, “we’re told about Lim- erick and this doughnut effect.” The phenomenon “hasn’t existed and it should never become part of our de- velopment mantra.” he said, adding that objections to retail development in places other than Limerick city are regularly raised on this basis.