Month: July 2011

A THREE-hour search involving 16 members of Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard, as well as gardaí from Gort and members of the public, was stood down on Saturday evening without a sign anyone in difficulty.

A local wind surfer raised the alarm just after 6pm on Saturday evening after he saw what he believed to be a hand rising up above the water in the shallow water at Trácht Beach between Ballyvaughan and Kinvara.

The Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard launched the smaller D-Class boat to search the area along with six shoreline search teams.

The Shannon-based coastguard helicopter was also called to the location but after nothing was found the search was stood down shortly after 9pm.

Meanwhile, earlier that evening the coastguard was called to bring three anglers who were spotted in a dangerous location at a cliff at Trá Leathan near Doolin. The anglers were fishing and despite the dangerous storm surge had started a barbecue on the exposed cliff.

“The coastguard was tasked by the harbour master to bring the three angler to safety. They were fishing off the rocks and had set up a barbecue on the cliff,” said spokesperson for the Doolin Coastguard, Mattie Shannon.

“The weather over the weekend was very unusual for this time of year and people need to be vigilant when they are in coastal areas.”

THERE are four more priests serving in the Diocese of Killaloe than there were this time last year.

That’s according to the annual list of Diocesan clergy changes, which are being announced by Bishop Kieran O’Reilly today.

Currently there are 99 priests in full-time parish ministry in the Diocese, compared to 95 in 2010.

In addition, there are six priests involved in teaching, school chaplaincy, Diocesan administration and other pastoral work. Eight priests attached to the Diocese are in various ministries overseas, while seven others are retired.

The Diocese also benefits from the service of four priests from other dioceses or religious congregations serving as priests in parishes of the Diocese.

At present there is one student stud- ying for priesthood for the diocese of Killaloe, at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

As part of the changes, Fr Brendan Quinlivan, who is the priest in Feakle, will now also have responsibility as parish priest of Scariff, where Fr Pat Sexton has retired. Newly ordained priest Fr Ger Fitzgerald from Castleconnell in Limerick has been appointed to Ennis, while Fr Ger Jones from O’Brien’s Bridge, who will soon be ordained, will be based in Nenagh.

“With the changes this year we become aware once again of fewer priests available to serve the current pastoral needs of the Diocese. A central concern for me is the well-being of our personnel in ministry – given the age profile of those engaged in ministry in the Diocese. This concern will necessitate a close look at the present organisation of clusters,” said Bishop O’Reilly.

“This year, changes in the East Clare Cluster highlight the need to closely examine the organisation of Mass schedules in this cluster. I hope, after the summer holidays, to visit and meet together with the members of each cluster to deal with similar organisational matters and other issues relevant to the different clusters,” he added.

Among the other changes include Fr James O’Brien moving to reside in Feakle; Fr Michael Collins, Kilrush, moving to the formation staff of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth; Fr Martin Blake, Ennis, moving to Kilrush and Fr Fergal O’Neill to continue as curate in the Cathedral in Ennis and residing in Clarecastle. Fr Michael Cooney will be the Killaloe Diocesan representative on the National Justice and Peace Commission, while retired Bishop Dr Willie Walsh will be available pastorally to the parishes surrounding Ennis.

A NEW community church will open its doors to both English- and Portuguese-speaking Christians in Gort next month, in an effort to help establish positive relationships between the local Irish and the large Brazilian migrant community.

A number of incidents of race-related antisocial behaviour have been reported in Gor t in recent months and the economic crisis has led to increased tensions between the Irish and Brazilian communities.

The new church will begin in Gort from August 14 and will offer both English and Portuguese services, as well as a number of community events and services designed to help bring the local population together.

“It is important that we reach out to the English-speaking people and let them know that they can become part of this church. We want people from all communities to mix together and mingle more,” said Reverend Sebastian Baptista.

“It is natural for people to want to mix among their own people, that is fine, but there also needs to be integration between the different peoples. There is a cer tain discrimination between all communities.

“It is natural for people to mix with thei r own people but if that is all they do, then it inevitable that there will be discrimination. As people learn to work with each other, then their attitudes can change very quickly.”

The church is open to anyone from any Christian faith, with services in English set to take place on Sunday mornings from 11am while Portuguese services will take place from 7pm on Sunday evenings.

One of the key aims of the new church is to establish a number of non-church-based activities which will help bring the community into the centre.

“We want to reach out to the community. We have a ver y big building here and we want to work with people like the community centre to organise events for people. We want to give the youth here another option instead of being out on the street doing things that they are not supposed to be doing,” continued Reverend Sebastian Baptista.

“Religion in the church is great, but if you look at the scriptures you see Jesus out there mixing with the people. It is not just about what is happening inside the four walls of the church – it is about what happens out in the community.”

The church is located at Warehouse Unit 1 on the Kinincha Road in Gor t.

A 60-YEAR-OLD Clare teacher who has pleaded guilty to 14 sexual offences against a teenage girl will be sentenced next month.

The man who, cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Ennis Circuit Court yesterday.

The defendant had previously admitted to 10 charges of the sexual exploitation of a child and four charges of the defilement of a teenage girl between September and November 2009.

Detective Sergeant Michael Moloney told the court that the girl, who was 15 when the offences began, outlined a series of incidents to Gardaí.

He said that the majority of the incidents had occurred in the classroom, with one incident taking place at the home of the accused while his wife and children were gone away.

Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan BL, outlined to the court how many of the sexual offences were committed behind a timber cabinet in a classroom.

A series of incidents read out in court described how the accused touched the girl and asked her to perform acts of a sexually explicit nature.

On another occasion, the court heard, the accused picked the girl up in his car and brought her to his home.

He told her that his wife and children were away. Mr Coughlan said that after the accused started to take off his clothes, he received a call from his wife.

The accused committed further sexual offences at the classroom on the day of his 60th birthday.

The man was seen alone in a classroom with the girl by a caretaker. On another occasion, he was also seen alone with the girl in a storeroom by another teacher.

The teacher described seeing the accused with the girl as “embarrassing” as teachers should not be alone with students in “such a confined space”.

Detective Moloney said that CCTV had corroborated the movements of the accused in the school during the period when the offences occurred.

He said that the accused had sent “extremely inappropriate” and “sexually explicit” text messages to the girl. The girl was described in court as an intelligent and keen sportswoman.

Counsel for the accused, Michael Collins BL, said his client had expressed his deepest regrets and apologies to the family. He said the man would be placed on the sex offenders register and would have to live with the shame and disgrace of his actions for the rest of his life.

Judge Carroll Moran imposed reporting restrictions, saying neither the injured party or the school should be identified.

He adjourned sentencing until September 26.

A BANK account has been set up to support the families of the striking workers at the Cliffs of Moher Centre as industrial action enters its second week at the landmark tourism site.

The striking workers have refused any donation from the public up to this point but, due to a large number of collections being organised around the county, they have established an account to manage funds coming in.

Industrial action has been ongoing at the Cliffs of Moher since last Thursday. The row centres around pay and working condition for the SIPTU members who believe that they should have the same status as employees of Clare County Council. Cliffs of Moher Centre Ltd is a private company which is owned in full by Clare County Council.

“Nobody is a winner in a strike situation. We are doing a good job of keep morale up but I think it goes without saying that everyone would prefer to be back working as normal,” said local SIPTU rep Tony Kenny.

“We have had a lot of people asking where they can donate to the workers. We have been refusing this up until now but a number of collections have been held in different work places around the country and we have set up an account to deal with this.

“The workers are not being paid while they are on strike but instead they are given strike pay by the union – which is a very small payment. It is just enough to keep people going.”

Meanwhile, management at the Cliffs of Moher have denied that anyone has been charged improperly at the centre since strike action began.

As a long established public right of way exists at the Cliffs of Moher, a € 7 charge is applied to visitors who uses either the parking facilities of the interpretive centre. However, a number of bus divers have refused to pass the picket line and instead dropped tourists on the side of the road. These tourist were charged on entering the facility, even though they did not park on site.

A spokesperson from the local authority confirmed that a number of busses had decided not to use the parking facilities but the people in these buses were charged for viewing the exhibitions.

The spokesperson said that the council was “not aware of anybody who wished to exercise their right to use the public right of way and was charged for doing so”.

PARENTS have been urged to remain vigilant on Clare beaches and bathing areas this summer to avoid wasting lifeguards’ time

The call was made by the Head of Clare Civil Defence, Liam Griffin, who said it is very important that parents ensure children do not go missing, particularly when beaches are busy. Mr Griffin, who is also head of water safety with Clare County Council, said lifeguards should be focused on ensuring the safety of water users.

He said, “People going to the beach with children. I would urge all parents to be concious of their children’s location at all times on the beach.”

Mr Griffin added that when parents fail to keep a close eye on their children lifeguards’ time is often “wasted” looking for them. He said this is has an impact on lifeguard’s duties particularly at a time when beaches are busy and the “water is full of people”.

Mr Griffin has also urged members of the public to only swim at lifeguarded beaches and to be concious of flags that are used. The prescence of a red or yellow flag indicates that lifeguard is on duty at a beach.

A red flag means it is dangerous to swim, while the flying of two yellow flags on a beach means it is ony safe to swim between those two points, Mr Griffin explained.

“And absolutely under no circumstance should people swim after drinking alcohol. If a person has eaten, they should wait at least an hour before going in the water,” he added.

Lifeguards will be on duty everyday at 11 Clare locations from from 11am to 7pm, until the end of August. The bathing areas area – Bishop’s Quarter, Ballyvaughan; Fanore; Doolin; Lahinch; White Strand, Miltown Malbay; Spanish Point; Seafield, Quilty; White Strand, Doonbeg; Kilkee; Cappagh Pier, Kilrush and Ballycuggeran, Killaloe.

Mr Griffin said a review lifeguard cover will take place in August to determine the level of cover needed for September.

He said that emergency services had been involved in a number of rescues at Clare beaches since the summer began.

Mr Griffin also urged people to respect life rings located along rivers in Clare. He said that while the problem was “not as bad as of late”, it was still an issue in Ennis. He explained that that there had been “awful problems” with people throwing life rings into the River Fergus. He said that this tended to happen after night clubs closed on Friday and Saturday nights.

WORK ON A 22-unit housing development in Shannon which has raised concerns among locals is to resume this week, after a new contractor was appointed.

Clare County Council has entered into an agreement with Atlantic Developments Ltd. to complete the affordable homes at Glaisse na Rinne.

The scheme started in 2009 and came to a standstill in August 2010. The council terminated the contract with the original builders and the work has been at a standstill since then. The work is expected to be completed within 16 weeks.

While it is expected to assist in reducing housing waiting lists in Shannon, residents living in the nearby Cluain Airne estate say they want a number of issues clarified.

“While it is great that we can get it finished, we are still unclear about the new legislation by Minister Willie Penrose that the affordable scheme is gone. When these 22 are finished as affordable, our problem is if the next phase goes ahead, will they be social? Do they still go ahead as affordable or do they have to reapply under social?” said the secretary of the Concerned Residents of Cluain Airne group, Nicole Murphy.

“Do they still go ahead or do they have to reapply under social? We were objecting completely to the houses from day one because of where they were built and if they were social houses we were objecting. We were promised it was going to be affordable,” said Ms Murphy.

“There may be a start date but what is the actual story on these houses?” she asked.

“We want to know if parking has been allocated for the residents of Cluain Airne as parking was promised. Also the last bit of the green area needs to be restored. We want it done as soon as possible. We want a guarantee. We don’t want social housing down there, not when affordable were agreed to,” she added.

Since the concerned residents group was set up in 2007, they repeatedly stated that they did not want the houses built in the area and argued that there was inadequate infrastructure in the area to cope with the new houses. Residents also expressed concerns over the closure of the right of way.

Meanwhile, Shannon councillor Patricia McCarthy (Independent), paid tribute to the existing residents of the area who she said “have had to endure living beside a development site and the consequent inconvenience for much longer than they had ever anticipated”.

Cllr McCarthy is one of a number of elected representatives in the town who raised the issue since the project came to a standstill last year.

A TEENAGE boy falsely imprisoned his mother and sister and assaulted his mother in their own home, a court has heard.

Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan told Ennis Circuit Court yesterday that gardaí were called to the accused’s home in Ennis at 10.30pm on July 29, 2009.

He said that the boy – who was then aged 15 – was being restrained by his mother in a bedroom of the house. Five knives were removed from the scene, which, he said the accused had discarded during the incident.

“The accused came into the bedroom of his mother while she and her daughter were getting ready for bed. He produced five knives and threatened to kill his mother and subjected his sister to urinate into a rubbish bin,” said Mr Coughlan.

Arising out of the incident, the boy’s mother sustained a laceration to her finger and received treatment in hospital.

He said that earlier that day, the mother had disapproved of her son visiting patients in the acute unit of a hospital and had also refused to al- low him to use the internet.

“He admitted threatening to kill his mother and intimidating his mother and sister and causing his sister to urinate in a rubbish bin and cutting his mother’s hand with a knife,” said Mr Coughlan.

He told the court that the boy did not have contact with his father for some years and had a “good relationship with his mother”.

The court heard that the boy’s mother and sister did not wish to give evidence.

Defence Counsel Pat Whyms said that the boy has since undertaken an intensive programme which included counselling. The facilitator of the programme he has engaged in told the court that the accused was admitted towards the end of 2009. “He would have presented quite a fragile young man, quite distressed in himself, quite guarded,” she said.

She said he has fully co-operated with the programme and contact has been rebuilt between the boy and his mother.

Judge Carroll Moran ordered that the boy committed to keeping the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of three years.

A BARRISTER yesterday told a court that a 22-year-old Kilrush man developed an addiction to heroin while in prison, having been drug-free prior to his admission.

The statement was made at Ennis Circuit Court, in the case of Eamon Hall (22), of Wood Road, Kilrush. He admitted burgling a house in Kilrush in May 2010 and a shop in the town in October 2010.

Garda Donal Corkery told Ennis Circuit Court yesterday that in the October incident, property and cash valued at more than € 10,000 was taken (including cigarettes, clothing and cash), while € 750 damage was caused to the premises.

The court heard the shop was ransacked.

In the other incident, two people were seen running away after a man heard noise in the bathroom of his home in the early hours of the morning. The other individual, a juvenile, has since been dealt with by the courts, the court was told.

The keys to the man’s premises were stolen from his home, which the defendant told gardaí he threw away. He told gardaí he was looking for money in the house.

The court heard at the time, Hall, who has more than 20 previous convictions, had a “chronic drug problem”.

His barrister Yvonne Quinn (instruct- ed by Eugene O’Kelly solicitor) said that he made “full and frank admissions” to gardaí. She said he had been drinking and was on drugs at the time.

She told the court that her client was jailed in 2009 and while in prison he developed an addiction to heroin.

“Prior to going to prison he was drug free. When he was released he was a heroin addict,” she said.

Gda Corkery replied, “He became addicted to heroin in the past two years.”

However, he added that he was not aware of where the addiction was born.

Ms Quinn added, “Drink and an addiction to drugs were the sole motivation behind these crimes. . .

“The sole motivation was a desire to obtain money to feed his drug addiction and his alcohol addiction. He realises they are the root of his difficulties.”

She said that her client’s life began to “spiral out of control” when his addiction developed, but added that he is now drug free, having undergone counselling.

Judge Carroll Moran said he accepted that the offences were committed to feed an addiction and that the accused is now off drugs.

He added, “He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. Without his admissions there would not be any case against him as a matter of probability.”

He imposed a three-year jail sentence suspended for four years and bound him to the peace.

A CASE alleging VAT fraud relating to amounts totalling € 1.55 million has been adjourned 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 repayments which he was not entitled to; 11 charges of making false tax returns and four charges of making incorrect VAT returns.

At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Judge Carroll Moran said that an extra judge would be brought in to hear the case, which is expected to last for at least three weeks.

However, he said that in advance of this being organised, “we have to be certain that the case is in a position to proceed next term”.

Defence Counsel Pat Whyms said that documents were sought and this were only received last Friday.

“I’m not saying we are not in a position to go on, but we just received this material,” he said.

The judge adjourned the case until September, while the court will be told when then case is likely to proceed.