Month: November 2012

A MAN who used a hammer to bang on the door of an Ennis pub in protest over noise has been fined € 200.

Patrick Cunningham (49) used to hammer to strike a door near Kelly’s Bar on Carmody Street, Ennis on November 14 (2011).

Mr Cunningham, with an address at 3 Carmody Street, Ennis, denied charges of criminal damage and provoking a breach of the peace at Ennis District Court on Friday.

The court heard that two witnesses observed Mr Cunningham striking the door with the hammer.

John Kelly, who was working in the bar at the time, was outside the premises, when he saw Mr Cunningham leave his house on 3 Carmody Street.

He told the court that the accused came out onto the street with a hammer and struck an adjoining door of the bar. Mr Kelly said that Mr Cunningham then turned around and walked back into his house.

Veronica Cassidy, Mr Kelly’s girlfriend, was also on Carmody Street when she saw Mr Cunningham strike the door with the hammer.

Garda Colin Egan, of Ennis Garda Station, said that at the time of the incident, CCTV cameras in the area were pointed in a different direction.

Garda Egan told the court that a slight mark had been left on the door but there was no “substantial damage.”

Mr Cunningham admitted that he had struck the door lightly with the side of a hammer.

Asked by defence solicitor Tara Godfrey why had he acted in such a fashion, Mr Cunningham said, “It was noisy and it was driving me mad at the time.”

Inspector Tom Kennedy put to the accused that he had walked onto the street at 9.30pm with a hammer in his hand.

Mr Cunningham said, ‘I was made at the flipping noise.”

Mr Kelly told the court that he had not received any complaint from the accused regarding noise from the pub.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy struck out the public order charge against Mr Cunningham following an application from Ms Godfrey. He convicted the accused of criminal damage and imposed a € 200 fine.

Ms Godfrey told the court that her client, originally from Dublin, had battled problems with alcohol.

She said Mr Cunningham apologised for any inconvenience and distress caused.

A MAN alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman in his car during a Valentine’s Day journey last year has had the charge against him dismissed.

The man, with an address in Clare, had been accused of assaulting the woman who was a passenger in his car on a country road of the main N18 between Ennis and Limerick on February 14 (2011).

The man denied the charge, saying that what he happened between them was consensual.

At the end of a near five hour hearing, Judge Aeneas McCarthy said that he had to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman did not consent to the overall activity.

He said, “I have a doubt and I have to give that doubt to the accused, accordingly I dismiss.” Details of the case were heard during an in-camera sitting of Ennis District Court on Tuesday.

The court heard that the woman travelled to Limerick and back in the defendant’s car.

She said that on the journey back, the driver told her she was a “stunning looking woman.” She said that he kissed her and put his hand up her top.

She said, “I was in dread of my life. I was never in a situation like this before in my life.”

The woman, who is in her forties, said that just before they arrived back in Shannon, the driver pulled off the main road.

She alleged that the man started “mauling” her when the car stopped. “He was doing his best to get into my pants,” she added.

The woman said she resisted his efforts and told him she would meet him the following week as a way of stopping the ordeal.

The woman, who cried during her evidence, said, “I thought he was going to kill me down there.”

Asked about the effect the incident has had on her life, the woman said, “This has turned my whole life upside down.

“I’m not the same person I was. My marriage is nearly over.” The court heard that moments after being dropped back to her car, the woman phoned her boss and her husband to tell them what happened.

Defence solicitor Patrick Moylan put it to the woman that her evidence in court was “completely at odds” to the statement she had made to gardaí at the time.

He said what had between both parties was consensual.

The parties did not know each other before meeting on the day, the court heard.

The man, who is in his fifties, told the court that the conversation between the pair had “got very flirty” on the journey back to Clare. He said they had shown each other “saucy” text messages and ringtones. The man said they held hands.

He admitted kissing the woman and putting his hand on her breast. “I assumed everything was consensual at that stage,” he added. He said, “She wasn’t terrified. She was laughing and joking all the way.”

Garda Donna Egan of Shannon Garda Station said the woman was “extremely distressed” when she spoke to gardaí.

The man was subsequently interviewed by gardaí. He said he asked the woman’s permission before kissing her.

He told gardaí that he hadn’t stopped on the N18 because someone he knew could have seen him.

Under cross examination from Mr Moylan, Garda Egan said there were some variances in the woman’s evidence in court and her original statement to gardaí. Inspector Tom Kennedy said the State conceded that there were “inconsistencies” in the woman’s evidence.

Mr Moylan said, “This is a case of consent.”

Judge McCarthy said it was “very evident” that there was some sort of sexual activity between these two individuals.

He said it was for him to decide if what had happened had been consensual. He dismissed the charge.

THE number of call outs to the fire service on Halloween night was down slightly on last year, however the figure was up by 57 per cent when week-long celebrations were included.

This weekend the celebrations took a sinister turn when illegal fireworks were set off close to a fire officer who was controlling a chimney fire with colleagues at the time. Gardaí are investigating the incident that took place in the Ennis area.

The county’s fire service was called to six bonfires in total on Wednesday night, one less than last year.

Denis O’Connell, Senior Fire Officer, explained however that the fire services were called to four bonfires the previous weekend as the partying began early in Shannon, Ennis and Kilrush.

The Halloween night call outs were restricted to Ennis and the Ennistymon area.

On Thursday night there was one more call out as the celebrations began to wind down.

Mr O’Connell explained that in his experience when Halloween night falls mid-week the festivities are often drawn out over the week.

While these call outs are costly and a nuisance to a service that must contend with cut backs and austerity, the fires the service attended this year were smaller than previous years.

“The big, big fires seem to have died off because if material is seen by the Environment Section (of the County Council) it is removed because it is considered waste,” said Mr O’Connell.

He added however that Halloween bonfires waste the fire services resources, not just financially but it also uses up manpower that could be required else where at an emergency.

Early estimates put the cost to the fire service at € 20,000, although the full cost will not be known for a number of weeks. However Mr O’Connell said the message and warnings about bonfires seems to be getting through in Clare.

“We are not finding fires under wires or tress anymore. The locations seem to be better,” he said.

A crackdown on removing waste gathered for bonfires has also paid off.

Robert Burns, Executive Engineer with the Environment Section of Clare County Council, the body charged with the clean up following illegal bonfires, said the council was busy in the run up to Halloween night making people aware and gathering waste.

He said the council had a number of complaints prior to Halloween night from the West Clare and Shannon area. The council removed bonfire material from the Kilrush, Kilkee and Ennistymon area. Among the biggest hauls was one in Kilrush and a more worrying potential fire on the beach in Kilkee that consisted of tires. This would have proved a huge environmental hazard according to Mr Burns.

The council must now set about cleaning up the site of bonfires that have not been dealt with by the community. Each clean up will cost between € 500 and € 1,000, and the total cost to the council will not be known for weeks.

Mr Burns was also content that the bonfire issue was not as big as other years.

“To be fair I think most people did heed the message. It is not as big an issue as in the cities,” he said.

AMERICAN football is being credited as the unlikely saviour of the tourism season in Clare this year, with the recent Notre Dame versus Navy Homecoming Game providing a much-needed visitors boost for the county.

This year’s London Olympics had a negative effect on the number of foreign tourists numbers visiting Clare, contrary to what many tourism organisations had predicted before the games.

According to year-to-date visitor numbers recorded at the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Centre, the Olympics and Euro 2012 dampened down the number of individual tourists, both from Ireland and abroad, coming to the Cliffs.

According to Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, package or bus tours have saved the Cliffs from a large slump in individual tourists brought about by the large numbers visiting London for the Olympics and the number of Irish people who travelled to Poland for the Euro 2012.

The visitors centre, which is by far Clare’s most visited tourist site, is used by many in the industry as a barometer for the overall health of the tourism sector in county.

Year-to-date visitor numbers for the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience are slightly ahead of 2011 figures.

Group tours have been performing well this year, especially in the autumn period, but individual visitors have not been quite as strong, according to Ms Webster.

“The Notre Dame versus Navy American football match at the start of September really helped pull up the numbers after a pretty poor summer. We saw a decline in numbers around the time of the Euro 2012 campaign and the Olympics.”

An estimated 35,000 American football fans travelled to Ireland for the Homecoming Game which took place in early September, a massive increase on the 10,000 who travelled to Ireland the last time a seasoned American football game was staged here.

The estimated boost to the country from the match was estimated at around € 70 million. The event was also seen as a major point to advertise The Gathering to Americans who may decide to visit Ireland in 2013.

A WEST Clare community is rallying around a shocked family to rebuild their home after it was struck by lightning at the weekend.

A gaping hole was blown open on the roof of the home of Barbara and Martin Haugh in Farrihy, Kilkee, shortly after 4.15pm on Saturday.

The lightening also blew out the electricity in the family home and the ceilings in two bedrooms collapsed. A nearby mobile home belonging to their daughter and her family was also hit, but no one was injured in the incident.

Ms Haugh, who was inside the house with her son Martin Jnr (23) and her six-year-old grandchild, was blown off her feet when the lightning struck the house, and although she was extremely shocked, she was unhurt.

Martin Snr was stranding outside when the freak incident occurred.

“It was very frightening but at least no one was hurt.

“The lightning came in through the phone line and my wife, who was standing at the front door, got blown down the hall. She wasn’t hurt at all but she was very shocked by it,” said Mr Haugh.

“All the electrical appliances just blew up.”

Mr Haugh admitted that he did not have insurance but said he did not think it would have covered this act of God.

The local community has already begun to rally around the family, with the power restored on Sunday by a local electrician.

The hole in the roof was also patched up, and a major clean-up began yesterday (Monday).

Local people described the Saturday afternoon weather in Kilkee, which included hailstones and lightening, as “horrific”.