Month: December 2013

A PLAY by campaigning Clare author Patricia Burke Brogan received it American’s premier last week.

Burke Brogan has been a leading campaigner in the movement to expose the hidden truth behind the Magdalene Laundries for more than two decades.

The Kildysart native’s 1992 play ‘Eclipse’ is one of the first major times in which the story of the women housed in the Magdalene Laundries was brought to light.

Her 2002 play, ‘Stained Glass at Samhain’, which also deal with the Magdalene Laundries received its American premier at the University of Colorado in Denver last week.

Burke Brogan was a novice, or a trainee nun, at the Galway’s Mercy convent before she decided to leave the Church. During her time at the convent she witnessed first hand the plight of the women housed in the laundries and dedicated much of her life to highlighting their struggle – long before it was common to do so.

‘Stained Glass at Samhain’, which premiered in Ireland in 2002, also deals with the Magdalene Laundries but, in contrast to ‘Eclipse’, it takes the view point of an elderly, compas- sionate nun.

This nun, Sr Luke returns from the dead to visit the site of a former convent and laundry during the Celtic feast of Samhain as the buildings are being demolished to make way for the ‘Celtic Tiger’ boom.

She shares her life story with the audience via a series of monologues, while also interacting with

the Church authorities, the

penitent women and the

young, progressive convent

chaplain.

Over the last 20 years,

‘Eclipsed’ has become

the definitive work on the

Magdelene Laundries and

was a major infleunce for

the 2002 feature film, ‘The

Magdalene Sisters’.

The play has been trans

lated into many languages

from French to Japanese,

and been performed all

over the world, with a new

production scheduled for

Peru next year.

A DIRECTOR of a Kerry-based bus company has been fined in relation to an oil spill that led to multiple accidents and major tailbacks on the Limerick to Galway motorway earlier this year.

At Ennis District Court on Thursday, Patrick Kennedy, a Director of Kennedy Coaches, Main Street, Annascaul, Kerry, recived a € 250 fine.

Mr Kennedy denied a charge of having his coach in such a condition that would have rendered the vehicle dangerous to the public.

The charge arose from an incident that occurred on the motorway on February 1, 2013.

The driver of a Mercedes Benz bus bringing students from Tralee to Galway pulled over near Hurler’s Cross after noticing the oil spill.

He immediately contacted the owner who contacted Shannon gardaí, the court heard. The two-mile long slick shut the motorway and forced Gardaí to close a 10km stretch of road resulting in massive tailbacks.

There were five accidents as a result with one person injured. The oil slick occurred on the day of the Waterford Crystal hurling match between Clare and Cork. Many of the Cork players were delayed getting to the game in Sixmilebridge. Throw in was delayed by an hour for the match that Clare won.

Judge Earley convicted Mr Kennedy after PSV Inspector Garda Brendan Condon said the coach was not in good overall condition prior to the incident because of a serious defect in relation to its fuel tank that would have rendered the vehicle dangerous to the public.

Garda Condon told the court a bracket used to hold up the one of the fuel tanks had been fractured.

Judge Earley said that he accepts that Mr Kennedy “is a conscientious businessman and did his best to mitigate the difficulties that the defect in his coach caused”.

The judge said that he accepted there were substantial mitigating factors. The court heard the bus passed a safety test nine weeks prior to the incident.

The defect in the fuel tank was also subject of a recall by Mercedes Benz. In evidence Mr Kennedy told the court that he never received the letter informing him of the recall in September 2010.

A VICIOUS stabbing that left an Ennis woman in a critical condition has caused “tremendous difficulties” for the young victim, a court has heard.

Nicole Keane (23) was stabbed 22 times by her then friend Charlene Sherlock (23) during a frenzied assault in the grounds of the Holy Family Primary School in Ennis on April 13.

Ms Sherlock, with an address at Dromard, Lahinch Road, Ennis, attacked Ms Keane because she believed Ms Keane had been unfaithful to her then boyfriend Brendan Sherlock (20), who is Ms Sherlock’s brother. Ms Keane suffered slash and stab wounds to her neck, face and torso. She was rushed to hospital and received life-saving treatment in Cork. The horrific attack carried out by Ms Sherlock was captured on CCTV shown at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court last Monday.

Ms Keane was not present in court and declined to give a victim impact statement. Two days later Ms Keane, with an address at Bridge View, Roslevan, appeared at Ennis District Court where her solicitor outlined some of the effect the assault has had.

Ennis-based solicitor William Cahir said, “She was the victim of an unprovoked attack and it has set her back. It has caused tremendous difficulties for her,” he added.

Mr Cahir was speaking in court after Ms Keane pleaded guilty to two public order offences at the Summerhill area of Ennis on September 16, 2013. Inspector Michael Gallagher told the court gardaí received a call to go Summerhill.

He said they found Ms Keane and another person sitting on the ground drunk. The court heard Ms Keane was verbally abusive to gardaí.

Mr Cahir explained his client has been “a very bad alcoholic” since she was a teenager.

“More often than not she has been unable to conquer her demons,” he added. Mr Cahir said he was not offering Ms Keane’s problems as an excuse for her behaviour on September 16. Mr Cahir said his client would be a suitable candidate for community work. Judge Patrick Durcan said he had sympathy for Ms Keane.

He added, “Well done, Ms Keane, that you did live and you didn’t die. That’s the reality, you now know how close it is, the step between living and dying.”

Imposing a 120-hour community service order, Judge Durcan said, “It is not acceptable for someone to sit on the ground and tell gardaí to get lost.”

A SENIOR garda has voiced his concerns after a violent feud flared to life inside an Ennis courtroom last week. Three men from the Ennis area had been ordered to pay compensation to a victim of criminal damage when one of the men demanded to be sent to jail instead.

“You can send me to jail, Judge. I won’t give her 10 cents. You can put me in jail now,” he said.

“She’s only put fuel in the fire. The feud’s only starting now”, he told the female victim.

Judge William Earley was passing sentence at Ennis District Court on Thursday after finding three men guilty of attacking a car while a religious ceremony was underway in Drumcliffe graveyard in March.

Judge Earley said it seemed to be the case that the woman who owned the car was a “victim of one of these wretched family feuds that are all too common in the Traveller community”. The violent attack may have been sparked by an ongoing feud between two Traveller families. The woman was not involved in the dispute, the court was told. Insults and abuse were hurled at the mother of two at the end of the hearing. A 41-year-old woman was arrested and charged for allegedly provoking a breach of the peace. Gardaí also had to be called to deal with disturbances that erupted outside the Courthouse.

Inspector Michael Gallagher, the prosecutor in the case, said he had never witnessed such scenes in a courtroom. Speaking afterwards, he said, “In my 30 years with the gardaí, I’ve never seen anything or heard anything like that. ”