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A YOUNG Clare man has walked free after receiving a three-year sus- pended sentence for raping a woman in her home while she slept.

Adam Keane (20), a bricklayer, of Barnageeha, Darragh, Clare, was convicted at the Central Criminal Court in February by 10-2 majority of raping the now 33 year-old wom- an in a house on May 30, 2005.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said his de- cision was based on a previous rul- ing by the Court of Criminal Appeal following an appeal in relation to a sentence imposed by him in another case, brought by the Director of Pub- lic Prosecutions who regarded it as ‘moderate’.

Mr Justice Carney said that appeal was lost and the sentencing was set aside in its entirety.

“Having regard to the approach taken by the CCA to this type of of- fence in this type of case, I have to ask myself whether I would be com- fortable to imprison this young man who said it was out of character for him, but that if the DNA said he had done it, he wouldn’t shy away from his responsibility.”

Mr Justice Carney added, “People

from respectable homes taking al- cohol or drugs and then committing rape or murder come before the court with surprising frequency,” he said.

The complainant told the trial she woke from her sleep to find someone cuddling her.

At first she thought the man was

her boyfriend, who had left the house NU DCs mM OT-LoAY( oO OND OTSMmE-D Ko) Mme DOUmE-D ued Ue ment. By the time she realised the man was not her boyfriend, he had started to have sex with her.

She said she threw him off her and turned on the lights and recognised the man as then 18 year-old Keane.

She ran from the house and when gardai later arrived at the scene, Keane was still in her bedroom.

In interviews with gardai, Keane said he couldn’t remember breaking into her house or anything about the attack as he blacked out after drink- ing heavily and taking ‘ecstasy’ in a nightclub.

He said he didn’t think it possible he had raped her because he had never raised a hand to a woman in his life. It ‘went against everything’ he believed.

He said he blacked out regularly after heavy drinking and explained, “That’s why I’ve been thinking about giving up the drink for some time.”

However, he said he would accept any DNA evidence proving him as the attacker.

In her victim impact report, the victim said the rape had had a huge impact on her life and that she had had to move house twice since.

Defence counsel Mr Brendan Nix SC (with Mr Mark Nicholas BL) said Keane ‘deeply regretted’ what hap- pened and noted his client had not Ker D UNO OT-NOLoINrCeLOm DOR mearalO (oN Gom DOD ale oon

CAMPAIGNERS are confident En- nis will achieve Fair Trade status providing there is greater support from the local business community.

A number of businesses and schools in the town have already committed to stocking Fair Trade products.

In order for any town to be granted Fair Trade status a flagship business must pledge its support to the ven- ture. Ennis Fair Trade Committee member Mairead Sheedy explained Ennis has already met with much of the criteria required to achieve Fair Trade status.

‘We presented the statutory report

on Ennis to the national organisation and we were congratulated for that. Some businesses have supported us and are carrying the products but we still need a flagship business. Ideally that would be a hotel, but we are hop- ing to get a local factory. They have already said they would stock Fair Trade coffee so we just have to final- ise a few things.”

A two-week global campaign aimed at creating awareness about Fair Trade products drew to a close last week.

Ennis also took part during that pe- riod with a number of events held in schools and other locations around i eTom KO), 2 08

Last Thursday students at Colaiste Muire organised an information day at which they sold products which carried the Fair Trade logo.

The school also held a hot choco- late morning with money raised to be donated to a former student who plans to travel to Sri Lanka with the Fair Trade organisation.

Ms Sheedy said, “We were look- ing at ways to raise awareness and through schools have shown a great interest. Some of them went out on the street and did a survey with lo- cal people about their attitudes to Fair Trade. We held a tea and cof- fee morning in the Friary and that was very successful. We had a lot of

people coming in who showed a lot of interest. We also held one in the Adult Education Centre”

The Fair Trade Mark is an inde- pendent consumer label, which ap- pears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged pro- ducers in the developing world are getting a better deal.

that

the majority of people with disabili-

ties cannot get driving licences and

that towns like Kilrush seem to cater

solely for the motorist and the easy flow of traffic.

“Roundabouts are unfriendly to

pedestrians,” he said pointing to the difficulty the Brothers of Charity cli- ents have when crossing the road at the top of Francis Street on the way in from Cappa and at the Supervalu roundabout.

Ms O’Leary outlined how it is al- most impossible for her to go to work everyday, as crossing the Kilkee road is a near impossibility.

With the help of her assistant she has written to the town hall outlin- ing her difficulty and intends to re- turn to the civic office every month to remind those in power that change is needed.

“It is a deadly dangerous road,’ she said of the road she lives on. “There is no zebra crossing, but there is a lollypop lady for the school children it is so dangerous.”

Wheelchair users also find it diffi- cult to move freely around the west Clare capital, as demonstrated by Patricia O’Dea.

Even with assistance it is difficult to keep the chair steady on some of the footpaths, while mounting and dismounting the path is a hazard.

As she moved up Francis Street and into the centre of town Patricia pointed to a number of shops and businesses she cannot enter due to a lack of a ramp.

Crossing the road is also difficult unless she travels long distances to the town’s crossings.

The greatest difficulty facing Pa- tricia and other wheelchair users however is people’s lack of consid- eration.

Motorists that park half way up on the footpath prevent her from using the path, forcing her to return home and not venture out, or risk her life by going on to the road in her chair.

The vocal Brothers of Charity group have made their feelings known to the town council at its meetings.

Town clerk Fiona Mooney told the

eroup that there is currently an audit of public places and areas underway and submissions are welcome. She said she would make the group aware of the procedure and welcomed their shay oleae

Town manager Bernadette Kinsella has invited the group to meet with the council’s HR manager to discuss the council’s policy on employing people with disability.

And while issues like disabilities may make an appearance on a coun- cil agenda from time to time, Kath- leen and her friends are determined to make it a monthly issue until ac- cess is resolved.

IT IS just days away from one of the largest annual days of celebration in the town of Kilrush – St Patrick’s Day. This year like others, the day would not be complete without the traditional parade through the town.

Once again the Kilrush Chamber of Commerce will be organising the event on the day – March 17.

“It is our hope that we can continue to build on the huge success of the past, in creating a parade that en- compasses and celebrates all aspects of our west Clare community that is enjoyable and interesting for all the

family,” said newly elected president of the Chamber of Commerce Karen WW toe-bee

The optional theme for this year’s parade is ‘Are you right there Michael?’ allowing participants to let their imaginations run wild as they decide on costumes and floats.

The parade will be judged under three categories, including musical entertainment; the St Patrick’s Day theme and the children’s category.

There are also three overall prizes including Best Junior Category, Best Senior Category and Best Overall Parade Character.

Those who venture out for a day

of festivities can look forward to a live music in the Square from 2pm to 4pm.

For those who still have some en- ergy left the Four Courts Céili Band will also be playing in Kilrush Youth Centre from 4pm to 7pm.

“It’s a guaranteed fun day for all the family. We look forward to see- ing you all on the day,’ said Ms Whelan.

The assembly for the parade is at 2pm at the Millennium Park (oppo- site Glynn’s Mill), Francis St, Kil- Mets oF

Meanwhile the Miltown Malbay St Patrick’s Day parade will be held

at 2.45pm on the same day from the GAA pitch.

The theme for this year’s parade 1s “Cultures of Europe” and as always there is huge interest and a great days entertainment guaranteed for all the Je Deen ens

This is the 10th parade in succes- sion in Miltown. There will be prizes for best float, best walking group and an adjudicators prize. There will also be a raffle to help defray the running costs of the parade with excellent prizes of “dinner for four in local well known restaurants” and the well known usual third prize of “a year’s supply of toilet rolls”!

A SHANNON-BASED pharmaceu- tical company yesterday announced plans to relocate part of its enterprise to a business park it strenuously op- posed in the planning process.

Yesterday, as part of its €70 mil- lion expansion plan, German-owned Schwarz Pharma announced that it is relocating part of its operation to the adjoining Westpark Business Park in Shannon.

However, the pharmaceutical com-

pany’s opposition to the business park prompted An Bord Pleanala to hold an oral hearing into planned €150 million development in 2002.

The promoters behind the business park claimed that the appeal was vexatious and argued to the board that the motivation was related to ne- gotiations over office space.

The board ruled that the appeal had substance, but granted permission for the development.

More recently, Westpark Devel- opments objected to three separate

planning applications at the Schwarz Pharma site, though the council granted permission for the propos- AES

However, yesterday, at a ceremony in Shannon, Schwarz Pharma con- firmed that it is to expand its op- erations into Westpark, occupying a new 110,000 sq ft building over five levels and will accommodate qual- ity control, IT services, employees amenities and a research and quality CH Ker

Managing Director of Westpark

Shannon, Brian O’Connell said, ““We are absolutely thrilled that Schwarz Pharma has chosen to work with BOC Holdings Ltd and have chosen Westpark as the strategic location of choice for their European expansion. Construction on the development will commence this month and is due for completion in late 2008. Managing Director of Schwarz Pharma, Werner Kunz said, “This new building will allow us to add strategic value to our future devel- opment initiatives while freeing-up

valuable growth space in our current production facility. This is a very significant and important decision by Schwarz Pharma and it underlines our confidence in the Shannon region to support our corporate business eva

Minister Tony Killeen TD said, “The decision by Schwarz Pharma to embark on this highly significant ex- pansion is a considerable boost to the Shannon region. The establishment of its R&D operation bodes well for i eTom RULAUD Kone

THERE were celebrations in Liscan- nor last week with the news that the Government has promised almost half a million euro of funding to- ward the creation of a state-of-the- art creche facility in the village.

Just under €430,000 has been ear- marked for the creation of the service which could be up and running be- fore the beginning of 2008. The most likely venue for the new facility is on the grounds of Liscannor Primary School but no definite agreement has been reached to date.

Liscannor and the surrounding ar- eas have seen a large growth in popu- lation over the last decade and these creche facilities are now essential for the future growth of the area.

Plans have also been muted to es- tablish an after school service in conjunction with the new creche fa- Teta

“We are hoping that this will al- low us to put on a new building onto the primary building in Liscannor. We are aiming to have 20 preschool places in the new building, but we would also be looking at creating an after school service. The hope at

the moment is to be able to combine three existing rooms at the school to form the after school service,’ said creche organiser, Liz Bonito.

‘There is a huge demand in the area for something like this. We are cur- rently operating in the community centre but this new purpose building will make all the difference.

“We have been fundraising for this the whole time and so many people have been a huge help in getting this off the ground. It is the combined ef- fort of an awful lot of people in Lis- cannot.

“It’s thanks the parents who have

abd Cehncys MBs Mm Oe CoM el buwuss0lMmel Roles (om oy-KI parents, future parents and con- cerned people in the locality.”

The announcement was welcomed by local county councilor Richard Nagle.

“T am really delighted, there has been almost €430,000 allocated for the provision a play school service in Liscannor,’ said Cllr Nagle (FF).

“I made a number of representa- tions on behalf of the group and I am really hopeful that things will be able to progress as quickly as possi- ble from now on. It is a badly needed service for the area.”

THE people of the Burren region have been invited to come on board with new projects which aim at cre- ating an overarching tourism man- agement system in north Clare.

The Burren Project, which is a combination of Clare County Coun- cil, BurrenBeo, Failte Ireland, Shan- non Development and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, has started work from a new base office in Ennistymon and hoping to shape the evolution of the tourism product in the area over the next few years.

“We are really hoping to work with everyone – voluntary organisation like BurrenBeo, the businesses, the

farmers, everyone who has an inter- est in the area,” said project leader Carol Gleeson. “It’s really a case of finding out exactly what is happen- ing and working in partnership with these people. “In the long term, what we want to do is have a Strategic overview and help integrate and co- ordinate a lot of the things that are already going on in the Burren. That is the aspiration the County Council would have for this project.”

The group are hoping to promote a diversification in the tourism market which would see more people com- ing in the off-season and visiting different places. They are also hop- ing to promote the environmentally sustainability of the area by promot-

ing ‘soft footprint’ eco-tourism and establishing a code for visitors.

“There are a lot of returns from that sort of tourism in the long run. We are looking for people who would stay longer, go for walks and eat in the restaurants. These people tend to come at any time and stay longer. It’s people who are interested in their health, active people and people who are interested in finding out more about what is actually going on in the Burren,’ said Emer McCarthy of the project.

“We are working closely with Bur- renBeo who have been providing info on the Burren for the last number of years. They have been working a lot with regard to education and have al-

ready done a lot of work especially in the schools. It is very much a part- nership approach, we really want to work together with people like Bur- renBeo, the IFA or anyone else who is providing a service for local peo- ple.”

Projects that the group is currently looking at include educational pro- erammes for school and _ visitors, the creation of a number of Burren viewing points, the establishment of a Burren Code about, a signage au- dit and the establishment of a Burren brand

For information contact Carol and Emer at cgleeson@burren. ie, emccarthy@burren.ie or O65 7072295.

LISDOON VARNA National School are on the road to repeating last years heroics in the Credit Union All-Ire- land quiz competition as their U13 team qualified for the national final last week.

The team saw off stiff competition from schools from all over Munster to finish first in their age grouping. It was however, a bitter sweet evening for the school as their U1] team nar- rowly missed out on qualification themselves, finishing third in their age group.

“We give them encouragement at

the school but they do most of the work themselves, off their own bat. Each of them gets a lot of support and help at home as well but at the end of the day they do all the work themselves.” said school principal John Hehir.

‘Both teams qualified to represent the school at the regional final in Limerick. The UI3 team won it and got through to the nationals but the U1] team finished third.

“Only the first two teams qualify so the U1] team were very unlucky not to make it. They were unlucky but at the same time they will have learned a lot from the experience and they

have more years in front of them.”

Indeed, this year the U13 team fea- tures three students, Orla Burke, Rob- ert Hillery, and Eimear O’Sullivan, who claimed the U1] All-Ireland last year.

The team in completed by Eleanor Collins who will be looking to taste her first All-Ireland success in Dub- lin on April 1.

“It is a 32 county, All-Ireland com- petition, so there will be more than 100 teams involved. All these teams would have come through two or three qualification rounds to make it this far so they really are the best of the best,” continued Mr Hehir.

“The whole competition is very well run. From local level in En- nistymon, through the other rounds in Ennis, Limerick and on to Dublin. The Credit Union deserves a lot of credit for it.”

Lisdoonvarna has been one of the most consistent performers in the competition over the last decade. The came joint sixth when they first reached in national final in 2001.

They came second in 2005, first in 2006 and have given themselves eve- ry chance of a great finish this time around.

The competition takes place in Dublin’s RDS on April 1.

WHILE the politicians are on the campaign trail which they hope will lead them to the Dail, a Clonlara girl is on a votes trail of a very different kind last week.

You’re a Star competitor Maeve O’Donovan was raising support for her bid to win by visiting schools in her area and rallying support from the local community.

SRT eB WY ETAVor rasa oee EK Mh (cle) ats knock-out at the Helix in Dublin and was preparing for her next perform- ance at the weekend when she took time out to meet youngsters at Clon- lara and Parteen national schools.

The curious kids were delighted

to have a budding star in their midst and were full of curiosity about what it is like to appear on TV and per- form for an audience of thousands of critical people.

For 16-year-old Maeve, taking part in the competition has been a lesson she will never forget and one which many professionals would give their eye teeth to experience.

“lve learned so much from being involved and I could never have en- visaged staying in to this stage when it all started,” said Maeve.

The secondary school student stood out as the last female competitor in bolle iowa UNl ele

Fellow-Clare competitor Susan O’Neill from Ennis was voted out at

an earlier stage.

But Maeve has made firm friends among the other competitors. Speak- ing last week, she said that if she was eliminated, she would like to see Scuba Dice take the prize.

“They were getting such a hard time but I think they’re brilliant,” said Maeve.

With two songs to sing for Sunday’s heat, Maeve was upbeat during her school visits last week.

“When I’m jut singing one song, I get a bit nervous but by the time I get to the second, I’m into my stride and I can perform better,’ she said.

Sunday was week nine of a gruel- ling 12 weeks of competition which sees one hopeful act voted out by the

audience each week.

The prize is a valuable recording contract which could kick-start a showbiz career for the talented win- ner.

And she was non-plussed about the previous week’s criticism of her outfit for the show, an item which prompted radio presenter Ray Darcy to leap to her defence on air.

“We have stylists who advise us what to wear and I asked for some- thing a bit more casual for Sunday,” Maeve said.

ONGOING concerns over infrastruc- ture in the Cronan area of Shannon have prompted the local residents eroup to request a meeting with the town council.

Residents say that their requests for an upgrade of footpaths and roads in the area have fallen on deaf ears, over the past four years. They will air their grievances in a meeting with councul- lors next month.

Chairman of the group Jim Dutfy said residents will put pressure on officials, if local councillors fail to assist them. Mr Duffy said that resi- dents have a lengthy list, which they intend to put to the local elected rep-

resentatives.

“We are going to the council. It is the last time we are going. If we don’t get their support, we are going to meet the county manager. The talking is over after this meeting,’ he said.

Mr Duffy said that while the public order issue in the area has improved in recent months, the roads problem is getting worse and cannot be toler- AICerem

‘There are serious problems in Cro- nan, which we brought to the atten- tion of the council, three or four years ago. The footpaths are in a bad state and have subsided over the years. They are carrying water and as a re- sult, children are getting wet, going to school.

“We are also looking for litter bins. People are very angry. We will be bringing in a big hefty agenda to this meeting,” he said.

He said that residents are concerned at the lack of car parking spaces in some of the estates in Cronan.

“Parking will be another issue. We find that homeowners’ spaces are being taken. When the houses were built, they were suitable for one car, but people have more than one car per house now. A lot of green areas could be turned into parking spaces,” he added.

Four years ago, locals carried out a survey in the areas of Cronan Park, Cronan Lawn, Cronan Grove and Cronan Gardens. A number of 1is-

sues of concern were highlighted and some of them were addressed. How- ever other burning issues continue to pose headaches.

“We needed lights and we got them. We wanted a pedestrian crossing at St Caimin’s and we got it. The two out- standing serious issues are the elimi- nation of water from footpaths and for the roads to be resurfaced, with extra culleys,”’ he said.

“We have had a reduction in anti- social behaviour. We met the young people and we talked to them. When the young people were told this was happening, it eased off. We would also like to see the town council pro- viding amenities for the young peo- ple,” he said.