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A FORMER factory worker who admitted possession of child pornography at his home in Ennis will learn later this year if he is to receive a custodial sentence.

The 49 year-old man pleaded guilty in March to possession of five images and 43 movies of child pornography at an Ennis address on dates unknown between September 28 and September 30, 2009.

Details of the case were heard at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday.

Gardaí searched the man’s house after his computer’s IP address was identified as having accessed child porn. The court heard gardaí seized a Dell Inspiron computer; a hand held XDA device and a memory card.

Garda Frank Browne of Ennis Garda Station told Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan BL, the man initially told gardaí he was looking for pornography of women dressed up as teenagers.

He said he may have had a problem with looking at pornography during that time in his life.

Sgt Alan Browne of the Garda Computer Crime Investigations Unit, Harcourt Square, Dublin told the court the images depicted young girls involved in sexual activity.

He said it appeared the girls were pre-pubescent but due to nationality and ethnic background, it was hard to place a definite age on them.

Sgt Browne said the images were in the mid to higher end of the scale used by Director of Public Prosecu- tions (DDP) to classify child porn images.

He said the movies lasted between a few seconds and a few minutes. The court heard they were accessed using peer-to-peer sharing programmes like Ares and Limewire.

Asked by Counsel if the movies could be accidentally downloaded, Sgt Browne said he couldn’t determine that.

He said all the movies had been permanently deleted into the unallocated space on the computer.

Defence counsel, Mark Nicholas BL, told the court, that of the 30,900 pornographic images recovered from the computer, only five were considered in breach of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

He said that when the images and movies were deleted, his client would never again be able to access them. Counsel said his client had not attempted to hide or encrypt the images and videos.

He said the offending material just popped up when he was “trawling” for adult pornography.

Counsel said it had taken four years for the matter to come to court and his client had indicated an early guilty plea.

He said the man has suffered “reputational loss” and feels “absolute shame”. He said this was a case that did not require an immediate custodial sentence.

Judge Gerald Keyes said he required time to consider the case.

He consented to a defence application that the man not be named for the moment. He adjourned sentencing to October.

THE Judge presiding over the trial of a Clare teacher convicted of indecently assaulting his pupils over a 21year period told the jury they were entitled to convict beyond a reasonable doubt if they accepted the evidence of the complainants.

Judge Gerald Keyes was addressing the jury of seven women and five men at the conclusion of the 11-day trial at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday.

Pat Barry (80), of Well Road, Kilkee, was found guilty by the jury of 59 counts of indecently assaulting 11 female pupils at Moyasta National School between 1964 and 1985.

Mr Barry, who served as principal from 1964 to 1989, denied all charges. Prior to the verdicts being returned, Judge Keyes directed the jury to find Mr Barry not guilty on eight of the original 67 counts.

In his charge to the jury, Judge Keyes told them they must “scrutinize” the evidence of each of the complainants especially as this was a case where there was no corroboration or independent witnesses.

He told the jury they must be careful to consider the possibility of “collusion” particularly as this was a case with a number of complainants.

He said the fact the allegations concerned events that occurred between 20 and 40 years ago made the jury’s task all the more difficult.

He noted that the delay between the time of the assaults and the matters being investigated and prosecuted made the case harder to defend than to prosecute.

However the Judge said the law does state that old cases cannot not be prosecuted.

He reminded the jury they must be “much more careful” in their consideration of the evidence.

“You’ve heard the evidence. Apply your common sense”, he added.

Judge Keyes told the jury they must treat each of the 59 counts separately as if they were each separate trials.

“Do not allow yourself to say if the accused did it once, he did it twice”, he said. Judge Keyes told the jury that three types of indecent conduct had been outlined by the women.

He said the behaviour alleged involved girls being called to the front of the class and placed between Mr Barry’s legs as he sat at his desk.

Another type of assault involved the accused sitting beside girls at their desks and touching them inappropriately.

He said the other allegation involved Mr Barry holding girls between his legs while he sat at a high stool.

He told the jury all 12 of them must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the alleged conduct occurred. He said evidence had been given that Mr Barry was a violent man in the classroom.

The Judge told the jury that this case was not about about corporal punishment or whether Mr Barry was a violent man.

“Don’t let the issue of violence cloud your mind or colour your thinking”, he said.

“This is not the issue in this case”, he added. After the jury returned their unanimous guilty verdicts at 2.39pm on Friday afternoon, Judge Keyes thanked them for their “diligence”, “attention” and “time keeping” over the three weeks.

THE FORMER home of controversial Clare novelist Edna O’Brien could be purchased and maintained by the Irish state.

Calls have been made for the State to intervene and purchase Drewsborough House in Tuamgraney after the property failed to sell at auction earlier this month.

The property, which was a central setting for O’Brien’s debut book, the partially autobiographical ‘The County Girls’, failed to reach its guide price of € 350,000 at auction.

Indeed the property, which was val- ued in excess of € 1 million during the Celtic Tiger years, was taken off the market with bidding reaching just € 200,000.

The house and adjoining land is being sold by the estate of the late Claire O’Brien, the novelist’s sister-in-law, who lived at Drewsborough with the novelist’s late brother, who ran his medical practice from the house.

According to auctioneer Noel Corcoran negotiations for the sale of the property are ongoing with one of bidders involved in the auction.

The property was described by O’Brien as “a font of inspiration” during an unveiling of a plaque in her honour at Drewsborough House in 2011.

O’Brien’s childhood there was not a happy one, as detailed in her 2012 memoir, Country Girl.

She was born in 1930 and her first novel, The Country Girls, is credited as breaking the silence on sexual matters and social issues in Ireland. The book was banned, burned and denounced from the pulpit following it publication, leading to O’Brien leaving Ireland and settling in London where she now lives.

Calls have been made for the state to acquire the house and develop it into a writers retreat and museum but to date there has been no formal government statement on the proposal.

A SPECIAL meeting will take place in Ennis this Friday to determine whether Clare County Council will change the zoning of a section of land in Ennis to allow for the construction of a € 5 million crematorium and large graveyard.

Councillors at yesterday’s July meeting of Clare County Council decided to defer a decision on whether to make a material contravention of Ennis and Environs Development Plan in order to allow the project to go forward.

The project, which has been proposed by Fenloe Properties Ltd, could see the development of a crematorium as well a massive graveyard to accomodate almost 4,000 graves.

Should it go ahead, the project would include the construction of a gated entrance, driveway and carpark, a chapel with ancillary reception, offices and toilets, a furnace, a remembrance and memorial garden and a waste water treatment unit and percolation area at a site at Ballaghfadda on the Kildysart Road in Ennis.

A number of local undertaker, headstone makers and other people involved in the funeral industry in Clare were present at yesterdays meeting.

Indeed, the meeting was adjourned for 10 minutes to allow councillors to consult with industry members before a decision could be made.

It was also confirmed that the proposal could see the creation of as many as 3,827 individual graves. This number would likely be reduced by more than 650 however, as the developers would be prevented from placing graves within a certain distance from local monuments.

“Some of us are not well briefed in this. We are not fully aware of what will happen at this area in the future. This is a big issue and something you cant rush into. I would like a special meeting called next Friday make a decision on it,” said Cllr Joe Cooney (FG).

Cllr Cooney was supported by Ennis based Cllr Pat Daly (FF) who said that the decision was too important to get wrong and that councillors be “fully briefed” on the issue.

A special meeting of Clare County Council will now take place this Friday at 9.30am with the proposed zoning change the only item on the agenda.

A NORTH Clare food producer is on the verge of making a major breakthrough and opening itself up to more than a billion possible new customers in China.

Later this month the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna will send a representative to Shanghai, where she will work for nine months to find opportunities for Clare salmon to be sold directly into the Chinese market.

The representative, who is herself a Chinese national, is a fellowship student at the Smurfit Business School in Dublin, and will represent the Burren Smokehouse in China until April of next year. The move is being seen as a major development for the Lisdoonvarna producer, who have been making small inroads into the Chinese market in recent years.

“I took part in a major seafood fair in China last November and I saw that there was opportunities for very high end products like ours in China – es- pecially in specialty food shops and in high end restaurants as well.

“There is a growing demand in that part of the world for high end seafood. It’s not easy, it takes time, but there is potential for growth there,” said Birgitta Hedin Curtin of the Burren Smokehouse.

“We had some products in China for Christmas, so we have had a presence there. So I feel that we have a great opportunity now while we have the fellowship student working for us in China to make a breakthrough. It is exciting.

“There are opportunities for us in China. It is invaluable for us to have someone on the ground in China – this will allow us to dip out toe in the market without having to go there myself all the time.

“We are looking for a niche market – relative small volumes but at a higher price. So we need to have a good understanding of where our products should be pitched.”

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THE POTENTIAL development of a multi-billion oil and natural gas well off the Clare coast has hit a major set back – which could delay any exploration of the Spanish Point or Burren off shore wells by a number of years.

Drilling work was due to take place at the Spanish Point field, located in the Porcupine Basic off the Clare coast this Spring.

Irish company, Providence Resources, who are leading up the exploration operation off the Clare coast have announced a delay of at least a year.

The company had previously announced a partnership with Cairn Energy, who would undertake the drilling at the site. However, as a result of delays to a refurbishment of the rig, the project operator have been forced to cancel the rig contract.

As a result of this cancellation, Providence Resources will have to open a new tender for an industry drill-partner which prevent any drilling taking place until 2015 at the earliest.

The company has however decided to go ahead with its planned 3D seismic scanning of the area which should reveal more information about how much oil and gas reserves are contained in the Spanish Point field.

“The postponement of appraisal drilling at Spanish Point is regrettable and beyond the control of the partnership,” commented Chief Executive of Providence Resources, Tony O’Reilly, who is a son of Tony O’Reilly the former head of Independent Newspapers and CEO of Heinz.

“As the rig refurbishment delays became apparent, the operator evaluated various options to re-schedule the Blackford Dolphin rig and to secure another drilling unit for 2014, but this proved unsuccessful.

“Our ability to commence drilling in the autumn was further constrained by the rig’s operational capabilities at the Spanish Point location during winter and thus the decision was taken to terminate the contract and seek a new drilling unit for 2015.

“This procurement process has commenced and we will provide further updates as they are confirmed by the operator,” O’Reilly said during the week.

It is believed that there is a vast natural gas reserve contained in the Burren and Spanish Point wells with previous estimated suggesting that they contained enough natural gas to meet Ireland entire needs for more then 70 years.

CLARE County Council has been urged to “go all out” and purchase a site in the Buttermarket, Ennis for the development of a new car park in the town.

That’s according to former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly (FF), who raised the issue at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee.

In a motion, Cllr Daly called on the Municipal District “to seek funding for the purchase of the site at Buttermarket, Ennis with a view to constructing either a ground floor car-park or a multi-story car park, particularly as parking in the town is at a premium presently”.

Cllr Daly told the meeting there are very few sites in Ennis that would be suitable for car-park development.

He said parking is a major issue, particularly for businesses in the town.

He said the Council should “go all out” to purchase the site, even if that meant lobbying the Department of Environment.

In his reply, Senior Executive Engineer, Eamon O’Dea said Ennis Town Council had previously “pursued acquisition of this site for the purposes of car-parking and had agreed a purchase price and paid a deposit”.

He continued, “Following examination of title and other matters, the Council on advice of the Town Solicitor and in the absence of issues being clarified by the liquidator, the sale did not proceed. The property was recently offered again for sale and the Council has again submitted a bid for the property”.

Director of Service and Ennis MDC Coordinator, Ger Dollard, said he was aware the site had recently been sold at auction and the issues around title had been resolved.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) told the meeting it is “very necessary” new parking facilities are developed in the town. Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said she fully supported the proposal.

CLARE County Council has applied for approval from the Department of Environment to raise loans of € 1.75 million to fund an ambitious re-development of part of the Ennis Market.

Members of the former Ennis Town Council previously approved the raising of the loan to develop a covered market and other infrastructural works at Garraunakilla.

In a report to Ennis councillors, Ennis Municipal District Coordinator, Ger Dollard states, “At this point in time, formal approval has not to date been received but the Council is continuing to engage with the Department in relation to the matter. It is unlikely that any significant financial requirement will arise in the current year and it is the Council’s intention to progress the project to a shovel ready stage. At that point, it would be essential that formal funding decisions are made in relation to then project”.

“The project offers a very significant basis for rejuvenation of the area and the intention would be to follow on, subject to funding, with further phases of the Market redevelopment project.”

The proposal to re-develop Garraunakilla includes the building of a structure that according to the Council will have “multifunctional uses”. The proposed structure would consist of two adjacent pavilions with a plexi-glass roof covering the central corridor.

Mr Dollard told the meeting the construction of a covered market formed phase one of an overall re- development of parts of the town centre.

The plan also envisions developments at Barrack Street, Lysaght’s Lane and Moran’s Car Park.

He was speaking in response to a motion tabled by Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) told the meeting the proposal represents a “very exciting project” for Ennis. She said covered market has the potential in time to become one of the town’s “iconic” buildings.

She said it would be beneficial if the new councillors received a full briefing the project.

Cllr Ann Norton (Ind) agreed that it would be useful if all councillors were brought up to speed.

Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) said she had concerns at how the Council could afford to take on such a costly project at a time when it is struggling to provide resources for “basic public services”.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) said he had been approached by some people in the Market area who claimed the planning notice for the development was not displayed properly in the market.

Mr Dollard said this was not correct. He said the former Ennis Town Council received a high volume of submissions in relation to the project. He said there was a high degree of knowledge among the public about the project.

In his report, Mr Dollard that initial archaeological investigations had been completed and a detailed design is being prepared so the project can be brought to tender.

A NEW community organisation, which aims to support people with disabilities in the Clare, will host its first meeting later this Friday. People with disabilities from across Clare are invited to come together with interested members of the public and community activists for the first meeting of The Clare Leader Forum.

“The Leader Forum provides a space for people with disabilities to talk to people who understand, without having to explain. As part of their work they will encourage all people with disabilities to come together and offer each other support, advice and exper- tise through a peer support network,” said Susan O’Brien of the Center for Independent Living.

“The purpose of the peer support network is to offer people the opportunity to make contact with others who are having similar life experiences. Through these groups a support network is established.

“This support can take the form of conversation and sharing experiences or simply listening to others. In some instances the network may decide to take an active part in promoting change or educating the public about issues they are experiencing in their area.”

Similar Leader Forums are already operating in several counties across Ireland and nationally through the Na- tional Leader Forum and the Center for Independent Living. The meeting will take place at the Junction at Cloughleigh in Ennis this Friday, July 18 at 11am. The new organisation forms as disabled Clare people have been expressed their frustration over the future of the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant. Both grants have been closed to new applicants since March of last year, which the government undertakes a review of the schemes.

While the review is taking place, no new Clare applicants have been granted access to either scheme – resulting in a number of disable Clare people being left without a suitable transport options.

MORE than 70 per cent of the houses in Kilkee are considered to be unoccupied – according to information revealed at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council. Following a motion put forward by Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) it was revealed that just under 7, 500 houses in the West Clare Local Election area are unoccupied.

Commenting on the situation, Council Director of Services, Ger Dollard, said that more information was required but described the figure as a “frightening statistic”. The figures revealed that 36.4 per cent of all houses in this part of the county are considered to be unoccupied with the highest level of un-occupancy found in Kilkee, with 71.5 per cent of houses unoccupied, Kilfearagh (56.9 per cent unoccupied) and Liscannor (56.5 per cent unoccupied). It is not clear from the research what number of these houses are holiday homes, which are occupied during the summer, and properties which are unoccupied all year round.