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A JUDGE has granted the State further time to serve the books of evidence on two brothers accused of assaulting a hotel worker in Shannon last year.

Mark Hayes (25) and Sean Hayes (24), both with addresses at Aidan Park, Shannon, appeared before Ennis District Court on Wednesday, on charges arising from the alleged incident. They are both charged with assault causing harm to the man at the Oakwood Arms.

Mark Hayes is further alleged to have caused criminal damage to a bar table.

It is alleged that a male member of the hotel’s night staff was seriously assaulted at around 4am on September 29, 2013.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed trial on indictment in the Circuit Court for Mark Hayes.

The DPP directed summary disposal of the case of Sean Hayes in the district court, on a guilty plea only.

The alleged facts of the incident were outlined at Ennis District Court in March to allow Judge Patrick Durcan consider jurisdiction.

Insp Tom Kennedy said a dispute arose between a member of the night staff and the Hayes brothers at around 4am on the morning in question.

Insp Kennedy said it would be alleged Mark Hayes became involved in a verbal dispute with a member of the hotel’s night staff.

The court heard it is alleged that Mark Hayes then punched the alleged victim, knocking him onto the ground. The alleged victim was punched again while on the ground, the court heard.

Insp Kennedy said it is alleged that while the man and Mark Hayes were “grappling”, Sean Hayes stood behind the alleged injured party, punching him repeatedly into the back and kidneys.

Insp Kennedy said the incident lasted a few minutes and was halted when members of the public intervened. Judge Durcan refused jurisdiction of the case of Sean Hayes in the District Court, meaning it will proceed to the Circuit Court.

On Wednesday, Insp Kennedy said the State required a further two weeks to serve the books of the evidence on the accused.

“I’m assured the books will be here”, he added.

Both men were remanded on continuing bail to appear again at Ennis District Court on June 18.

CLARE County Council is to write to Health Minister, James Reilly (FG), demanding that A&E services are reopened in Ennis until a new state of the art building is opened at the Limerick Regional Hospital.

This comes in the wake of a damning report of services at the Limerick facility by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) which described the Limerick A&E as “not fit for purpose”.

At last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, councillors voted unanimously to contact the Department of Health demanding both the temporary reopening of A&E services at Ennis General Hospital and the fast-tracking of funding for the promised state of the art A&E services at Limerick General Hospital.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) also confirmed that local Fine Gael councillors held a meeting with TDs Pat Breen (FG) and Joe Carey (FG) yes- terday morning – and requested they secure a meeting with Minister Reilly and Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

It was also claimed at last night’s meeting that the Limerick A&E was “cleaned up” during a recent visit by Minister James Reilly, with 35 people on trolleys on the day before the meeting and only 10 during the meeting.

Last week’s HIQA review found serious delays and risks for patients and staff due to persistent overcrowding in A&E in Limerick.

It also found that there were delays in transferring patients from the Emergency Department to the Intensive Care Unit and the High Dependency Unit, partly due to the absence of a single clinical governance structure.

The report found that there was just one toilet in the Emergency Department for all patients, adults and children, and there were no single rooms to isolate patients with communicable diseases.

“The review also found that people in Clare were not using the minor injuries units in Ennis General Hospital.

In a statement to The Clare People

NORTH Clare was stunned last week following the tragic death of two men in a freak motorcycle accident on the N67 Lisdoonvarna to Ennistymon Road on Thursday night.

The deceased men have been named locally as Ferdinand “Ferdi” Waidel, a 55-year-old German national who had been living in Clare for more than a decade, and Ricardo ‘Ricky’ Godoy, Chilean television presenter and motorcycle enthusiast.

The men were travelling in opposite directions when the accident took place. Mr Waidel is thought to have been returning home from a shop trip in Ennistymon when the accident took place.

My Goday was one of a party of six people driving in the opposite direction on three pillion motorcycles. It is thought that both men were leaning into a corner travelling in opposite directions when collision took place.

Two units of the fire brigade from Ennistymon along with ambulances from Ennistymon and Ennis rushed to the scene. A rapid response advanced paramedic unit from Ennis also responded to the incident.

Mr Waidel was pronounced dead at the scene and as paramedics battled to resuscitate Mr Godoy, the Emergency Aeromedical Service (EAS) air ambulance was called in to airlift him to hospital.

However, he was also pronounced dead while being transported by ambulance to the helicopter. His pillion passenger, wife Pilar, was also injured in the collision and was airlifted to Galway University Hospital where she was treated for non-lifethreatening injuries.

Mr Godoy is a television personality in his native Chile and travels around world filming for his motorcycle show Mototemáticos. He is understood to have visited the Isle of Man last weekend for the famous TT races. Gardaí have appealed for witnesses and have asked anyone who was in the area to contact the Gardaí in Ennistymon on 065 7072180.

MOTORISTS accused of speeding offences on Clare roads have been told their cases will not be dealt with until a High Court case on the Go Safe speed camera network is resolved. At Ennis District Court on Friday, Judge Patrick Durcan ad- journed 17 speed camera prosecutions to September 19.

A total of 18 people faced prosecutions for alleged speeding offences allegedly captured by cameras mounted in Go Safe vans.

Judge Durcan struck out a case against one person following an application from the State. The privately run Go Safe has operated speed camera vans in Ireland since winning the Garda contract in 2009.

The cameras operate on sections of road, which have a history of collisions occurring where speed was a contributory factor.

In recent months, Judge Durcan has been critical of Go Safe and has struck out a number of speeding charges brought against motorists in Clare. On Friday, Judge Durcan told all those who had answered summons issued by Insp John McDonald, that the law with regards to issuing of fixed charge penalty notices is the “cause of some controversy in the land”. He said a colleague has sent a case to the High Court seeking clarification of the law under-pinning the speed camera system.

He said he was adjourning all cases until the issue in the High Court has been dealt with.

He told those people facing prosecutions their cases were adjourned to September 19. He told them they are not required to be present in court on the day.

There was a brief exchange when the Judge told a Cork man facing a Go Safe prosecution he would get “brownie points” for being present in court on Friday.

To laughter in the court, the man replied, “Which points?”

Judge Durcan said, “Brownie points, a different category of points to the ones concerned with here.”

Five Go Safe Inspectors were present in court for the adjournments. As they left the courtroom Judge Durcan asked them to convey to Inspector McDonald “that it is a total waste of time and public money you guys turning up here until after September 19. Any prosecutions before then will be adjourned.”

“I don’t like to see State money wasted seeing five strapping men sit here all day,” he added.

COUNCILLOR John Crowe (FG) is the new Mayor of Clare – the first Sixmilebridge councillor to be elected as Clare’s first citizen in exactly 100 years.

Crowe will be assisted in his duties by Deputy Mayor Tony O’Brien (FF), who returned to council chamber today after losing his council seat in 2009.

Cllr Crowe is the first Sixmilebridge Mayor of Clare since James O’Regan was elected in 1914. O’Regan was the father of the late Brendan O’Regan, who pioneered many developments at Shannon Airport including both Duty Free and the Shannon Free Zone.

Speaking just after receiving his chain of office, Cllr Crowe became visibly emotional when he thanked his family and supporters.

“This is my proudest day as an elected member. I look forward to representing my family, the ‘Bridge and the people of Clare,” he said.

“I wasn’t sure that I would be elected as a councillor this time around, never mind being afforded the hon- our of representing all of you as Mayor of Clare. I accept this honour knowing that I follow in the footsteps of so many councillors who have done great work for this county in the past.”

Crowe’s elevation to the office comes 100 years ago to the month that James O’Regan was made mayor in 1914. James and his son Brendan are synonymous with Shannon Airport – with Brendan leading many innovations in Irish and international aviation in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Brendan O’Regan’s spirit and innovating thinking are in this chamber, as his believe in local people. These are characteristic which are very valuable this day,” continued Cllr Crowe.

“Make sure you support our airport, because without our airport we have nothing.”

Cllr Crowe was formally proposed as Mayor by his party colleague Joe Cooney (FG) and seconded by Independent Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn.

THE head of the largest retail industry trade body in Ireland has said Ennis has been “forgotten” as a shopping and hospitality destination by the people of Clare.

David Fitzsimons, the CEO of the Ennis-based Retail Excellence Ireland, says new forms of customer communication and a fresh look at the town’s urban environment could aid retail activity in the town.

Mr Fitzsimons was speaking on the issue of how to make Ennis a retail destination of choice for local people in Clare.

He said Ennis could learn from Letterkenny, which recently established a Town Team to formulate policies to revive the town centre.

He told a public meeting in the Temple Gate Hotel on Thursday that the introduction of a rates incentive for hospitality and visitor-based businesses helped boost tourism in the Donegal town.

“They’ve realised they’ve been forgotten by the people of Donegal and in many ways Ennis town has been forgotten by the people of Clare,” Mr Fitzsimons said.

“As consumers we’re convenience based shoppers during the week, we nip into Tesco and Dunnes Stores. We do one thing and we go home. At the weekend we’re willing to travel longer distances for experiences and that’s why Kildare Village, Dundrum, Avoca… and all these destination venues are thriving.

“We need to remind people that Ennis is here, that it’s theirs, it’s their public realm. We need to maybe communicate with people differently. We need as a town to get out, we need to be communicating really professionally to citizens and give them a reason to come into their civic space. It doesn’t have to always be ‘shop more, spend more’. It’s just come in an enjoy the space. It’s yours,” he added.

THERE is potential for the creation of 800 jobs in the Ennis/Shannon corridor over the next four years, a local developer has said.

Padraig Howard, a director of the Barefield based Drumquin Construction, told a meeting in Ennis that the National Housing Agency has identified the requirement for 534 dwellings in Ennis and 290 houses in Shannon.

“That minimum demand creates about 800 jobs over the next four years. If everyone was to announce there was going to be 800 jobs in the town, the carpets would be rolled out. The TDs would all be here from every party and the Ministers and the Civil Service,” he said.

Mr Howard was citing figures contained in a report issued by the National Housing Agency in April.

He said, “They predicted that as an absolute minimum, excluding any pent-up demand from the last four or five years, that there is a requirement for 534 new dwellings in Ennis town between now and 2018. Shannon came out quite well in that they assessed that similar demand for 290 houses. In the Ennis / Shannon corridor there is a minimum demand, excluding pent up demand, for 800 dwellings in the next four years.

Mr Howard was speaking on the ‘recovery of jobs in the construction sector’ at a public meeting in Ennis on Thursday.

He said there is now a “massive labour shortage” in the construction industry.

“We’re now into a situation where there is no plasterers, no block-layers, no chippies and for very good reason. The last six years have seen the young qualified trades people emigrating. They’ve gone to Australia, Canada, Germany; they’ve gone all over. The older ones who weren’t destroyed by businesses going bust haven’t the heart to go back into it or their age profile is such they can’t go back into it. There are no new apprentices being trained,” he explained.

Mr Howard called for changes in the payment of development contributions and for more development finance to be made available.

“Development contributions are correctly levied and should be paid but the method of paying them needs to be flexible to allow the construction industry get back on its feet.”

Mr Howard is also behind plans to develop Ireland’s largest wind-farm near Mount Callan. He said Ennis should position itself as a hub to serve the emerging renewable energy industry.

“Within one hour’s drive of this town there is going to be € 20 billion invested in the next 10 years in renewable energy. I think Ennis could and should position itself to be a hub to service that industry, the downstream service and maintenance of that industry, the planning of the. Other areas are doing this. Tralee have attracted a service centre for a major German turbine manufacturer. I believe that’s an area Ennis could capitalise on. That German manufacturer will hire 50 in Tralee and plans to increase that to 200,” he explained.

THE development of a “high-quality” market in Ennis would be a boost to the local food and tourism industry, a meeting has heard.

Doirin Graham, the CEO of the Clare Local Development Company (CLDC), last week recommended that Ennis be the location for a “flagship” market development.

“There are all these food produc- ers out around the county and I think what would really work for Ennis, is a good strong, high-quality food producers market in Ennis town centre,” she said.

“There is a really good attractive range for both local people and for the tourists, to draw both tourists into a market and have all the ancillaries of cafés and music. I think we need to look at something that is a good strong, flagship-type project for Ennis. The food businesses are out there to populate a market and sustain a market, particularly from March to September. There is potential for looking at that but you need a dedicated space that is really set up for it and meets the standards that people have become used to. It also has to be attractive for tourists and locals as well.”

Prior to its abolition, the former Ennis Town Council set in train a process that could lead to the re-development of the Ennis Market.

The € 1.5 million project proposes the installation of covered market spaces in Garraunakilla.

Ms Graham was speaking at a public meeting in Ennis on Thursday on the topic of community led job creation in the food sector. She said the CLDC, the company which administers LEADER funding, has supported the establishment of 86 food enterprises in Clare over the last five years. She said those enterprises have created 109 jobs in the county.

CLARE’S landmark tourism destinations are open for business this summer, despite the damages done to many areas in this winter’s severe storms.

That was the message from Clare County Council yesterday, despite the admission from the local authority that the damage done during this year’s storms will take years to rectify.

Speaking at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, County Manager Tom Coughlan said that the local authority prioritised repair works which were essential to tourism location in the west and north of the county.

In response to a motion from Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind), the council admitted that repair works will take a number of years to complete.

“Ultimately, a multi-annual programme is required to deal efficiently with the extensive and varied instances of coastal damage which occurred in January and February last,” said a council spokesperson.

Cllr Curtin highlighted a lack of information coming from the Government, particularly concerning the allocation of money for damages caused during the February storm.

“There is concern out there, par- ticulary in the tourist parts of the county,” said Cllr Curtin.

“It has taken six months of locals enduring charges: they are paying property tax and housing tax, and their services are not being maintained.

“The delay is coming from a lack of response from Government. We got € 16 million [from the January storms], there was to be € 12 million from the OPW [sea armour and coastal defenses] and to date we haven’t had any of this.”

Cllr Michael Hillary (FF) said many areas will now face even greater damage as repairs and defense works will not be carried out before winter.

“In relation to a multi-annual programme which is needed now, we have reached an impasse.

“The funding which was promised has not been forthcoming,” he said.

“What is worrying me is that at this time of the year is when we should be carrying out this kind of work – while the seas are calm and the days are long, but there doesn’t seem to be any works being done on the ground.

“It looks like these people will have to face next winter without any works or defences being put in place. If we receive other storms this coming winter there will be a lot more damage next year.”

GARDAÍ are investigating early morning armed robbery at a business in Ennis town centre yesterday.

The incident occurred at around 7.30am at the Xtra Vision store in the market area of the town.

A man carrying a weapon entered the home entertainment and electrical goods store and made away with a quantity of cash.

A member of staff was opening up when he was set upon by the assailant at the front door of the premises.

It is understood the man who carried out the robbery was carrying a hammer. It was unclear yesterday if the victim suffered any injuries in the ordeal.

Gardaí in Ennis are investigating the robbery and are looking at CCTV footage from the area.

The incident follows a similar robbery at a family-run shop in Ennis last month.

At around 11.30am on Wednesday, May 21, a man went into a shop at the top of O’Connell Street in Ennis brandishing a knife and demanded money.

He was wearing a hoodie and a scarf to cover his face. He stole a sum of money from the till and then fled the scene on foot. No one was hurt in the robbery.

On May 27, Cassidy’s Pharmacy in Ennis was the scene of a raid occurred at around 2.30am.

Two raiders, believed to be males, used a sledgehammer to smash in the reinforced glass paneling on the front door of the premises.

The thieves filled bags with stock, mainly brand name men’s fragrances and cleared several shelves before leaving the scene in a black Volkswagon Golf.

Gardaí have urged business owners in the town to be vigilant and take appropriate security measures such as lighting and security cameras to protect their premises.