Category: News

A POLISH man who verbally abused children after drinking on the day of the All-Ireland hurling final behaved in a “contemptible” fashion, a court has heard.

Pawel Faldowski (26), an unemployed panel beater, roared abuse at members of the public and gardaí in Ennis town centre on September 8, Ennis District Court heard on Wednesday.

Mr Faldowski, with an address at Barrack Close, Ennis, pleaded guilty to engaging in offensive and abusive conduct having been ordered to desist by gardaí.

He also pleaded guilty to a second public order charge of being intoxicated to such an extent so as to be a danger to himself or to others.

Inspector Michael Gallagher said Mr Faldowski was falling in front of cars and being abusive to the public on Abbey Street on the night of the drawn hurling match between Clare and Cork.

The court heard he has 15 previous convictions.

Defence solicitor Angela Byrne told the court her client had been drinking all day and has very little recollection of events.

She said Mr Faldowski’s previous convictions all relate to drink.

Ms Byrne said he has taken steps to address his alcohol abuse.

Judge Patrick Durcan said he found the accused’s behaviour “contemptible”.

He imposed a fine of € 250. CLARE County Council has been fined € 5000 for breaching a licence by allowing odours escape from its landfill. At Ennis Circuit Court last week, Judge Gerald Keyes imposed the fine on Clare County Council after it pleaded guilty to the offence at its Inagh landfill on August 22, 2007. The council had initially pleaded not guilty to the offence before a jury on Monday with the case due to commence Tuesday and last two weeks. However the Counsel for the Council, Hugh Hartnett SC, told the court on Wednesday that his client would be pleading guilty to one count.

AFTER lying empty for almost a month, the old Ennis National School will re-open on Friday for the upcoming referendum.

The building has traditionally served as polling station for elections and referendums and will swing open its doors once again on October 4.

The site has been practically vacant for the best part of a month since pupils and teachers moved to the new school building at Ashline at the start of September.

The project involved the construction of a new 32-classroom school including ancillary accommodation. The design is of a St Bridget’s Cross layout – a central area with four separate wings of eight classrooms ema- nating from the core.

The school has moved from its former site on the Kilrush Road near Carmody Street where it had been located since 1973.

Ennis Town Football Club, who have been based at the Kilrush Road for a number of years, have retained the use of the pitch and dressing rooms at the old site but the building has been vacant. The Ennis Parish Council were asked about the possibility of opening the builder to cater for voters on referendum day.

Electricity will also be re-connected at the building this week. Polling cards have already been printed bearing the name of the old school. Voters are being asked to decide whether or not to abolish the Seanad and whether or the country needs a new Court of Appeal.

A NORTH Clare poet and writer has just won one of Ireland’s most prestigious short story competition for a story on Ireland in the recession.

Mary O’Donoghue saw off competition from more than 300 writers from all over Ireland to claim the Legends of the Fall short story competition.

He story, which is entitled ‘The Sweet Forbearance in the Streets’, tells the sport of a middle-aged woman whose husband has died and whose son has emigrated to Australia.

“It means a great deal to have been selected by writers whose work I deeply admire, Eilís Ní Dhuibhne, Donal Ryan and Fintan O’Toole. I wrote this story from a distance, so I’m especially honoured to be included in a series of writers responding to my home country’s thoroughgoing hardship and malaise,” she said

Miss O’Donoghue was born in Kilreedy in North Clare in 1975 but emigrated to America in 2001 and now lives in Boston. She teaches creative writing and literature in Babson Col- lege, Massachusetts, but returns to Ireland regularly to visit her family.

Her first book of poetry, ‘Tulle’, was published by Liscannor-based publishing company Salmon Poetry. She has since published a second collection of poetry, ‘entitled Among These Winters’, while her first novel, ‘Before the House Burns’, was pub- lished by Lilliput Press in 2011.

She has also won a number of awards including the Salmon Poetry Prize, a Hennessey New Irish Writing Award and two artist fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

A PRIVATE air tour company based in Mountshannon is bidding to have Davy Fitzgerald flying high this week, as it is proposing to fly the Clare hurling manager all over the county with the Liam McCarty Cup.

Harbour Scenic Tours are propos- ing to give the manager and members of the Clare team a scenic view of the county, covering almost every town and village in an hour and a half.

Operator with the company Darren McNamara said it was hard to get commitment for the venture the morning after the All-Ireland home coming, but he was convinced he already had an orange light for an air trip that would see the Liam McCarthy Cup leave the base in Mount Shannon and circle the county before landing at Shannon airport.

“This would have many benefits. It would get him everywhere in a short space of time, continue the buzz and give the company some promotion,” he said. Last night he was proposing the event for early Wednesday afternoon, so the children could run into the schoolyard and wave on the plane that flies between 300 and 500 feet high. He admitted however that those watching from ground level would not be able to see the Liam McCarthy cup or anyone on board, but maintained it would be a very special and unique event causing a stir around the county.

MEMBERS of Clare’s Nigerian community will gather in Ennis this week for events to celebrate the African country’s Independence Day.

The Association of Nigerian Community in Clare (ANCC) has planned a series of activities in Ennis that include football, a party with dancing, singing, fashion and Nigerian food.

A number of events including a fashion parade and a children’s awards ceremony are planned for Ennis CBS.

It is 53 years since the first Independence Day.

The association has invited the Mayor of Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council, Bishop of Killaloe, Garda Superintendent in Clare and other guests to grace the occasion.

The ANCC was first set up in Clare in 2007. One of the prime objectives of the Association of Nigerian community in Clare is to foster closer working relationships within all communities in Clare and also with the Nigerian embassy in Dublin. It exists as an advocate and to suppor t the welfare needs of Nigerians as well as to progress integration and to be valued, valuable residents of Clare.

“We are delighted to be celebrating Nigerian Independence here in Ennis which is home to many of us now, these events will give us an opportunity to showcase and share our culture and rich heritage from food music, fashion and dance as well as the history of Nigeria,” said ANCC President Francis Okeyebulor.

The father of five who was elected president of the ANCC in August said the association is also planning a number of charity events.

He adds, “As an organisation we want to help Nigerian people who are in Clare. We believe that integration to the Irish way of life is very important. We thing it is integral that people integrate with their local communities. We want to help Nigerian people who maybe in difficulty. The association had been dormant for a few years but we have a good committee in place now. We have resuscitated it and we hope the association can play a role in helping people in Clare.”

THE Irish Kidney Association has paid tribute to the West Clare Kidney Support Group as it has exceeded raising € 200,000 for the organisation during the past decade.

The enormous funding has been used for projects benefiting kidney patients and their families from Clare and throughout Ireland.

In recognition of the West Clare group’s fundraising, chairman of the committee of the West Clare Kidney Support Group, Tom Prendeville, was presented with an award.

The Kilrush man was instrumental in setting up the West Clare group.

Clare IKA board member Peggy Eustace, from Ennis, who accepted a presentation on his behalf, thanked the entire committee for the enormous contribution they have made to the Irish Kidney Association over the years through their annual walk from Kilrush to Corraclare, which takes place every May bank holiday weekend.

Projects which have benefited from the West Clare Kidney Support Group’s fundraising include the Irish Kidney Association’s Renal Support Centre, which has 12 ensuite bedrooms and is located on the grounds of Beaumont Hospital in Dublin; a Holiday Centre in Tramore, Co Waterford, which offers free week-long holidays for kidney patients and their families; and the establishment of a home haemodialysis programme rolled out by Beaumont Hospital benefiting renal patients from around the country including a patient from Clare.

The IKA’s Renal Support Centre, which opened in 2000, is open all year round and provides a dayroom and free overnight accommodation for kidney patients and their families from Clare and other counties.

Many Clare families have benefited from the use of the centre, which has become a home away from home for them when their loved ones are called for a transplant at Beaumont Hospital. Families of Clare transplant recipients from the living donor kidney programme have also benefited from the use of the centre. Also using the facilities are patients who have to travel long distances to various Dublin hospitals for outpatient visits and require overnight stays.

COST cutting measures have resulted in a reduction in polling stations in Clare for the referenda this Friday.

The 13 per cent reduction in polling booths will see the number reduced to 151, 24 less than previous referendum and elections.

The closure of two school houses in the west of the county will also have an impact on where some people can vote.

Those registered to vote at Clooneygullane (Clonigulane) Primary School will now vote at Cahermurphy Primary School, while those registered to vote at Baltard Primary School will now vote at Doonbeg Primary School.

Polling stations have also been amalgamated for financial reasons, therefore people registered to vote at Maria Assumpta Hall, Ennis, will now vote at Holy Family School, Station Road, Ennis, and the two boxes formerly at the Youth Centre, Kilrush Road, Ennis, will be amalgamated into one and moved to the Holy Family School.

Those to vote at the Kilrush Courthouse, Kilrush, will now vote at St Senan’s National School in Kilrush, while all voters to vote at the Boys Primary School on the Kilrush Road, Ennis, will continue to vote at this same location even though the school has relocated.

Returning officer for the county Pat Wallace said his team of workers will be much busier as a result, but he believes “it is doable for a referendum”.

He told The Clare People that this is something his office will continue to review on an on-going basis.

In areas such as Lahinch and Lisdoonvarna, where there were once two polling booths, there will now just be one. In total 83, 544 Clare People are registered to vote in the referenda to decide the proposed Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 and the Thirtythird Amendment of the Constitution (Court of Appeal) Bill 2013.

Turn out for referendum in the last number of years has been declining in Clare.

The last referendum – Children’s Rights Bill – was held last November and just 32.3 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote.

The voter turn out for the Stability Referendum the previous June was the lowest in the county in almost a decade at 49.8 per cent turn out in Clare, which was just short of the national average.

Just 30.83 per cent of the electorate in Clare turned out in June 2001 to vote on the first Nice referendum, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminal courts referendum.

This was a huge drop from the previously referendum of June 1999 when 60.05 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote for “Recognition for Local Government.”

In March 2002 just 39.29 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy, with 47.05 per cent voting on Nice 2 that October.

The largest turn out for a referendum in recent years in Clare was in June 2004, when 64.6 per cent voted on Citizenship.

THE odds on Clare having a representative in the European Parliament have lengthened following the redrawing of the constituency boundaries last week.

Clare has been removed from the now defunct Ireland North West constituency and has instead been placed in a new South constituency – which includes all of Munster as well as Carlow, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Wexford.

Current Labour TD, Michael Mc Namara was Clare’s leading vote getter in the last EU election – claiming 12,700 first preference votes. However, depending on the turnout and voting patterns, a candidate in the new constituency will need to win in the region of 100,000 votes even be in the running for a seat.

In fact, it is difficult to see how a Clare candidate could even get on the ticket for any of the major parties, who will likely contest the seats. Current polls suggest that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael would claim a seat each in the constituency if elections were held today, with Sinn Fein, Labour and second candidates from the main two parties likely to battle it our for the remaining seats.

With Fianna Fáil’s Liam Aylward (Kilkenny) and Brian Crowley (Cork) both elected at a canter last time out, it is difficult to see the party putting forward a Clare candidate. Similarly, with Sean Kelly’s location in Limerick, Fine Gael are unlikely to pick a candidate from his back yard who might draw suport away from Kelly.

Sinn Fein are likely to put their weight being one main candidate with Toireasa Ferris, who claimed 64,000 votes last time out, currently in the driving seat. Tipperary’s Phil Prendergast is likely to get the nod from Labour – even if she can’t spell Clare [she last week welcomed “Claire’s” inclusion in the new South constituency].

Despite the current political lay-ofthe-land, Clare TD Michael McNamara believes that the new boundary will help Clare candidates in the future. “The larger constituents will make it more difficult for new candidates, unless they’re already well known or have a party organisation,” he said. “If anything, the prospect of a Clare-based candidate would be improved. It seems to me that as a county we have a stronger link to Munster than Connaught. Just look at the Clare [hurling] team, more of them go to college in Limerick, Cork or Waterford than in Galway.”

CLARE could soon be celebrating a once in a thousand year religious occasion as the process has begun to make Liscannor man Thomas Cusack a saint.

The Korean Church has applied to the Holy See to begin the process which could one day lead to the Columban priest being beatified.

If he is successful, Fr Cusack would become Ireland’s fourth saint of the past thousand years; joining Cellach of Armagh, Saint Oliver Plunkett and Charles of Mount Argus.

Fr Cusack was killed by communist forced in Korean in 1950 and the Korean Church are seeking his beatification as a martyr.

The Liscannor man’s 15 years in Korea were marked by intense bravery and hardship. He refused to flee the county during the Japanese invasion in World War II and as a result spend a number of years in a brutal prisoner of war camp.

He again refused to leave the country when the Korean War erupted and was captured in 1950 by communist troops as they retreated north of the border following a battle on July 24, 1950.

Fr Cusack, along with a number of other Catholic priests, were martyred in “the massacre at Taejon Prison” with took place on September 24, 1950.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the Columban in Korea in 1933, the Korean Church has put forward a number of priests martyred during the Korean War for sainthood.

According to Fr Malachy Smyth, who has recently completed a documentary on the Columban Fathers in Korea, Fr Cusack would most likely have been more concerned with the work on the ground than any future accolades.

“The Korean Church has started the process and we will have to wait and see what happens from here. I’m not too sure how long this will take but it could be a large number of years,” he said.

“We [the Columbans] are not the sort who look for sainthood. We are much more interested in the work amongst the grass roots.”

Father Cusack was born in Ballycotton in Liscannor on October 23, 1910. He was educated in Ballycotton National School before going on to St Mary’s College in Galway.

He entered the Columbans in 1928 and was ordained in 1934. The following year he was sent to Korea and at the time of his death he was serving in Columban mission in Mokpo.

At present Ireland boasts a total of 166 saints. The vast majority of these saints were lived during the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries for which Ireland was known as the Island of Saints and Scholars.

AN APPLICATION to build a major extension to an aircraft and helicopter leasing facility in Shannon has been ruled not to be of strategic importance by an Bord Pleanála.

The planning authority last week turned down an application from Westair Aviation to a have a 253 square metre extension of their Shannon hanger deemed to be a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID).

If the company had succeeded in gaining SID status, it would then have been allowed to apply for planning directly to an Bord Pleanála – and not through Clare County Council. In addition to this, an Bord Pleanála would also have worked with the company to ensure that the planning process would be navigated as smoothly as possible.

Having failed to receive SID status the company must now apply directly to Clare County Council, should they decided to go ahead with the hanger extension. Any decision made by Clare County Council would then be open to an appeal to an Bord Pleanála, a process which could take a number of years to complete.

The proposed expansion would see Westair Aviation develop the large extension to the south side of their existing hangar, which currently forms part of their corporate jet hire centre.

Detailed plans for the proposed extension were not submitted to the planning authority but it was stated that the extended hangar would be not be higher than the existing structure and would accommodate larger aircraft. It was submitted that the use of the building would remain the same, just with an increased floor area. There is no indication from the submitted plans whether the expansion would have led to an increased workforce at the company.

In his report inspector Philip Green stated that the proposed development was too small to be considered a SID.