Category: News

THE new West Clare Municipal District has been described as unmanageable and a thinly cloaked attempt to downgrade Clare County Council.

Councillors at last Friday’s meeting voted to write to the Department of the Environment and insists that the old electoral boundaries be restored.

In terms of geographical size, the West Clare Municipal Area is now the largest electoral area in the country, taking up just under half of County Clare. In a joint motion put forward by three councillors from the area, it was claimed that the council will not have the resources to meet the needs of such a large area.

“I think the boundaries as set out are wrong and I cannot see them working on the ground. The overall size of the area is unmanageable, there is just one senior engineer in Kilrush now, we lost one in Ennistymon. The idea behind this is to downgrade local government as was done with the NRA and Irish water. We should go back to the old system.

According to Ennistymon Cllr Richard Nagle (FF), the council will face major budgetary difficulty in the years ahead.

“What we are facing as we go about preparing a budget for 2015, is that we are now totally dependent on the Department of the Environment to provide the finances that the people of this county have rightly come to expect,” he said.

“When the property tax was first introduced we were told we would get 100 per cent of the money. This year we are getting none, next year we are getting 80 per cent. We need to make sure that we don’t end up getting 80 per cent of the property tax but with the ministers from various departments taking back the funding we recieve – leaving us with the same level of funding or less.

“My fear is that we won’t be left with the money to live up to the promises that were made. These promises were made by the Department of the Environment and not Clare County Council.”

Independent Cllr Christy Curtin said the situation wasn’t ideal, but councillors had to work with law.

“I share the frustrations but the law is in place. There is now a challenge on us to use this as best we can to serve the people,” he said.

THE Government has been accused of treating rural Clare like a game of Jenga – and dismantling it one block at a time.

The comment was made by former Fine Gael councillor Ian Lynch (IND), while speaking on a motion regarding possible changes to the way in which social welfare is paid, which could put the future of dozen of Clare post offices in jeopardy.

The motion, which was put forward by Cllr Bill Chambers (FF), is seeking to prevent the Government from passing the new Social Welfare and Pensions Bill, which, if adopted, would remove An Post as the designated payment services provider for Social Welfare benefits.

“If this bill goes through Dáil Éireann, something like 500 post offices will be under threat and I would like to think that that won’t happen,” said Cllr Chambers.

Speaking on the motion Cllr Lynch told the Government to “back off” and stop threatening rural services.

“They are playing a game of Jenga with rural Ireland. They’re pulling out the blocks one by one and it’s time we told the Government to back off,” said the former Mayor of Kilrush.

The motions comes as discussion are ongoing about the future of the Cratloe Post Office with a number of other Clare post offices understood to be under threat.

“They are trying to close down a post office in our area at the moment. It will have a devastating effects on our community,” said Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind).

“It seem that someone up in Dublin just makes a decision to close down a post office and does not have any consideration with the local community at all.”

The future of Cratloe Post Offices is set to be decided in the coming weeks. A local group made a submission to an post 10 days ago and are awaiting a response from the company.

COUNCILLORS in Ennis have called on the Minister for Transport to release funds for the development of a € 250,000 roundabout on the Tulla Road in Ennis.

Clare County Council is proposing to develop a roundabout near Oakleigh Woods and Cappahard to alleviate traffic issues in the area.

Residents have long campaigned for the measures to improve safety on the road.

At the July meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee (MDC), councillors agreed to write to the Minister for Transport to see if funds are available for the project.

The discussion stemmed from a motion tabled by Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF). Cllr Colleran Molloy wants the council to address the need for “additional signs for Ennis town centre on the northern part of the motorway at the current Tulla / Scariff exit”.

She is also seeking brown exit signs at the current Quin exit for Quin Abbey and Knappogue Castle.

In his reply, Eamon O’Dea, Senior Executive Engineer, stated, “Junction 13 on the 18 is not intended as a primary access road to Ennis and provides a means of direct access at R352.”

He continues, “I would not be recommending the inclusion of Ennis on the signs at junction 13 until the Cappahard Roundabout is constructed.”

Mr O’Dea told the meeting that any motorway signs encouraging traffic to access the town centre via the Tulla Road would put “severe pressure” on the route.

Mayor of Ennis MDC, Johnny Flynn (FG) proposed the committee write to the minister’s office to seek funds for the roundabout.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) said the roundabout is badly needed. Cllr Pat Daly (FF) described the project as “very important”.

Cllr Ann Norton (Ind) said there are a lot of families living in the area. She called on the committee to write a strongly worded letter to the minister.

In May, Director of Service, Ger Dollard told a meeting of the former Ennis Town Council that funding for the roundabout project is unlikely to be available in the short to medium term.

MORE than 16 families in the Cloughaninchy area of Quilty face an anxious wait this winter as it is now seems virtually certain that no fresh flood defenses will be in place before next year.

Residents of the area, which bore the brunt of severe storms in January and February of this year, face an anxious winter with little protection from a similar storm or high tide event. According to local councillor Michael Hillery (FF), Clare County Council have had its hands tied on this issue – as central government have yet to respond to a funding request following St Bridget’s Day Storm last February.

“There is no firm date for works to start in the Quilty, Tromera and Cloughaninchy coastline.

“We are currently awaiting a response from central government in relation to the February storm damage assessment and coastline protection works. When this response is received we will be able to progress with a fully resourced programme of coastline repair work for the entire county,” said a council spokesperson last week.

According to Cllr Hillery, people in the area are already starting to get nervous ahead of possible storms this winter.

“The council has put in a request but the Government has not responded so money can’t be allocated and work can’t be done. The council’s hands are tied, there is nothing they can do until they get some response from government,” he said.

“The residents are very concerned, especially for their homes, but the local roads and farms were also badly effected last year. It’s already too late, nothing will happen this year.

“The whole area are concerned but especially the residents of Cloughaninchy. These people are facing next winter with nothing in place to protect them if something happens again this year.

“We had a number of Ministers down here and they all made promises. It really was just a PR visit and nothing has actually happened.”

A WOMAN whose home is due to be repossessed by a financial institution has been told she will be able to stay there for Christmas.

The woman was one of a number of debtors who appeared at a sitting of the County Registrar’s court at Ennis Courthouse on Friday.

A financial institution is seeking possession of the woman’s house in Clare. Details of the application were not heard, as this was the first time the application was before the court.

County Registrar Pat Wallace asked the woman who was living in the house. The woman said she and her two children were still in the property. She said she would not be contesting the application. Mr Wallace adjourned the application to November 14.

“Do you think I’ll still be in the house for Christmas,” she asked the registrar. He told her she would.

In another case, the county registrar advised a couple seeking to adjourn an application for repossession to “stop this mumbo jumbo for legal aid”.

The couple owes € 74,795 to AIB for a mortgage in South East Clare.

The defendants, who were not in court and not legally represented, have failed to make monthly repayments.

Solicitor for the bank said attempts to make the couple re-engage with the process have proved unsuccessful.

Mr Wallace said, “I don’t know what is going on with these defendants. The money is not insurmountable.”

The court heard that couple are attempting to get legal aid and have sought an adjournment of the application.

The registrar said he believed the application was a “waste of time” as he believed legal aid would not be granted.

He told the bank’s solicitor to make contact with the debtors. He said it was time for the couple to start engaging with the process. “Tell them facts of life and that something is going to happen”.

“They have to stop this mumbo jumbo with legal aid that will probably be refused,” he added.

He directed the bank to make contact with the debtors. He adjourned the application to November.

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 CEO of Shannon Airport, Neil Pakey, has invited members of public to attend a special meeting at the airport later this week which could see the establishment of a community led organisation to drive business in the airport.

Mr Pakey will himself chair the public meeting, which it is hoped will see the establishment of a ‘Friends of Shannon Airport’ organisation.

Speaking to the The Clare People yesterday, the Shannon CEO said that he has been impressed by the local support for the airport over the past year.

“The level of interest in Wednesday night’s meeting is another indication of the support and goodwill for Shannon.

“Should a Friends of Shannon Airport Group evolve from the meeting, it will be a very worthwhile exercise and we look forward to seeing what emerges,” he said.

“Since I came on board over a year ago as CEO, I have been really impressed with the goodwill within the region towards the airport.

“This has certainly strengthened with the gains we have been making in terms of new services and the positive news that our growth has generated.

“The region clearly recognises the importance of the airport.”

Member of ‘Friends of Liverpool Airport’ will also be in attendance at the meeting and explain how their organisation has helped in the development of the John Lennon International Airport in Liverpool.

Friends of Liverpool Airport was established by a small group of enthusiasts and people with a genuine interest in the well-being of Liverpool Airport and since then it has grown beyond expectations.

Their membership consists of people who want to be informed about the Airport, people who volunteer their spare time to help with specific airport needs such as tourist promotion and school tours.

The public meeting will take place at Shannon Airport this Wednesday, July 16, from 5.30pm. THREE North Clare schoolchildren will be the stars of a new RTE show this autumn. Robert Donnelly and Hannah Doyle from Gaelscoil De Hide Oranmore, and Keelin Fitzgerald from Kilnaboy National School, recently finished filming for the new RTE show ‘Bug Hunters’.

The show will hit the screens later this year as part of RTE Junior’s schedule of programmes.

Filming took place in recent weeks in the Burren and RTE studios. Robert, Hannah and Keelin were delighted to be involved with the show and are looking forward to seeing the end result later this year.

Bug Hunters is presented by Dr Michael Dugon. In each episode bug expert Michel meets up with three kids and takes them on an exciting bug hunting expedition.

As well as looking for, finding and discovering insects, Bug Hunters will allow the kids to handle these fascinating creatures and learn cool and interesting facts about them and their habitats.

Each episode of Bug Hunters is broken down into a separate environment. There are numerous animal-rich environments such as grassland, woodland, bogland, freshwater (ponds and streams), seashores, mountain/hills, farmland, urban areas (parks and squares) and houses.

Michel Dugon holds a Bachelor of Linguistics and Education from the University of Burgundy (France), a Masters in Ecology from Bangor University (Wales) and a Ph.D. in Zoology from NUI Galway.

From 2001 until 2005, Michel was employed as a lecturer and cultural coordinator at the French Alliance of Penang (Malaysia).

In 2005, Michel took over a reptile and venomous animal park on the archipelago of Langkawi (Malaysia). After discovering new populations of snakes and lizards, Michel was invited to pursue a M.Sc. in Ecology at the University of Wales Bangor. Michel graduated with distinction in September 2007.

THERE were emotional scenes at Ennis Courthouse on Friday as a retired teacher was found guilty on 59 counts of indecently assaulting former pupils at a Clare primary school.

Victims wept and embraced each other as a jury returned guilty verdicts against Pat Barry (80), of Well Road, Kilkee.

Barry denied 67 counts of indecently assaulting 11 girls at Moyasta National School between 1964 and 1985.

Judge Gerald Keyes had directed the jury of seven women and five men to find Mr Barry not guilty on eight of the 67 counts.

At the conclusion of the eleven day trial at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court, the jury today returned unanimous guilty verdicts on the remaining 59 counts.

Barry, who has hearing difficulties, sat with his left hand cupped around his ear, straining to hear Judge Keyes for the five minutes it took the Judge to read out the verdicts.

The jury deliberated for five hours and 35 minutes over two days.

They returned unanimous verdicts, 30 minutes after being told by Judge Keyes he would accept majority verdicts in each of the counts.

In the hallway outside the courtroom, the women hugged and wiped tears from their faces.

They declined to comment but one family friend spoke the “huge sense of relief” felt at the end long of the near three week trial.

The trial heard from 19 prosecutions witness including the 11 female complainants.

In evidence, the women detailed how Barry would grope and touch them on a regular basis primarily when they were in fifth and sixth class.

They recalled how Barry would call them to the top of the class and hold them between his legs while he sat at his desk.

The court heard he would press their hands onto his genitals.

Another woman recalled how Barry would squeeze into her seat beside her and put his hand up her shirt and on her private area.

“That was one of his favourites”, she said.

During the first week of the trial, one woman told the jury how, “That man molested me more times than I care to remember”.

The former teacher had been granted anonymity throughout the duration of the duration of the eleven day trial.

But after the verdicts were returned, Counsel for the State, Anthony Sammon SC, told Judge Keyes, it was the “express wish of the complainants” that he now be named.

Barry served as principal at Moyasta National School from 1964 and 1989.

The garda investigation into him was sparked by a complaint made in 2010 by a former student, referred to in the trial as Mr A.

That man has since passed away. Gardaí took 163 statements during the course of their investigation. Barry, who will now be placed on the Sex Offender’s Register.

The case was adjourned to October 28 when a date for sentencing will be fixed.

Barry, who will now be placed on the Sex Offender’s Register, was remanded on continuing bail.

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.

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.