Category: News

A WOMAN has recalled the fright and hurt she felt as a young girl when her primary school teacher allegedly pushed her on a desk and forced his body on top of her.

The woman was giving evidence at the second day of the trial of an 80year-old retired teacher accused of 67 counts of indecent assault.

The man denies all charges, which relate to allegations between 1964 and 1985 at a Clare primary school.

The allegations concern 11 women who say they were assaulted by the man.

On Thursday at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court, the woman recalled an incident she alleges happened in sixth class.

She said the man pushed her on a desk and forced himself on top of her as she faced him.

“He was pushing his whole body weight down on me”, she said.

“My sister shouted stop, you’re going to break my sister’s back”.

The woman told prosecuting counsel Anthony Sammon SC that the incident was “very frightful” and “very hurtful”.

Defence counsel Roderick O’Hanlon SC put it to the woman that the incident at the desk never happened and that her memory is simply an “incorrect recollection”.

Under cross-examination, the woman maintained she had been assaulted by her former teacher.

“We were country children when we were subjected to this behaviour”, she added.

She said the children did not know what sex was but knew their teacher’s behaviour was “horrible” and “wrong”

She said they were “country children in a country school” when they were assaulted by the man.

She said it was a “no win” situation for the children because this was man in “power, all power” who knew their parents.

A 45-year-old woman told the court she recalled that when she was in fifth class, the teacher would sit beside her at her desk and touch her inappropriately.

She also recalled that the man used to admire her clothes.

She said the man used to hold her between his legs as he sat on a high stool at the front of the classroom.

She said she knows now the man was getting aroused.

“He had an erection and it was sticking into my back”.

In cross examination, defence counsel, Mr O’Hanlon SC, put it to the woman that his client never engaged in the type of inappropriate touching as detailed by her.

He told her she was “constructing a narrative” about what happened.

The fifth female complainant to give evidence told the court the former teacher was “very cross” and “very violent”.

She said she remembered one day when the man allegedly pulled one boy from his desk and proceeded to bang his head on every desk.

“I’ll never forget that. It was horrific”, she added.

Prosecuting counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Anthony Sammon SC, put it to the woman that corporal punishment was permitted at the time.

The woman told Mr Sammon she thought the accused’s behaviour was “excessive”.

The woman detailed assaults committed against her by her then teacher. She said they occurred with greater frequency, as she got older in fifth and sixth class.

Defence counsel Roderick O’Hanlon SC put it to the woman, the aggravated assault on the boy never happened.

He said no complaint had been made to the gardaí in respect of that time. The trial before Judge Gerald Keys commenced on Wednesday last and is due to continue today.

A MAJORITY of students in the classroom of a now retired teacher accused of indecently assaulting young school girls would say he was a “good teacher”, a court has heard.

The statement by defence counsel Roderick O’Hanlon SC was put to a woman who alleges the man indecently assaulted her on a weekly basis when she was in fourth, fifth and sixth class.

The woman was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of the 80year-old man who is charged with 67 counts of indecent assault at a Clare primary school between 1964 and 1985. He denies all charges.

The 48 year-old woman told prosecuting counsel Anthony Sammon the accused had “good days and bad days” as a teacher.

She said if the man was having a bad day, “somebody usually got hit really hard”. The woman said she recalled the man sitting down beside her and putting his arm around her.

She said the man would touch her breast area, thigh and inner thigh and genital area. She said all touching took place outside the clothes.

She said on more than one occasion she was brought to the front of the classroom where the man held her between his legs as he sat on a high stool. Under cross-examination from defence counsel Roderick O’Hanlon SC, the woman denied her recollection of the accused as violent man was “incorrect and untrue”.

Counsel put to it to the woman that the man “ran a classroom where the vast majority of students, their recollection is a good teacher”.

“It is an untrue account that you were ever sexually assaulted in this fashion”, he said.

“I was”, the woman replied.

When Mr O’Hanlon put it to the woman that the “atmosphere in the classroom was one of a normal happy classroom”, the woman said this was not true.

The accused, an 80-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied not guilty to each of the 67 counts when they were put to him at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday. A jury of seven women and five men has been sworn to hear the trial, which is expected to last between two and three weeks.

AN EAST Clare woman says she was treated ‘almost like a criminal’ by the HSE, when they accidentally sent her a full list of personal documentation belonging to another family earlier this year.

Noreen Keane has revealed that the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) sent her a complete list of personal information – including banking details, pay statement and lease documents – belonging to another family in February of this year.

The East Clare woman, says she was then treated by suspicion when she reported the HSE’s mistake and paid for the documents to be couriered safely back to Dublin.

“In February I got two envelopes in my door from the HSE. One contained all of my original documents from the HSE, and the other one contained the entire documents belonging to somebody else. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

“They had sent me somebody’s tax returns, their lease, their address, bank statement, pay statement, everything. I contacted them straight away and explained the situation to them.

“I was officially treated almost like a criminal and I don’t mind saying that. Even the wider situation surrounding the medical card they said that I was asking them to do something that was ‘illegal’,” she said. The Clare People contacted the HSE is relations to this story but no formal response was received at the time of going to press.

A LOCAL businessman has spoken of the “fright” his family felt after their home was broken into Ennis earlier this month. David Germaine and members of his family were asleep when their home at Brookville on the Lahinch Road was broken into in the early hours of Friday, June 13.

David and his wife Philomena were asleep when the thief walked into their bedroom and stole David’s phone.

“I had left it on the bedside locker. It was literally inches from my head. So whoever did it just came into the room and took it”, recalled David.

The thief also made of with a Samsung Galaxy Tablet 3 and a Sony Viaro Laptop. The loss of the laptop was a particular blow to the family as it contained precious family photographs. David is appealing for the laptop to be returned.

“The computer itself would be fair- ly old. Its pink in colour and a lot of the keys have been melted away..One of my daughters lived in Spain for a number of years and she has a lot of photographs stored on that computer from her time there. They mean an awful lot to her. She was absolutely devastated when she found out it had been stolen. You can replace the computer but you can’t replace what’s on it”, he explained.

David’s daughter Nicole has also issued an appeal through the social networking site, Facebook for the safe return of the laptop.

David, who runs a B&B at Brookville, said the break in left the family shocked.

“It is something that would frighten you. You would be a bit upset by it alright.

“My wife was very rattled by it. When something like this happens, when someone comes into your bedroom, you wonder what would’ve happened if you’d woken up”, he said.

Gardaí in Ennis are investigating the break in. It is though the thief gained access to the house through a downstairs sash window.

David, who also works as fisheries officer, said it took him some time to figure out the home had been broken into.

“I was expecting a call form someone at work. When I woke up I reached for my phone but couldn’t find it.

“So then I reached for my jeans but I couldn’t find them. I looked downstairs and saw them hanging on the banister at the bottom of the stairs”,

“My wife said she found them in the dining room. So I still couldn’t find the phone, so I went to get the laptop or the tablet to use Skype to make the call and I couldn’t find them. So I kind of worked it out then.

“He probably picked up the jeans but they started to rattle because of the belt so he took them downstairs”. Tue24June14

A CLARE Pro-Life group say they will continue to host pickets outside Timmy Dooley’s constituency office in Ennis until the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill is overturned.

The group held a hour long protest outside Deputy Dooley’s constituency office on Friday afternoon, to highlight the East Clare TD’s decision to vote for the 2013 bill.

The bill brought in a legal framework for the Supreme Court ruling of the X Case, more than two decades after the initial court ruling.

Fianna Fail leader, Michael Martin, allowed his Dáil deputies an ‘open vote’ on the bill with only five of his 19 TD’s, including Deputy Dooley, supporting the legislation.

The Clare Pro-Life group have also held protests outside the office of Pat Breen (FG) and Joe Carey (FG) but have not picketed the office of Michael McNamara (LAB).

“We come out here to protest because Timmy Dooley voted for the abortion bill [the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill].

“Most of Fianna Fail voted against it, but he unfortunately went along with Michael Martin and voted in favour of the bill,” said Maria Mahoney of Clare Pro-Life.

“We’ve had contact with the TD on a number of occasions. Before the bill went through we had a lengthy contact with him [Timmy Dooley] and he wasn’t to be budged.

“We are left with showing our disapproval with what he has done and protesting.

“The pro-life people who voted for him are not going to forget and we are not going to let him forget.

“It is a long way to the next election but people will support candidates based on the voting record in the Dáil.”

Deputy Dooley said that he wel- comed anyone who wished to express their views outside him office.

“People are fully entitled to exercise their views and they [the protesters] are welcome outside my office any time they like,” said Deputy Dooley.

“My vote is a matter of public record and anyone who would like to see it can.

“If some people have an issue with that [they way he voted] they are welcome to come and protest any time they like.”

MORE than 90 per cent of staff at Ennis General Hospital have voted to begin industrial action which could begin in as little as seven days.

The IMPACT trade union held the ballot at Ennis and other hospitals in the Limerick Hospital Group on Friday in response to the revelation that the HSE paid one of its local managers € 258,000, on a contract bases over a 13-month period.

The union claims that this role was previously carried out by a salaried staff member in the HSE who earning about € 80,000 per annum.

IMPACT will now bring the results of the ballot to the HSE and will begin industrial action within seven days if no agreement can be reached.

The industrial action will include a suspension of all contact between members of the IMPACT union and the manager in question but will not at this time include any withdrawal of work.

“The ballot was passed by about 90 per cent. I’m not surprised, I’ve rarely seen people this annoyed about a local issue within the hospital group,” said Andy Pike, IMPACT rep for Ennis General Hospital.

“Once notice of industrial action is served, no union member will taking instruction from that persons [the contracted manager], we wont be providing any information to that person or we wont be reporting to him.

“We are concerned that any form of industrial action that we undertake would not detrimentally effect patient services so this will be an inconvenience for people in the hospital group but it will not effect hospital services. “We plan to contact the HSE at national level and give them another chance to tell us when the contact with the individual will end. “If we get a satisfactory response to that engagement then the prob- lem can be solved. But if they still refuse to even inform staff when the contract is due to end then we will serve notice and the action will begin within seven days. “We think it is responsible to give the HSE another chance.” The contractor is paid in the region of € 700 a day – which amount to more than the total yearly salary paid to HSE secretary general Tony O’Brien.

FOLLOWING an exhaustive eighteen month campaign Clonlara mother Noreen Keane has had her son Ronan’s medical card returned.

Ronan, who suffers from Downs Syndrome, lost his medical card in early 2012. His mother Noreen has battled since to have it restored and this included protests at the Fine Gael Árd Dheis. “We managed to take on the government, take on the system and win. “The amount of people who contacted me who said they were not able to stand up and fight or where notable to have their voices heard.

This was never just about Ronan, for me it was about all of the kids in that same situation. To take cards from severally ill children and give them to well children is just not fair.”

BLAKES Corner in Ennistymon has received a facelift with the first round of cosmetic works taking place at the controversial site since a dispute about its future arose some six years ago.

Clare County Council have just completed paint work on the buildings at Linnane’s and Blakes in Ennistymon, restoring much of the exterior appearance of the listed strictures. The local authority have also paid for completion of roof repairs on the building, with major damage reported to have taken place at the site during this winters storm.

The works, which are valued at between € 3,000 and € 5,000, were prompted after local representative highlighted the poor condition of the building.

A proposal to fill in the steps in front of the building, and create a safer passageway for the thousands of cars which will use the junction each day to travel to and from Lahinch and the Cliffs of Moher has not been under taken. Clare County Council have also confirmed that consultants have been appointed to complete a feasibility study to examine a long term solution to the ongoing traffic difficulties at Blakes Corner. “The consultants have been appointed. A feasibility study is being carried out at present to explore the various options for delivering a resolution to traffic problems at the location,” said a council spokesperson.

The building at Linnane’s and Blake’s are at the centre of a dispute between Clare County Council, the National Roads Authority and local conservation group Saver Ennistymon’s Heritage. Plans to demolish the buildings and rebuild their facade a few metres back from their current location, in the process making way for a new road layout, are being opposed by Save Ennistymon’s Heritage.

Clare County Council and the NRA proposed building a roundabout at Blakes Corner to prevent ongoing traffic difficulties in the area and to make the roadway safe.

Save Ennistymon’s heritage would like the local authority to examine other possibilities – such as bypassing Ennistymon.

A CLARE film has been nominated for its first major award – even though it is yet to be given it’s big screen premier. A Nightingale Falling , a film set in Kilnaboy during the Irish War of Independence, has been nominated for this years Bingham Ray New Talent Award. The film, which was shown to selected audiences at a preOscar event in Los Angeles in February, will receive its world premier at the Galway Film Fleadh next month. The Bingham Ray award recognises emerging talent in cinema and actor Tara Breathnach, who plays May in A Nightingale Falling is one of four people shortlisted for the prestigious accolade. A Nightingale Falling is based on the PJ Curtis book of the same name.

PJ’s novel tells the partially true story of a wounded English soldier who is taken in by a pair of Protestant sister living in Kilnaboy. It stars a number of professional actors as well as local star, Maura Clancy, a stalwart of the Corofin Players.

“The genesis of the story begins here [in Kilnaboy], where there were two Protestant sisters who came un- der some suspicion and even some ostracisation during the Irish War of Independence,” said PJ.

The film was shot in Daingean in Offaly and Tyrellspass in Westmeath last July by Irish based production company Mixed Bag Media. Mix Bad Media has its own Clare connection with Whitegate resident, Gerry Burke, working as co-producer on this film.

STAFF at Roadstone Woods in Bunratty will today begin their eight day of picketing in a dispute with the management over proposed cuts to bonuses.

Members of the SIPTU and TEEU unions agreed a six million euro cost saving package with the company in 2012 but the current dispute centres around a further € 10 million in cuts proposed by management.

According to local SIPTU rep Davy Lane, this cut will cost Clare staff in the region of € 20,000 between now and 2019 – when the proposed deal would expire.

“We have already absorbed more than € 6 million in saving for the company and now they are coming back looking to take another € 10 million.

“It became clear in the run up to the strike that the company would not budge on this € 10 million,” he said.

“This mean that our lads will loose bonus payment which are part of the wage structure.

“The loss to each of our members between now and 2019 is € 20,000. We told the management that that is not sustainable and we wanted a realistic proposition from them in relation to the cost savings.”

According to SIPTU the standoff is hurting both Roadstone Wood and its employees and is urging the company to go to the Labours Relations Com- mittee to discuss the situation.

“The picket started in Monday the 16th. We think at this stage that the cost to the company could be around € 5 million.

“The LRC (Labour Relations Commission) are in the background and SIPTU will always accept an invitation to attend the LRC. It’s a matter for the company whether they wish to avail of the LRC,” continued Mr Lane. The strikers are receiving strike benefit from the union.

“They are down a weeks wages at this stage so they are not doing too great, and the prospect of a second week ahead.

“Everybody is losing with this, but it is a matter for the company to move on this.”