Category: News

NO DECISION on the construction of a new multi-million fish farm off the Clare coast will be made until August of this year at the earliest.

Speaking in the Dáil last week, the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), said that a final decision on granting a fish farm license is six months away and could even be delayed further because of the large number of submission made my members of the public in relation to the farm.

The proposed twin fish farm, which are proposed for adjacent sites eight kilometres off the Fanore and Doolin coasts, have already created a large amount of controversy with local anglers, fishermen and environmentalist coming out against the proposal.

According to Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Government agency who have applied for the license, the fish farms could create hundreds of jobs in the North Clare economy.

The other state fisheries agency, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) have come out against the proposed fish farm, saying it will damage local sea fisheries. There has been an ongoing war of words between the two organisation since the farms were first proposed in October of 2012, with each side providing contrary scientific studies on the potential effects of the farms, and the impact on sea lice numbers in wild salmon in particular.

Calls have been made in recent weeks for Minister Coveney to step back from the license decision, with many anti-fish farm campaigners ac- cusing him of being biased in favour of the development.

“There is always a strict separation between my Ministerial role as decision maker in respect of aquaculture licence applications and my Ministerial duty to promote the sustainable development of the industry. This separation of duties is strictly observed,” he said in the Dáil last week.

“The fullest consideration is being given to all submissions received as part of the statutory and public consultation stages of the process.”

CLARE will be the first Irish contingent up Fifth Avenue, New York, this St Patrick’s Day.

Led by the Tulla Pipe Band, which was invited specially to the world famous St Patrick’s Day parade, the Banner county will take prime position as this is the 125th anniversary of the Clare Association in New York.

In all, delegates and mayors from Ennis, Kilrush and Shannon Town Councils as well as from Clare County Council will travel at an estimated cost of € 17,000.

Mayor of Clare Councillor Joe Arkins (FG) will travel to Brooklyn and New York and take part in both parades.

County Manager Tom Coughlan, Director of Services Ger Dollard and the Shannon Town Manager will join them. As well as representing Clare at special events, the delegations will also meet with the IDA and tourist interests abroad. The cost of sending the delegation from Clare County Council is € 6,900 in total.

Meanwhile, for the last time ever a Shannon delegate will be represented at the Union County St Patrick’s Day parade in New Jersey.

Mayor of Shannon Cllr Greg Duff (Lab) and town clerk Liam O’Connor will travel first to New Jersey on the invitation of the Union County Emerald Society and then on to New York.

For the last two decades, since the parade began there has always been a Shannon representative in attendance, however, this will cease after this year with the dissolution of the town council. The cost of the Shannon delegation’s trip is € 3,000 in total.

For the last time ever a mayor from Kilrush will also travel to New York for the parade. The Mayor Cllr Paul Moroney (Ind) and town manager were invited to attend by the County Clare Patriotic, Benevolent and Social Association of New York City. As the town manager is unable to attend, Kilrush Town Council voted that the town clerk John Corry deputise for her. The all in estimated cost of the trip is € 4, 500.

Mayor of Ennis Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) has also been invited to represent the county town in New York.

As she is unable to attend it is understood Cllr Brian Meaney (FF) will travel in her place.

A KILRUSH man described as having a serious heroin problem and held in “high regard” by a district court judge had a seven months sentence suspended for two years at Kilrush District Court on Tuesday.

Anthony Kelly (34), with an address at 5 Place de Plouzane, Burton Street, Kilrush, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and failing to stop for gardaí on the N68 on August 23, 2011.

He also pleaded to assaulting a Garda Sergeant in Kilrush on March 19, 2012.

The court heard that gardaí saw Mr Kelly driving erratically along the N68 towards Kilrush and was veering right and left across the road for no apparent reason. He then overtook two vehicles on a continuous line.

When gardaí indicated for him to stop he increased speed and passed two more cars.

In the townland of Clooneylissaun, Kilrush, Mr Kelly’s car met a woman and two young children walking along the road and they were forced to move in to avoid the car the court was told. The defendant refused to stop shortly afterwards again for gardaí at Burrane Upper.

In total Mr Kelly faced five charges of Dangerous Driving Section 53 (1) (as amended by Section 51 of the Road Traffic Act 1968) and 2 (b) (a amended by section 18 of the Road Traffic Act 2006) of the road traf- fic act 1961 at Darragh, Druinineen, Clooneylissaun, Parknamoney, and Ballymacurtain.

He was also charged with two counts of refusing to stop for gardaí contrary to section 109(1) Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended by Section 6 Road Traffic Act 1968 and Section 012 Road Traffic Act 1961, as amended by Section 18 of the Road Traffic Act.

Jude Patrick Durcan said that as all charges related to the one incident he would have to deal with it as such.

He sentenced Mr Kelly, who had numerous previous road traffic convections, to four months in prison for what he regarded as the most serious incident of dangerous driving at Burrane Upper and struck out the other dangerous driving charges.

He fined him € 300 for failing to stop for gardaí at Burrane Upper and took the other charges into account.

The court also heard that on March 19, 2012, gardaí were called to a disturbance in Kilrush. They found Anthony Kelly kicking at a door and noticed a strong smell of alcohol from him.

Prosecuting Garda Inspector John O’Sullivan said the defendant was spitting and shouting obscenities at gardaí. Mr Kelly then left the area on the Gardaí’s request but returned.

“He came up to Sgt Lavin, put his face to Sgt Lavin’s face and then pushed him in the chest,” said the Inspector.

Mr Kelly pleaded guilty to Section 2 of Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

“There are two things I don’t like. I don’t like biting and I don’t like spitting. And I don’t like hearing Sgt Lavin was pushed around,” said Judge Durcan.

Judge Durcan sentenced the defendant to three months for the assault on Sgt Lavin to run consecutive on the four months sentence for dangerous driving.

He suspended the seven month sentence for two years and released Mr Kelly on his own bond of € 100.

“I feel both are matters for a prison sentence and I am baring that in mind,” the judge said.

“The offences before this court today are hugely serious and should you come before me again then you will serve a sentence,” he told Mr Kelly.

“To be fair to this man he has tried, he has fallen off the wagon and he is trying again,” said the District Court Judge.

He said he held the defendant in “high regard as a young man”, but that he would not have a situation where a senior member of the Gardaí was abused and where and innocent members and the public – a woman and children – were put in danger.

Solictor for Mr Kelly, Fiona Hehir said her client had a serious heroin addiction for years.

She said the father of three, with one on the way, had been making great progress in Galway and was now back in Kilrush and meeting with his GP and Sláinte regularly.

He was trying to get back on a methadone programme and was on a list for a rehabilitation facility in Cork.

AS MANY as 420 women and children, who were victims of domestic abuse, or an average of three families every week, were turned away by Clare’s women’s refuge centre last year as there was no room to house them.

A total of 148 women and 272 children had to be relocated in other counties or housed with friends, as the service struggles under monetary cuts and a growing need.

While there are no official Garda or CSO figures to record the number of domestic crimes in the county, Clare Haven has come in contact with 466 families affected by domestic abuse last year alone, with many other families understood to be suffering in silence.

Clare Haven, which is working to capacity, is forced to assess the safety of the families presenting at the service and often times work with refuges in Limerick and Galway to find a place for those in immediate danger to stay.

Each year since 2008, more and more of the Government funding for the service has been cut, with the service now very reliant on charity fundraisers.

In his address to the Joint Oireachtais Committee overseeing legislation on domestic abuse, Clare Senator Tony Mulcahy (FG) said it is his belief that an immediate barring order should be issued to the instiga- tor of the abuse banning him or her from the family home.

“We need to take the criminal out of the house and then we would solve a lot of the housing problems,” he said.

As many as 99 families were homed by Clare Haven last year, including 184 children, while there was no room for 148 more families.

A further 219 women are being supported by Clare Haven’s outreach service in their own homes. Some of these women are still with their partners.

Clare Haven caters for women and children only, while male victims of domestic abuse are asked to contact the national organisation AMEN.

Despite the pressures on the Clare women’s refuge, ensuring the safety of the women and their families is paramount according to Clare Haven manager Denise Dunne.

“When someone rings us up, or through outreach as well, the first thing we do is assess the safety of them and their children. If it is something like they are high priority and they absolutely need refuge we would try to see if there are spaces in one of the other refuges such as Adapt in Limerick or Waterside in Galway. We work very, very closely with them. If the woman goes to Adapt or to Waterside when a room does become available we would take her back to Clare,” she said.

“If it is a thing she can stay with family members or friends and it is safe for her to do so, again we will say ring back in as day or two and we will see if we have a room available then.

“But part of the problem with the refuge been full all of the time it is very hard to move women on now. There is huge thresholds for rent allowance,” the manager explained.

“Also there are regulations around the housing list that is making it difficult for women to get on the housing list as well, and finance is huge as well,” she said.

“It is becoming very, very hard for us to keep the services running with the continuing cuts to funding as well. We were cut by 2.5 per cent by the Family Agency this year and that has been consistent with since 2008.”

In 2012 SAFE Ireland, the umbrella group for organisations that help victims of domestic violence, recorded that 8,449 women and 3,606 children received direct one-to-one services from specialist domestic violence support services in Ireland. In addition, in this same year domestic violence services answered 50,077 helpline calls across the country.

A FAMILY has been plunged into sadness following the tragic death of a grandmother in Ennis on Sunday.

The 74-year-old woman was with her two young grandchildren in the Francis Street area of the town when the accident occurred.

Josephine Lucas was struck by a reversing car near the Aldi and Tesco shopping centres. Despite the best efforts of emergency services, she was pronounced dead at the scene. Gardaí are investigating the incident, which they have described as a “tragic accident”.

They have appealed for the members of the public who may have witnessed the accident to contact them at Ennis Garda Station.

CCTV footage of the area will also be studied as gardaí attempt to piece together the sequence of events that led to Ms Lucas’ tragic death.

It is thought she was at the rear of the car putting shopping into the boot, when it suddenly reversed and knocked her over.

Ms Lucas’ granddaughter and grandson who were with her were unhurt but were treated in hospital for shock.

The accident occurred at around 1.30pm and the road was closed for a period. Two units of the fire brigade from Ennis along with two ambulances and rapid response advanced paramedic responded to the incident.

VISITING restrictions have been put in place at the region’s largest hospital in a bid to curb the spread of influenza.

Last week the HSE advised that people be vaccinated against the seasonal flu as eight people have died so far this season as a result of the flu.

Just last night, (Monday) University Hospital Limerick was added to the list of hospital with visitor restrictions, which bans children visiting the hospital at any time during this period.

Visiting is permitted during normal visiting hours only, from 2pm to 4pm and 6.30pm to 8.30pm, with one visitor only allowed to visit a patient.

“Visitors who arrive outside of these times will not be permitted to enter the hospital,” a spokesperson said.

“Hospital authorities have reminded the public of the importance of complying with these restrictions, as visiting is a major contributing factor in spreading the disease,” she added.

The public are requested to co-operate fully with the advice and instruction of staff.

The HSE confirmed that there are no reports of any patients with flu in any of the four elderly units or hospitals in Clare or at Ennis Hospital.

The HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre figures show that five children aged under four years have been required to go into an intensive care unit in hospital and there has been a total of 31 under fours admitted to hospital with flu symptoms.

There were 34 people with confirmed influenza hospitalised last week, up from 26 the week before, and bringing the total to 118.

There has also been one confirmed case of swine flu in Cork.

A DISTRICT Court judge has criticised “some solicitors in Ennis” for abusing the legal aid system.

Judge Patrick Durcan made the statement when Ennis solicitor Tara Godfrey failed to appear at Kilrush District Court on Tuesday, to defend a client who was on free legal aid.

Ms Godfrey, a sole practitioner, was in Ennis Court House on that morning, where the circuit court was sitting.

At the beginning of the Kilrush hearings Kilrush solicitor Michael Ryan told the judge the Ennis solicitor was on her way and the case was put to the end of the list of hearings.

Just after 12.30pm the case was called again, but Ms Godfrey was not in attendance.

Mr Ryan said he had just spoken to her and she was leaving Ennis. Judge Durcan said that the hearings in Kilrush were finished for the day and criticised what he believed were “some solicitors abuse” of the legal aid system. “The inspector is here, the witnesses are here and the person who is in receipt of the free legal aid is here. If people have too many balls in the air they should pass some of those balls on,” he said.

He remanded the case to Ennis court the following day stating he wanted an explanation as to why the solicitor who was assigned under the free legal aid scheme was not in court. The judge then told the senior law practitioner in the court, Gearoid Williams, that he wanted the issue brought to the attention of the Clare chair of the Law Society.

He asked him to express his “complete disquiet at the total abuse of the free legal aid system”.

Mr Williams said Ms Godfrey did intend to be at the Kilrush court and was sure she meant no disrespect.

“It does appear to be abuse of the free legal aid system. This is a total abuse and our country cannot afford this,” said Judge Durcan.

He added some solicitors in Ennis were behaving like this but said he had not any issues with the solicitors that come before his in Kilrush Court.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Ms Godfrey said she “apologized unreservedly” for what happened in Kilrush on Tuesday. She told the court she had been out of the office on Thursday and Friday and was unaware she had a conflict between the district court and circuit court.

Ms Godfrey said had she known, she would have passed the case to a colleague in Kilrush. “I apologise unreservedly….I can say it will not happen again,” she added.

Judge Durcan said he accepted Ms Godfrey’s apology. He said he raised the issue because gardaí, clients and the court services were discommoded.

“I felt that the public were let down by what happened,” he added.

CATTLE rustling is becoming a major problem in Clare with more than five incidents taking place on the county’s farms over the past nine months.

Thieves are now understood to be entering farms at night, feeding animals under the cover of darkness in order to gain their trust, before attempting to steal them at a later date.

According to Superintendent Derek Smart, thieves are now able to gain access to cattle ear tags on the blackmarket, allowing them to reintroduce stolen animals into the food chain.

At present, all cattle must have a valid ear tag, which tracks the animal from birth to slaughter. The accurate tagging of cattle is important to ensure the tractability of meat – to ensure that meat from animals is labeled correctly.

This is important not just in terms of preventing stolen cattle from entering the food chain, but also from preventing horse and donkey meat from being labelled incorrectly as beef.

“In the last six or nine months we have had five incidents with cattle being stolen in Clare. We work very closely with the Department of Agriculture officials on this, conducted a search over the past two weeks and interviewed one individual with reference to cattle being taken in and we will be sending a file to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP),” said Superintendent Derek Smart at last nights meeting of the Joint Policing Committee of Clare County Council and Clare Gardaí. “People are getting tags from somewhere – that seems to be the case. These people are obviously building up the trust of the animals over a number of night. So they can come in the dead of night and take the cattle.”

East Clare Councillor Pat Hayes (FF), also confirmed that people have been entered farms at night – attempting to build up a relationship with animals before attempting a theft.

“There have been a number of incidents around our part of the country where people have tried and failed to rob cattle,” he said.

“There has been plenty of evidence that they [the cattle rustlers] have been feeding the cattle in order to gain their trust which is incredible.”

Mayor of Clare, Joe Arkins (FG), said that there could be another horse meat scandal in Ireland if tags are allowed to be traded on the black market.

“I have had several hundreds of cattle since the new tagging system came in and there is no problem getting new tags. I think there is need for some sort of vetting system before a farmer can can get new tags,” he said.

THE number of serious drug offenses in Clare increased by almost 70 per cent 2013 as Gardaí crack down on dealers in the county.

Figures release by Clare Gardaí last night reveal a dramatic increase in Section 15 drug offenses last year, which deals with the sale and supply of illegal drugs. There was also a sizable increase in both minor, Section 3, drug offenses in Clare as an increase in the number of drug driving offenses.

There was a total of 74 Section 15 offenses in the county last year, an increase of 30 offenses or 68.18 per cent on 2013. These figures do not include a major crackdown on cannabis grow houses conducted by local Gardaí in January of 2014, with more than six grow houses in the county being raided during this period.

Indeed, according to Superintendent Derek Smart, the public has played a role in the increased detection of serious drug offenses, with landowners reporting unusual activity in rented or abandoned rural houses.

“It is thanks to the public that a number of these seizures took place. We put the word out through the media and it was thanks to information received from the general public that we were able to make some of those recent seizures,” said Supt Smart.

Drug driving offenses increase by 62.5 per cent in Clare last year, with 13 offenses in total, rising from eight in 2012. There was also a sizable in- crease in Section 3, drug possession offenses last year with 200 incidents in total, up from 154 incidents or a 29.87 per cent year on year increase.

East Clare Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) urged members of the public in rural parts of the county to report anything suspicious taking place in isolated buildings.

“I would like to compliment them [the Gardaí] on the number of cannabis grow houses which have been tackled around the county,” he said.

“With the number of isolated houses that we have around the community I think it is important to get the message out to people that people need to look in on these houses.”

It was also confirmed yesterday that were 53 behavioral warnings or ASBOs issued by the Clare Gardaí in 2013.

BURREN film ‘Songs for Amy’ will be given it’s full Irish big-screen premiere in Dublin on May 1.

The film, which was both written and produced by Burren based writer Fiona Graham, was premiered in Los Angeles in 2012, but Irish audiences will now finally get the chance to see it on the big screen.

The film was recorded in the Kinvara area in 2011, and features a number of local actors and musicians including Jim McKee from Belharbour and Ultan Conlon from Kinvara. The film features a number of well know stars including Sean Maguire, Lorna Anderson and Patrick Bergin – who plays an older musician in the film.

It has already won a number of awards on the international film festival circuit, including the Jury Award for for Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking at the Newport Beach Film Festival in California.

Following the Dublin premiere on May 1, ‘Songs for Amy’ will open in selected IMC Cinemas from May 2. It is not yet clear if the film will be shown in cinemas in Ennis, Limerick or Galway.

Burren based Sonny and Skye Productions, which produced the film, have also just joined forced with Los Angeles based company Traverse Media, in a effort to help ‘Songs for Amy’ get a widespread screening in America.

They have launched a crowd-funding campaign to help support the promotion of the film. The Indiegogo campaign asks members of the public to pledge support for the film in return for t-shirts, location tours and even meeting the cast.

“We are truly excited to be bringing American audiences ‘Songs for Amy’. It’s got all of the elements that make for a great movie, and we expect film fans everywhere will fall in love with this movie like we did,” said Jason Tyrrell, acquisitions director at Traverse.