Category: News

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.

IN THE 24 hours after news broke that Doonbeg golf club and hotel was to become Trump International Golf Links Ireland, traffic to the Doonbeg website multiplied five times.

Eric Trump said the Trump name brought with it new recognition from people who may not even have heard of the west of Ireland, never mind Doonbeg, and testimony to the interest in the newly-acquired resort and golf course was evident from the online searches.

According to Doonbeg Managing Director Joe Russell the week had been full of bombshells.

“The initial atmosphere was one of surprise that somebody of Donald Trump’s stature, and international recognition decided to take on Doonbeg,” he said

The property and business was just four weeks in receivership when the deal was done.

“When it came on the market I found out it created a certain ripple around the market of ‘my goodness Doonbeg is up for sale, let’s go for it’,” explained Mr Russell.

Donald Trump Jnr, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organisation, had toured the golf courses of Ireland two years ago, and Doonbeg had left a lasting impression.

“It’s the location. It’s the quality of the property. It’s what we have done since we opened, in terms of awards, recognition, hospitality. We have our own selves and our own success to thank to get someone like Donald Trump here,” said Mr Russell.

“On a larger scale it is a huge vote of confidence for Ireland, West Clare, Clare. We got Donald Trump!”

“They are a big company, they have the resources, they have the engine in terms of marketing, there is a structure there as it relates to how one does things.

“It will probably move us out of our current comfort zone in terms of how we do things, but that is to be expected when you join an organisa- tion, when you change an organisation. If you went into a new job you would have to modify your practises and your approach as to how you do things. But they didn’t come here for no reason. They came here to take what’s here and take it to the next level in terms of the amenity development, and they are bringing a lot to the party too in terms of expertise,” said the managing director.

He is not surprised however that Doonbeg is an attractive location.

“It is a very special destination and at least now we have a very good chance. The day you stand still in this business you are dead in the water,” he added, happy that there is potential to develop the tourism business further.

“Everywhere this organisation goes it appears to have an affect. There is an immediate impact. There is an operational impact. For me they expand our facilities again, I don’t have definitive on what they are talking about doing but there will be things put in to grow the business.”

When the golf course opened more than a decade ago, it brought with it the job equivalent of a major international company to a city.

“Something of this magnitude moving into a rural location in Ireland at the time was significant, it was major press, similarly you have a situation where you have Trump Organisation now coming into Doonbeg,” said Mr Russell.

But how will Trump tally with the area.

“How will it fit? Certainly the local community will see itself as responsible for a business being here at all. Many of them have worked with the club from a community perspective,” said Mr Russell adding that community involvement must be retained and built upon.

“It is not the castle on the hill. It is part of the community. If you ever move away from that ethos and you ever become anything other than that I think you are in trouble. 40 per cent of our market is North America, what most of those people want to do is go to the village, they want to drive around and if there is any hostility towards the club that will seek it out.”

“This is a destination now. You look around – Loop Head right up to Kilkee, to Doonbeg right up to the Cliffs of Moher, this is a destination.”

A YOUNG family lost not just the roof of their home but a lifetime of memories and numerous precious objects when storm Darwin took the roof from their house and destroyed their home in Rehy East, Cross.

The Abel-Cahill family are now staying in a house in Kilkee, as each day more of the ceiling disappears and cracks appear on the family home.

Mother-of-two Kim Abel is thankful however that her young family escaped physically unharmed.

“I am glad I had my daughter in the living room with me at the time of the storm, because if she was in her room napping she would have been covered in glass because the sky light came right in,” she said.

Terrorised Kim was at home with her six-month-old baby daughter Kaylana when the storm took hold at lunchtime on Wednesday.

Kim recalled how a tree and debris fell outside narrowly missing her car as the gale became stronger. The house began to shake and she began to panic.

The young mother screamed for her partner’s mother, Anna Cahill, who was on the other side of the bungalow building and then ran into another room to be with her.

“I was on the other side of the house with my mother-in-law when I saw something crash on the ground. It was the roof from the other side of the house, where I had just left,” she said fighting back the tears.

The two women decided to grab the baby and run for the car in an attempt to drive away from the house. Ms Abel’s partner, Paul Cahill, has just arrived home grabbed the two pet dogs and joined the evacuation.

Ms Abel’s other daughter Chloe (5) was still in school just a few miles away.

The devastation of the house came at the worst time for the family as they have planned baby Kaylana’s Christening for this weekend, and family and friends from as far away as Wales and England are to gather in West Clare for the special family occasion.

“We have lost everything we had in the house. Everything in the attic is destroyed, all my memories are ruined,” said Kim.

For Mrs Cahill too the event was both emotional and frightening as the house was built by her later husband for his family.

“I don’t know what we will do, but we are all staying together where ever we go.

We are all a family and we need to be together,” said Ms Abel.

The family are currently staying in a house in Kilkee, but are now also under financial pressure as they do not qualify for rent allowance as they own a house, albeit one they cannot live in.

“We are definitely not going to be home in the next few months,” explained Kim, who continues to be haunted by the traumatic events of Wednesday afternoon.

DOONBEG was this week welcoming the investment by the Trump Organisation in the local Greg Norman designed golf course and hotel, and said it is looking forward to working with the new owners.

The community in Doonbeg have experience when it comes to deal- ing with large international companies and local development, having initiated the development of the world-renowned golf course in the late 1990s and manoeuvred its way through many issues surrounding its later development and expansion.

Rare snails, rights of ways and access to the beach were all difficult and emotive issues that have been worked through in the community and in the courts, but that hard work is now done, according to Doonbeg Community Development Ltd.

The chairman of the community group Willie Hanrahan said the investment by the Trump family “secures the whole golf course; it secures the properties, it secures the jobs and the on going facilities in the area”.

He said the financial backing of the company will have a major impact on the area. “If they help with the coastal erosion and secure the property that would be fantastic.”

He has no concerns that relationships may sour down the line, as Doonbeg is an established golf course and facility.

“There are always problems when you set up something new. Doonbeg is there. It is established. We have been there and done that. We had problems with the rights of way. We had problems with the access to the beach. They have all been sorted. They are all secured now. There will always be ongoing issues but we have a very good relationship with the management, with Joe Russell at the moment and the current management and we would hope that will continue,” he said.

IRELAND’S oldest living person, Clare native Kathleen Snavely, celebrated her 112th birthday on Sunday by relaxing and getting her hair done.

Kathleen Hayes Rollins Snavely, who was born in East Clare on February 16, 1902, became Ireland’s oldest ever living person late last year when she overtook Louth woman, Katherine Plunket, and is now clos- ing in on becoming one of the oldest people ever to live on planet Earth.

Kathleen, who lives in Syracuse in upstate New York, is currently in excellent health and is now just three years from becoming one of the 10 oldest people ever to have lived. She is, however, still a long from becoming the worlds oldest person – that honour rests with Jeanne Calment, who was 122 years and 164 days old when she passed away in 1997.

Kathleen was born in Maghera near Feakle in East Clare in 1902. She emigrated to America in 1921 and set up a successful dairy, completely from scratch.

Up to two years ago, Kathleen was living independently, travelling on the bus and shopping for food, until she broke her hip and had to move into a local care centre.

Sr Kathy Osbelt, a friend of Kathleen’s, says that Snavely regularly talks about her experiences growing up in Ireland and her family.

“She talks about the wit and the appreciation for natural beauty. She is very funny and very feisty and loves a good story and to tell stories,” said Sr Osbelt.

“It is unfortunate that more people don’t know her. She is a treasure; she really is a peach.”

So far Kathleen has lived through two wars and survived 18 American presidents and two husbands. She never had any children.

Kathleen received a letter from President Michael D. Higgins last year and the centenarian bounty of € 2, 540.

AN ENVIRONMENTALIST has maintained that a windfarm, which is currently part of a planning application to Clare County Council, will be visible from Doonbeg Golf Course.

Friends of the Irish Environment director Tony Lowes, who in 2000 held up the construction of the course when he raised concerns in the high court about the protection of the microscopic snail Vertigo Angustior, told a Scottish newspaper that he now wants new owner Donald Trump to help back a campaign against the proposed nine-turbine wind farm.

The billionaire businessman reportedly ceased plans to build a second luxury golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, following a failed legal battle to stop the construction of an 11-turbine windfarm off the Scottish coast.

Last week West Clare Coastal Windpower lodged plans for the nine 126-metre wind turbines at Carrowmore South, Einagh and Shragh, two kilometres south of Doonbeg village.

The company’s previous plan for an “industrial scale” € 200 million windfarm at the same location was refused by an Bord Pleanála last July.

Local business people said this week that they were taking a “neutral stance” on the issue, and that the previous application went through the process without any major concern locally.

Mr Lowes is reported as saying he believes people will listen to Mr Trump rather than the environmentalists on the issue.

Asked about the Trump Organisation getting involved in any such issues locally, executive vice president Eric Trump said it was not afraid of taking on important issues.

“Maybe it is too early, but we have never been afraid to tackle important issues time and time again, and we have never been afraid to take on important issues,” she told The Clare People .

“We are not afraid to take on the fight for the betterment of the community and quite frankly often times the community looks to us to lean on, to help them and for that leadership and for the resources to do so.”

SHANNON-based mining company Mincon could be set to double in size over the next two or three years – with the prospect of more jobs coming on stream in looking increasingly possibly. That is according to Mincon’s “house brokers” Davy Stockbrokers, who in a letter to potential investors last week described the Clare company as ‘outperform’ and said it was primed for expansion.

“It has grown rapidly in recent years, while generating returns of over 20 per cent,” the Davy note said. “[The company is] a pure play on the structurally less volatile global consumable rock-drilling products industry.”

Earlier this year, the company’s two biggest shareholders gave employees € 1.2 million from their own private funds to reward them for their hard work over the years.

Company founder Paddy Purcell and Kevin Barry initiated the employee recognition plan, which excluded all members of senior management.

The money was paid to Mincon’s 140 eligible employees across the group and was based on years of service with a payment of € 1,000 per staff member per year of service.

The Shannon-based rock drilling engineering company was founded in 1977 and listed on the Dublin and London stock exchanges late last year. Many of the company’s Shannon-based employees have been there for a number of decades.

“It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Mincon Group employees that it has grown from its origins in Shannon into the interna- tional business it is today, with operations in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australasia and with its securities quoted on the ESM and AIM,” said Paddy Purcell at the time that the payment was announced.

“As the largest shareholders in the company, Kevin and I wished to take this opportunity to show, in a tangible and meaningful way, our appreciation to the staff for their contribution in bringing Mincon to where it is today and positioning it for the next phase of its development organically and through acquisitions.”

AN ENNIS woman has received an 18-month prison sentence for a string of offences including stealing money from a pensioner and assaulting a garda.

Ann Marie Molloy stole € 200 from 85-year-old Anne McCullagh as the pensioner walked through Paddy Quinn’s car park in Ennis on November 1, 2013.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Detective Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy said Ms Molloy grabbed Ms McCullagh’s handbag before running away.

“She was extremely upset and crying. She was tramautised by the whole experience,” said Detective O’Shaughnessy of Ms McCullagh’s condition after the theft.

Ann Marie Molloy, with an address at Ballaghboy Halting Site, Quin Road Ennis, pleaded guilty to punching and kicking a female garda at Ennis Garda Station on May 14, 2012. She also pleaded guilty to a number of other theft and trespass offences including a break in at the Maria Assumpta Hall, Station Road, Ennis, between August 29 and 31, 2012, and theft of a wallet from a woman in a cinema on February 12, 2013.

She also admitted damaging post boxes at the Mill Road apartment complex. The court heard it cost the owner € 595 to repair to damage.

Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client came from a large family of 13. She said Ms Molloy has learning difficulties and a drinking problem. “She’s a lovely lady with a horrible problem with drink,” she added.

Ms Godfrey urged the court not to impose custodial sentence but rather remand her client in custody for a period to “frighten her into understanding what she did”.

An offer to pay compensation to Ms McCullagh was rejected by Judge Patrick Durcan. He said he was not impressed by people who bring money to court trying to buy their way out of jail. He said he would much rather hear compensation had already been paid.

He said Ms Molloy engaged in “horrendous criminal activity” over a 12-month period. He said he was cognizant of her family background, physical and intellectual difficulties and problems with alcohol.

In the case of the theft from Ms McCullagh, Judge Durcan said the victim had “gallantly and valiantly fought back but had been left in a distressed state”. He imposed sentences totalling 18 months. Judge Durcan warned assaults against gardaí and the robbery of old women would be met with the toughest measures open to the court. Recognizance were set in the event of an appeal.

NORTH Clare farmers have pledged to fight on against the decision to sell the Ennistymon Mart to Aldi following a “fruitless” meeting in Ennis yesterday.

Three member of Ennistymon IFA met with representatives from Clare Marts for a number of hours yesterday, at a meeting facilitated by Clare IFA president Andrew Dundas.

At the meeting, a spokesperson for Clare Marts confirmed that the sale of the mart had been agreed by the board of Clare Marts, but said that contracts had yet to be signed and the sale was dependent on planning permission being granted.

Tom Clair from Ennistymon IFA said yesterday that the people of Ennistymon feel like they have been “sold-out” by their fellow farmers for a “few dollars” from a multi-national.

“The people up here will fight this to the bitter end, that is for sure. But we are desperate downhearted that this has happened,” he said.

“The way that this has come about is not right.

“After all that was gone through to get that mart there in the first place and now to have it sold out from under us by our fellow farmers. And just because they had a few dollars dangled down in front of them. It’s not right.”

Yesterday’s meeting followed a protest help by more than 20 North Clare farmers outside of Ennis Marts last Tuesday evening and a mass meeting of more than 450 people which took place in Ennistymon earlier this month.

Those opposed to the sale will now likely take to the planning system to try and block the sale going through by lodging planning applications once Aldi bring forward a proposal.

The land where the mart currently sits was gifted to the people of Ennistymon by the McNamara clan as an area for fairs.

“It is though that the mart’s deeds could yet contain a condition requiring it to be operated for agricultural purposes. The Clare People contacted Clare Marts in relation to this story but they had no comment to make.

AN ENGLISH conman who duped businesses on a € 1,300 “nationwide tour” of hotels in Ireland has received a 12-month prison sentence.

David Brown (57) was arrested by gardaí in Clare last week after failing to pay for food and alcohol at the Ravine Hotel, Lisdoonvarna, on February 11.

It came after gardaí issued a nationwide alert for Mr Brown’s arrest after he committed a string of similar offences at hotels around the country between January 25 and February 12.

He appeared before Ennis District Court on Thursday.

Mr Brown, with an address at Mallard Road, Scunthorpe, England, pleaded guilty to six changes of dishonestly by deception availing of food, accommodation and beverages.

The charges relate to Mr Brown’s stay at Creevy Pier Hotel, Ballyshan- non, Donegal, where he accrued a bill of € 333 between February 4 and 6; his stay at Lismore House, Lismore, Waterford, between January 25 and 27 where the bill came to € 382 and the Templemore Arms Hotel, Templemore, between February 1 and 3 where the bill came to € 271.

He also admitted offences at Dunning’s, The Octagon, Westport, between February 7 and 8 (€ 65) and Murphy’s Law, Barrack Street, Athlone, between February 3 and 4 (€ 150).

Judge Patrick Durcan enquired what type of food and drink Mr Brown availed of during his stays at the hotels. Inspector Tom Kennedy replied that the accused was “pretty accomplished at entertaining himself”.

Garda Shane Kavanagh of Ennistymon Garda Station said he arrested Mr Brown in the early hours of February 12 after the accused failed to pay for drink and food worth € 81 at the Ravine Hotel, Lisdoonvarna.

Garda Kavanagh told the court Mr Brown would typically tell hoteliers he was over from England to do maintenance work on telegraph poles. He would claim his colleagues were arriving in a few days and they would pay the bill. “He would book in on a Friday but by Monday morning he’d be gone,” added Garda Kavanagh.

The court heard Mr Brown travelled across the country by hitch hiking and getting lifts from fellow ‘guests’.

Insp Kennedy said Mr Brown has 50 previous convictions, many for deception offences, and was only released from prison in January.

Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client is divorced and previously worked as an unskilled labourer.

She said Mr Brown was homeless when he was released from prison and committed the offences as a means of surviving.

She said her client had mainly drank pints of lager and eaten burg- ers and pies during his time at the hotels. “The most extravagant thing he had was a Jack Daniels whiskey,” she added.

She asked the court to consider deporting Mr Brown back to the United Kingdom.

Judge Patrick Durcan said this was an “unusual case” one where like his countrymen did in the past, Mr Brown commenced his journey through Ireland in Waterford.

He said Mr Brown had perpetrated a “reign of commercial tyranny” against tourism businesses, many of whom are based in coastal communities devastated by recent storms.

“His spree, his nationwide tour, cost € 1,322,” added Judge Durcan.

“The only order I can make is one that forces the Irish people to pay € 1,700 a week to accommodate him further,” he said.

He imposed sentences totalling 12 months but suspended the final eight months on condition Mr Brown enter a bond to be of good behaviour. TWOmen have appeared in court charged in connection with an alleged burglary in the Corrovorrin area of Ennis. Patrick Ballard (28) and Michael Clune (28) are alleged to have entered 2 Corrovorrin,Tulla Road, Ennis as trespassers and attempted to commit theft therein.The charge relates to an alleged break in on December 11, 2013. Mr Ballard, with an address at Lifford Lodge, Lifford Road, Ennis and Mr Clune with an address at BridgeviewCourt, Ennis, both appeared before Ennis District Court onWednesday. The court heard the DPP has directed summary disposal of the cases in the district court. Legal aid was approved for solicitor Tara Godfrey. Ms Godfrey said she required time to seek disclosure fromthe State. The cases were adjourned to April 2 for the accused to enter pleas or to fix a date for hearing. A POLISH man who admits being in an intoxicated state at Ennis Cathedral will carry our volountary work in the town, a court has heard. Last November, Judge Patrick Durcan said he wanted Tomasz Hajduk (43) to get involved with a group like Ennis Tidy Towns to make up for his behaviour in the upper O’Connell Street area of the town on November 13. Tomasz Hajduk, with addresses at Sandfield Apartments, Sandfield Road, Ennis and Cree, pleaded guilty to being intoxicated to such an extent so as to be a danger to himself and to others. Gardaí found Mr Hajduk in an intoxicated state outside Ennis Cathedral and he has a number of previous convictions mainly for public order offences, the court heard. The case came back before Ennis District Court on Wednesday where solicitor William Cahir told the court his client had secured work with Ennis Parish on a voloutary basis. Judge Patrick Durcan adjourned the case to October 1 for review. Addressing Mr Hajduk, he said, “I expect you will so some work for the church”.