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A YOUNG man who had taken a concoction of 10 valium tablets and seven cans of beer broke into a 61- year-old man’s home and attacked him, a court heard yesterday.

Dominic Hayes (19), of Inis Ealga, Shannon, and Philip Ryan (20), of R1- neanna View, Shannon, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at a house in Shannon on December 18, 2008.

Hayes was jailed for three years, while the case of Ryan was adjourned for compensation to be paid.

Garda David Laing told Ennis Cir- cuit Court that when gardai got to the house at around 1.40am, the owner was lying on the bedroom floor, cov- ered in blood. There was a wooden stick and frame of a child’s bike on the ground beside him. He said the bedroom window had been broken with the frame of a child’s bike.

The man told gardai that he saw the two defendants outside his bedroom window. Hayes broke the window with the bike frame and beat the man with a wooden stick and bedside radio. 400 in cash was also taken from the man’s bedroom. Damage, to the tune of almost €4,000, was caused to the victim’s property that night.

The two defendants were identified as suspects and were arrested a short time later in a nearby estate. Gda La- ing said they had to be given a rest pe- riod to sober up from the alcohol and drugs they had consumed that night.

The court heard that Ryan had told Hayes to leave the man alone, as he had a medical condition.

Both men were described as com- ing from dysfunctional families and both have abused drugs and alcohol. Hayes had 18 previous convictions, while Ryan did not have any.

Hayes’ barrister Lorcan Connolly (pictured below) said his client had consumed 10 valium tablets and seven cans of beer that evening. He described his client as a ‘Jekyl and Hyde’ type of character, who changed dramatically while under the influ- ence. He asked for light at the end of the tunnel for his client.

Ryan’s barrister Elaine Houlihan said this incident was very much out of character for her client and said it was not professionally planned. She said he was easily led. ““There was an element of regrettable opportunism to the crime,” she said. Ms Houlihan said her chent could offer €1,300 in com- pensation. His case was adjourned for further money to be paid over.

Referring to Hayes, Judge Carroll Moran said the evidence was he was the most culpable and said the attack was “gratuitous, unprovoked, out of the blue”.

THREE north Clare community groups are battling it out to see who will claim the lion’s share of €10,000 in local funding as part of the AIB Better Ireland Programme.

The Ennistymon After School Club, Liscannor Child Care Services and the Ennistymon Vocational School’s Young Men’s Group are each look- ing for local people to vote for their chosen charity.

The Ennistymon branch of the AIB will share out €10,000 between the three shortlisted projects, with first place receiving €5,000, second place €3,000 and third place €2,000.

Local people now have the chance to vote on who should get the major- ity of the funding. Between now and March 15, north Clare people can text their vote or vote online and help de- cide which project will finish on top.

The Ennistymon After School Club has been organised by Scoil Mhainchin, to provide children from disadvantaged areas with fun, edu- cational after-school care. Approxi- mately 15 children are benefitting each week from being involved in the After School Club.

The project’s aim is to give children aged between eight and 13 something to do from 2.40pm until 6pm each day that promotes learning, physi- cal activity and well-being and keeps them off the streets and in school.To vote for the Ennistymon After School Club, just text ENNISTY A to 51303.

Liscannor Childcare Services 1s a not-for-profit organisation set up more than 13 years ago to supply affordable childcare for local peo- ple. The centre currently has 15 pre- school children and 12 after-school students on its books and will use any money it receives to purchase

essential office equipment and plant flowers in their garden for the chil- dren to enjoy. To vote for the Liscan- nor Childcare Service, just text EN- NISTY B to 51303.

Finally, the Ennistymon Vocational School’s Young Men’s Group was established in September of 2009

to support local young men in mak- ing all the decisions that they face in life. It is a supportive peer group that meets on a weekly basis and the group is facilitated by two members of staff from the school. To vote for the group, you can simply text EN- NISTY C to 51303.

THE CASE OF a property agent, charged in connection with the mis- appropriation of almost €80,000 in rents, is “complex”, her barrister told a court yesterday.

Fiona Lillis (36), of Lisduff, New- market-on-Fergus, 1s facing 61 charg- es, arising out of a lengthy Garda investigation into missing rents on properties in Shannon and Quin.

She is accused of 49 theft charges and 12 charges of deception, in rela- tion to €76,540, between December 17, 2007 and September 30, 2008.

The charges relate to the owners of Six properties.

She is facing 45 theft charges and four charges of deception in rela- tion to one property owner Richard Dineen, totalling €59,570, relating

to rent and rental deposits for accom- modation at Kincora Apartments, Syetvepeleee

Another six charges – three theft charges and three deception charges – relate to Adrian Kelly, concerning a property at Dun na Manach, Quin. The other six charges relate to Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

Defence counsel Elaine Houlihan, BL, told Ennis Circuit Court yester- day that the case was “of some com- toca ae

She said there were at least 50 pag- es of bank account statements in the exhibits and several Excel spread- sheets.

She was granted an application for free legal aid to cover a senior coun- sel and a forensic accountant.

The case was adjourned until later this year.

SEVEN children, 26 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and one great great grandchild joined Nonie Lynch in the celebration of her 100 birthday CPN UBC MEO UTM ONLO)ILNO

Born on February 5, 1910, Nonie has seen more than her fair share of changes throughout her life. Formerly Comerford, she moved to Cloghan- more, in the shadow of Mount Cal- lan, in the 1700s.

The youngest of 12 children, Nora or Nonie Comerford was born to R1- chard Crawford and his wife Mary Linehan. When she was old enough, Nonie attended Letterkelly National School and was a child during the war of independence and the civil ene

Indeed, Nonie was 10 years old when the Rineen ambush took place in 1920. Less than a month later her eldest brother John was killed in an ambush in Four Mile House in Ros- common.

As the youngest child it fell to No- nie to stay home and look after here parents. Her mother, Mary, died in 1929 ages 66 while her father Rich- ard passed away the following year lion Ap

Like so many on the early years of the state the Comerford family has hit be emigration. First to go was No- nie’s sister Nellie who moved to New York where she was later joined by brothers Pat and Dan.

In 1942 Nonie emigrated herself, this time down the road to Kilmurry Ibrickane where she married Paddy Lynch. They made a happy life to- gether for 47 years and had seven children; Jim, Joe , Matt, Mary, Ter- esa, Claire and Patrick.

Her eighties brought a new lease of life to Nonie who, prompted by her friend Nell Gleeson, she began to sing the old songs of her youth.

She quickly became a regular on Sunday nights at Gleeson’s where the songs included The Galway Shawl, The Tri-Coloured Ribbon and The Flag of Sinn Fein became the order of each evening.

The late Tom Munnelly soon be- came aware of Nonie’s talents and recorded her for the National Folk- lore Library at UCD. These record- ings led to Nonie being featured in the prestigious Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing in 2002.

She also became a star of the Clare Festival of Traditional Singers which took place in Ennistymon and in

Spanish Point.

Nonie was joined by scores of friends and family members to cel- ebrate one hundred years last week.

Man hid 37 stolen rings in sock

ARTISTIC funding in Clare has been dramatically cut over the last three years, with figures just released by the Arts Council indicating a 15 per cent drop in funding for major projects in just two years.

The largest single drop was in the funding that the Arts Council gave to Clare County Council for the sup-

port of local artists which fell from €115,000 in 2008 to just €87,000 this year.

The four main Clare organisations funded by the Arts Council – Clare County Council, Glor, the Willie Clancy Summer School, and Salmon Poetry – saw a combined funding of €352,000 in 2008 drop to €332,000 in 2009 and €302,000 for this year.

Despite these drops, worse news

is likely to come when the funding for smaller individual organisations or projects 1s confirmed later in the year.

In 2008, Arts Council funding for Clare projects through the Bursary Awards, Commissions and the Deis Award Scheme totalled more than €150,000. Funding under the same three schemes for 2009 totalled just €25,500 for Clare groups last year,

with a further cut likely to be en- forced this year.

Despite these cuts, the chairman of the Arts Council, Pat Moylan, was largely upbeat about the prospects of Clare artists in the year ahead.

‘The council sought to ensure that organisations continue to bring the best of the arts to audiences across Ireland,” he said.

“The council prioritised regional balance, where key venues and festi- vals have been supported to produce the best of the arts for people right across the country. In addition, the Arts Council has established a new fund for touring; this will extend the life of productions, exhibitions and performances, and ensure more peo- ple experience the arts in 2010.”

A total of €307,000 in funding for Clare projects was announced by the Arts Council last week.

This funding was awarded to Glor (€90,000), Clare County Council (€87,000), the Willie Clancy Sum- mer School (€85,000), Salmon Poet- ry (€40,000) and the Irish Pipe Band Association (€5,000).

Besides cuts to its Arts Council funding, Glor has also seen a sizable cut in the amount of money being given to the centre by Clare and En- nis County Councils. The venue will receive €47,000 less in funding from the local authorities in 2010 than it did in 2009.

A MAN had his eyes gouged and ear bitten in an unprovoked, frenzied at- tack in a housing estate in Shannon, a court heard yesterday.

Arising out of the incident, two young men who pleaded guilty to violent disorder were jailed.

Mark Hayes (21), of Aidan Park, Shannon; Philip Bridges (19), Feen- agh Cross, Sixmilebridge; and Do- minic Hayes (19), of Inis Ealga, Shannon, pleaded guilty arising out of an incident at Rossbracken, Shan- non, on November 14, 2008.

Sergeant Michael O’Connell told Ennis Circuit Court that gardai in Shannon received a call about an in- cident outside a house at 10.30pm on the date 1n question.

He said on arrival there, gardai no- ticed a man was covered in blood. He had sustained cuts to the face, ear and over his eyes and was in severe pain. Another man also had injuries.

A witness told gardai that the vic- tim was assaulted “in a frenzied ner Opelso mae

Sgt O’Connell said the victim was with two others and was on his way home to watch DVDs when he was set upon in what he described as a “totally unprovoked attack on an honourable decent man”.

He said the victim was afraid to go to court to give evidence.

The victim had his eyes gouged and sustained a human bite to his left ear. He suffered multiple injuries to his face and required hospital treatment for some time after the attack.

Sgt O’Connell described Dominic Hayes as the “main aggressor” and said he had put his hands in the vic- tim’s eyes. However, he said the other two defendants were also involved.

The victim has since made a physt- cal recovery, but mentally he was still suffering. His victim impact state- ment was read out to court, in which he said he had always felt safe in his home town Shannon but since the “vicious, violent, savage attack” his confidence had been severely dented. He said it scared him to think what would have happened had the gardai not been called as “they were not go- ing to stop hitting me”.

“That night will forever be etched in my mind,” he stated.

Lorcan Connolly, BL, for Dominic Hayes, said it would be unfair to single out his client as the key player in the at- tack. However, Sgt O’Connell said he was going on the evidence of the wit- nesses who were there at the time.

Mark Nicholas, for Bridges, said al- cohol was a major problem in this in- cident and said his client owned up at an early stage. Pat Whyms, for Mark Hayes, said, “A lot of the evidence places him at the scene but doesn’t do much more than that.”

Judge Carroll Moran jailed Mark Hayes for two years, stating, “He has a bad record of assault.” He noted that he was not the instigator of the incident. He jailed Dominic Hayes for three years, one of which he sus- pended. He adjourned the case of Philip Bridges.

THE largest treasure hunt ever to take place in the waters off County Clare will get underway this week as the search begins for more than €100 million worth of silver sunk during World War II.

Odyssey Marine Exploration was last week awarded the exclusive salvage contract for the cargo of SS Gairsoppa, which was sunk by a German U-boat in February of ee

The SS Gairsoppa was a British cargo steamer enlisted in the serv-

ice of the UK for the ministry of war transport during World War II. In February 1941 the steamer was on its way from India to Britain with a cargo of silver ingots, pig iron and tea when it began to run out of fuel off the coast of Ireland.

The steamer broke off from the convoy it was travelling in and made for Galway harbour where it could refuel. However, on February 17, the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-101.

The steamer sank completely with- in 20 minutes. Of the 32 crew mem- bers who boarded lifeboats after the

attack, all died except for one sailor who made it ashore after 13 days at sea.

The exact location of the wreck is not known but it is believed to be around 200 miles off the Clare coast, at a depth of around 6,500 feet.

The UK Department for Transport last week awarded the salvage rights for the wreck to the American deep- ocean shipwreck exploration com- pany, Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Company CEO Greg Stemm last week said that by using modern search techniques they should be able to find the wreck in less than

three months.

“The shipwreck is lying in the deep ocean well within the range of current search and recovery ca- pabilities. We have good location information which suggests a search area that can be completed in ap- proximately 90 days,” he said.

The SS Gairsoppa, also known as the War Roebuck, was carrying 81 crew members and two gunners id sles Lect BO e

Of the entire crew, which was made up mostly of Scottish and Indian sailors, only one crewman – Gerald SAE TiCmen ea sa (cee

ADDITIONAL Garda resources re- main in place in Shannon, as an in- vestigation continues into a spate of serious crime in the area in recent weeks.

Six people arrested in connection with criminal activity in the Shan- non area have been released without charge.

A file will be sent to the DPP’s office and a decision will then be taken on whether charges are to be

brought.

The arrests were made at various stages over the past fortnight, after a family was held hostage at Ardkyle, Sixmuilebridge, on January 7. A 50- year-old woman was at home with two of her sons at around 11pm that night when a lone gunman arrived at the house. The man was wearing a balaclava and was armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

The woman’s 14-year-old son was threatened, while her nine-year-old son was asleep in a bedroom at the

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The raider left the home after a short period, with two mobile phones and a laptop.

There has been an escalation of se- rious crime in Shannon town in re- cent weeks as six business premises have been robbed at knifepoint since St Stephen’s Day.

A major garda investigation has been launched, leading to the deploy- ment of additional garda resources to SJ erVeveOyee

The latest incident occurred last

Saturday night week, when a man, dressed in black and with his face covered, went into the Excel shop in Drumgeely, and demanded money. He brandished a knife and threat- ened female staff. He got his hands on between €200 and €300 before fleeing on foot shortly after 9pm.

A 24-year-old man was arrested a few hours after the incident. He was later released without charge.

The previous Tuesday, Collins’ shop in Aidan Park was targeted by a man armed with a knife, at around 9pm.

The man, who wore a white scarf over his face, demanded money from the shop assistants, before making off with a few hundred euro in cash. He fled the scene on foot.

The other premises targeted in re- cent weeks were Mace in Ballycasey; Londis in Drumgeely; Londis in Bru na Sionna and the Crossroads off- licence in Drumgeely. In each inci- dent, just small amounts of cash were taken, but staff were deeply trauma- tised by the ordeals they were forced to go through.

AGAIN, another game that slipped away from Clare inside the final ten minutes, the third of the league. Hav- ing considered themselves unlucky to come away from Down last week- end with a draw after a late, late point from the home side, Clare sensed that Tipperary at home was an opportuni- ty to get their first win and their first three points of the season.

In the end, though, Tipperary pulled away with three points in the closing four minutes and this, essen- tially, was the difference between the sides.

As a whole, the crowd in Meelick was treated to an entertaining and open afternoon of football. Play, particularly in the first-half, weaved from end to end and at the break, GENK crim bomr-i oLeyDeLMneO), sem ouiMmy alan plenty of reason to be hopeful for the remaining half an hour.

Against an impressive full-forward line, Lorraine Kelly stood firm while further out the field, Louise Henchy dropped deep and foraged well, Marie Considine mopped up around the middle while Eimear Considine showed some glimpses of what she is capable of, before stamping her mark on the game in the second-half.

At the other end, Mairead Mor- rissey was giving the Clare defence plenty to think about and she dom1- nated the opening exchanges, but after 11 minutes, Niamh Keane sent a long range shot towards the posts which nestled over Nora Noonan’s head and into the Tipperary net.

With their opening score, Clare led for the first time in the game.

Tipperary then had a fantastic op- portunity to reply with a goal of their own, but Emma O’Driscoll saved brilliantly, diving to her right, to deny Barbara Ryan.

After a couple of points from Mor- rissey and the speedy Gillian O’Brien, Clare forged back after a point from Sinead Sexton. She caught a high pass from Considine over her head,

swiveled and split the posts.

Morrissey, O’Brien and Ann Marie O’Gorman responded before Eimear Considine slalomed through the Tip- perary defence with a 40-yard run and a fine point.

Just after the break Considine kicked two further scores and gave Clare a one-point lead. After Morris- sey equalled things once more, Aine Kelly responded for Clare to restore their slender lead.

The game was now in the bal- ance and the opening six minutes of the half had been sprinkled with some fine play and some well-taken

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Then, however, Tipperary struck.

Morrissey fed O’Brien, who used he pace to place her in a dangerous position in front of the goal, she shot and the net rattled. Tipperary now led by two, 1-8 to 1-6.

After a pulsating start to the half, a lockdown ensued and 14 minutes passed before the next score, Eimear Considine converting a Clare free.

Now, Clare needed the next score but Patricia Hickey kicked two Tip- perary frees in as many minutes and with two minutes on the clock, Tipp lead by three.

Clare battled on and Louise Henchy managed a point in injury-time. Claire Carroll responded for Tipper- ary and ultimately, Clare failed to threaten the opposition goal in the last five minutes.

Putting things in perspective, trainer David O’Brien said he was disappointed with the result on Sun- day but pleased with the perform- ance.

“The last time we played Tipper- ary they were physically stronger than us, they blew us out of the way, so I was pleased that didn’t happen. We stood up and were counted and

brought the game to them.”

However, he said that getting results still remains the aim.

‘There’s plenty still to play for. Two wins should keep us safe, three can get you to a semi final. So it’s still wide open. We need to put results with performances now.”

Bearing in mind the Clare will play Tipperary in the first round of Munster, O’Brien added that he was looking forward to that game.

“I think we didn’t find out a lot about them that we didn’t already know. If anything, Tipp will have found out more about ourselves. They’ ll know that we won’t stand back, that we’ll battle. That puts us in a good position.”

He added that the more recent additions to the panel had equipped themselves well.

“I’m happy to see the newer play- ers settle in, that they’re hungry for football and hungry for games.

‘Our fitness and sharpness is definitely improving, but now, it’s

results we want.”