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Clare to host speech therapy workshops

CLARE County Council is to take over the Cluain Donn housing de- velopment in Shannon, but does not have plans to take over responsibility for the Cluain Aoibheann estate at the moment.

Independent Councillor Gerry Flynn called on the council to take over responsibility for both estates, which, he said, have been occupied for a number of years. He said that the council needs to assess what works need to be done to have them taken in charge.

In response, he was told that the council proposed to take in charge the Cluain Donn development, once the remedial works to the road sur- face are completed.

“The vesting process is underway and the statutory process will com- mence once the areas requiring at- tention are dealt with,’ stated senior executive officer Monica Meehan, in

response.

However, a different situation ex- ists in relation to the Cluain Aoib- heann estate. Ms Meehan stated that enforcement proceedings were initi- ated against the developer, Mulling- brook Holdings Ltd, in 2008.

A warning letter was served in De- cember 2008 and this was returned. The warning letter was re-served on the site manager in March 2009. An on-site meeting took place between the enforcement officer and the site manager in May 2009.

A submission on the warning letter was received in July 2009. A further site inspection was carried out in August and found that the warning letter was not complied with.

The council says that further dis- cussions were initiated with the site manager with a view to completing the works, but the works were not Ub A (ou RAN. Cone

An enforcement notice issued in September and was returned and was

hand delivered in November.

The council says that this has not yielded a response and it is endeav- ouring to liaise with the site manager with a view to completing the works. The requirements of the enforcement relate to road works, the implemen- tation of a planting schedule and the installation of a name plate for the estate.

“It should be noted that the coun- cil has not received a valid taking in charge application in respect of this development and therefore no assessment of a cctv survey or as- constructed drawings has been un- dertaken.

“It is not proposed to take this de- velopment in charge at this time,” added the council’s response.

A MAN WHO imported ‘cowboy guns’ with a view to framing them and putting them over his mantle- piece found himself before a court after he was stopped by customs at Shannon Airport.

Frank Brennan (46), of O’Malley Park, Limerick, pleaded guilty to im- porting two firearms – a 9mm blank calibre Magnum 38 and a 6mm blank calibre Kimar – without a licence and ammunition at Shannon Airport on May 16, 2009.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Shan- non District Court on Thursday that the accused was stopped by customs, having returned from a holiday in Majorca.

He said that two revolvers and some ammunition were discovered. The defendant claimed they were for use aS ornaments and he intended on putting them up on the wall. The matter was investigated and the con- clusion was made that there was no ulterior motive.

Defending solicitor Jenny Fitzgib- bon told the court that her client had been returning from a family holl- day.

“There was no effort to conceal what he called ‘cowboy guns’. They were in a duffle bag. He didn’t make any excuses that they were in his pos- session.

‘He had bought them merely as ornamentation. He had intended to frame them and put them over the mantlepiece. He was quite shocked

there was such an incident,’ she Said.

She said her client had not meant any harm by his actions and “merely wanted to bring them back as a sou-

ot baa He also fined Brennan €500.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a three-month jail term, suspended on condition that the accused enter a

bond to keep the peace for two years.

PANCAKE madness was in the air at Clonmoney National School on Tuesday last as the 125 students geared up to make their way through as many pancakes as they could pos- sibly eat.

Ann Cawley, parent of Gregory Murphy who is making his first Holy Communion this year, organised to sell pancakes in her son’s national school in aid of the Haiti earthquake CK itoe

Ann, owner of The Peaberry Green

café in Quin, baked over 150 pan- cakes in her café, sprinkled with de- licious chocolate spread, mouth wa- tering maple syrup and castor sugar.

The pancakes were on sale in a classroom at the school and sold quickly, with all donations going to a Haiti fund to help save lives and pay for food for the victims of the earth- quake.

Yvonne Enright, secretary of Clon- money school, said, “People were able to make any donation at all for the pancakes, it could have been €1 0) )'(5) 0 ee Oe

The principal, Benedicta Mclvoy, and the students of Clonmoney are not shy in helping people in need. The school previously held a cake sale to raise funds for The Apostolic Soci- ety and raised a significant amount of money for the organisation.

Prior to the big day, the children were busy making pictures and post- ers promoting the pancake day to help injured and sick people who suffered in the Haiti earthquake.

“The children were really looking forward to the pancake day. They were really excited,” said Ms Enright.

The amount raised has yet to be to- taled but undoubtedly the proceeds of the pancakes sold will make some difference to the lives of the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Ann Cawley and Clonmoney Na- tional School would like to acknowl- edge all parents, teachers, staff and students involved for their help in raising funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

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.