The Clare People Archive

SOME 30 Republican Sinn Féin members from all over Munster area staged a white line protest in Ennis on Saturday afternoon.

The protest, which saw the RSF members carry placards and block traffic while walking down the centre of the road, lasted for about an hour. It was designed to highlight Republi- can Sinn Féin prisoners in Maghab- erry Jail which, RSF officials say, are being denied POW status.

“We had a large turnout of mem- bers from the James Connolly and Brugh South branch of Republican

Sinn Féin,’ said Paddy Kenneally of Republican Sinn Féin.

‘The picket was designed to high- light the situation in Maghaberry and was timed to coincide with a simi- lar protest taking place on the Falls Road in Belfast.

“It was a peaceful protest designed to highlight five key demands for the prisoners up there; namely the right of free association, the end to con- trolled movement, the right to full- time education, separate visiting fa- cilities and the right to organise their own landing.”

There was a large Garda presence at the protest.

RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary believes it 1s possible that Shannon Airport could be used in its planned transatlantic low fares airlines.

Addressing the Dail ‘Transport Committee, Mr O’Leary said that Ryanair were working on a plan for a new a transatlantic low fares airline.

Stating they hoped this would emerge from a major downturn, he said it was a possibility this new air- line would fly from Shannon.

The main focus of the plan was to Open up transatlantic services from Rome, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Brus-

sels, Paris and, perhaps, “somewhere in Ireland”’.

“I would be delighted to operate out of Shannon, if only to irritate the DAA monopoly. However, it would be on a much larger scale than sim- ply trying to operate transatlantic services out of Ireland.

‘As for the need for Shannon Air- port to upgrade its facilities and services, poor old Pat Shanahan (chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority) is blue in the ear from lis- tening to me stating he should stop upgrading Shannon’s facilities and services. They are absolutely fine.

“Airports have a compulsion to

spend money to upgrade things. They become nervous unless they are wasting money doing so. There is a brand new terminal there and now its management wishes to upgrade.”

“Ryanair has a major problem with Shannon Airport. It paid out between €30 million and €50 million in vol- untary redundancies to people who had not been very busy in recent years.

“While there is a human element to that, someone must pay for £100,000 redundancy packages. Unfortunately, it will fall back on Shannon because the cost should have been picked up by the DAA.

‘Shannon does not need the level of upgrade of facilities and services that it thinks it needs. It simply needs low costs and more routes from Ryanair and other airlines.

“Unfortunately, 78 per cent of the traffic is inbound. The good people of Ennis are not going to Frankfurt in November. It is generally German, French and Italian people coming back in there.”

“Tt 1s logical with the demograph- ics of Shannon. Its hinterland which takes in Ennis, has a population of about 150,000. I have friends in Nenagh who will always drive to Dublin rather than go to Shannon,” he said.

AS the influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland fades, 20 young Clare Catholics discovered the 1m- portant role religion still plays in the lives of their peers from other coun- WUE

The 20 from the dioceses of Killa- loe made the journey to Australia for World Youth Day with the director of youth ministry and Kilkee parish priest Fr Donagh O’Meara, and met with young people from all over the globe.

“When you go to something like this you get a sense of ‘this is 1m- portant’ to other young people from around the world. It is a type of en- couragement especially in a time when it (religion) does not seem to be so important in Ireland,’ he said.

The west Clare priest admitted that it was not as easy to find people to make the flight of faith this year.

“It was easier a few years ago,” he Sr nLGe

As well as a change in religious attitudes Fr O’Meara said that the distance the Irish had to travel for this year’s world youth event played rem Ore va

“This time the journey was long and cost would have played a factor. In the past we would have brought 30 to 40 people,” he said.

The event takes place every three years and is attended by the Pope. It will take place in Madrid in 2011.

Described as a gathering of the young people of the world by Fr O’Meara, the highlight of the event was on Saturday night when half a million of the world’s young adults

aged between 18 and 30 gathered in the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney for a vigil.

The candlelight vigil was followed by a concert and then the young peo- ple slept out under the stars until the following morning when Mass was celebrated by the Pontiff at 10am.

As well as learning to meditate, those that travelled also visited prayer groups and went to concerts as part of the 10-day event.

It wasn’t all prayer and adoration for the group from Clare however.

“People enjoyed themselves. We went out and had that craic and a few Sessions in the Irish bars,’ said Fr O’Meara.

The group also toured famous Australian tourist attraction includ- ing the Blue Mountains, the Opera House and Bondi Beach.

A FORMER award winning Clare FM presenter has claimed that he was not given a pay rise for ten years by the station.

The claim is highlighted in court documents lodged by the Ennis sta- tion to secure a “gagging order” against Tommy Kelly preventing him from speaking about his relationship with the company.

Mr Kelly (44) recently failed in his attempt to secure monies alleg- edly not paid by Clare FM for bank holidays or Sundays as he was “out of time” in bringing the case to the Labour Court.

The Labour Court case was the lat- est part of a long running dispute be- tween Mr Kelly and the station.

Clare FM secured the “gagging or-

der” preventing Mr Kelly from talk- ing about his association with the station and its affairs after a court hearing in October 2006 .

Documents lodged by Clare FM show that the source of Mr Kelly’s grievance is his claim that he was not given a pay increase by Clare FM over a ten year period.

Asked by gardai why he sent anon- ymous emails to the station’s chief executive, Liam O’Shea in 2001, the award winning presenter told gardai in July 2002, “I left Clare FM two years ago and I felt a little aggrieved at the way it ended and that I had been unfairly treated and I wanted to get some things off my chest.

Asked did he intend the emails or postcards to be construed as a threat to anyone, Mr Kelly responded, “No, it wasn’t a personal thing. It was

Clare FM and the whole experience that I had while I was there. I realise what I did was wrong, but again I felt like I was unfairly treated and I just wanted to get it off my chest”.

The station secured the court order at Ennis Circuit Court in October 2006 when Mr Kelly gave a sworn undertaking that he would not com- municate with third parties on the business of the station and Clare FM promised that they wouldn’t pursue Mr Kelly for costs. Clare FM has the option of re-entering the matter in court.

Court documents show that Mr Kelly admitted sending anonymous emails and postcards to the station in 2001 alleging fraud at the station. Clare FM states that there is no basis for the allegation of fraud.

No further emails or postcards were

sent until 2006 when Clare FM was part of a consortium seeking a re- gional licence that is now Spin South West FM.

However, in his affidavit, Mr Liam O’Shea said that in or about Septem- ber 2006, Mr Kelly “commenced communicating by email with a wide variety of organisations and indi- viduals in the world of broadcasting making allegations of fraud and oth- er allegations against Clare FM”’.

Mr O’Shea said that Mr Kelly’s attempts to generate adverse public- ity or to stir up resentment amongst unsuccessful bidders for the new li- cence and or to alienate Clare FM’s potential advertisers was calculated and without justification.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Kel- ly said, “I would love to speak about how I was treated during my time at

Clare FM but I’m not able to because of the court order”’. In an emailed query from

A LOCALLY-BASED environmen- tal group has instituted High Court proceedings against plans by Whelan Limestone Quarries Ltd to expand their flagship operation at Fountain outside Ennis.

This follows the Cairn Environ- mental Protection Group Ltd insti- tuting judicial review proceedings against An Bord Pleanala over deci- sions 1t made to give the go-ahead for three separate developments at the large-scale quarry.

In the proceedings, the Environ- mental Group of Bushy Park, Ennis, is seeking that decisions granting permission relating to the continu- ation of quarry operations; the up- grading of the road entrance and the extension of the landholding for the purposes of relocation and upgrading of the polishing area for the quarry, be overturned.

Already, An Bord Pleanala has dismissed one appeal by Cairn En- vironmental Protection Group Ltd and granted permission for two other AAA aed E-ReMeCoaKo) eo) eeToOL AE

It is not expected that the proceed- ings being instituted will have any material effect on the Whelan opera- tions prior to a court decision being made.

In an affidavit lodged to court, local resident and director of the company, Michael Halpin states that “since the date of its incorporation, the compa- ny and its members have been partic- ularly concerned with the activities of Whelan Limestone Quarries Ltd and the planning status of that com- pany’s quarry and source of stone”.

Mr Halpin states, ““We have made

numerous complaints to Clare County Council about the lack of planning permission for large tracts of Whelan’s quarry and partaken in a number of applications made by Whelans at both council and An Bord Pleanala level.

‘Moreover, we made a complaint to the Commission of the European Community about the manner in which the planning status of Whe- lan’s was being dealt with and the European Court of Justice delivered a judgement in our favour on July 3 last which dealt with the complaint.”

The environmental group are seek- ing to have the decisions quashed based upon an alleged procedural er- ror by Clare County Council in deal- ing with one of the applications.

Mr Halpin contends that An Bord Pleanala is precluded from consider- ing the appeals before it as the plan- ning application by Whelan’s must as a matter of law be declared and deemed to be withdrawn. Mr Halpin is also seeking that “pre-emptive cost orders” be put in place to ensure the company is able to bring proceedings at a cost which is not prohibitive.

A MOROCCAN chef, who is in Ireland sending money home to his wife and five children, pleaded guilty before a court yesterday to throwing a glass at a barman and to criminal damage to a pub window.

The court heard that Jama Moukrim (45) with no address on record threw a glass containing beer at a barman in The Diamond Bar after the bar- man refused him any more drink on the grounds that he had had enough. The offence was committed on Feb- ruary 4, 2007, the court heard and the glass didn’t hit the barman.

On April 3, after being refused entry to Bar 26 on Abbey Street, he broke a window, causing ©50 worth of damage, Ennis District Court heard.

On September 14, he ordered and ate a meal at the Prince Dragon and

had no money to pay for it, Judge Leo Malone was told.

On September 6, a Garda witness said, Moukrim had to be taken into custody for his own safety. “He was very drunk and had to be rescued. He was asleep on the ground in Abbey Street,” the garda said.

Tara Godfrey, his solicitor said that the Morrocan national had been working as a chef but had been in custody since July 18.

After asking if he could pay com- pensation for the meal and the win- dow, Judge Leo Malone was told that he could.

“If he ever comes before this court again on any such charges, I will im- pose a prison sentence,” the judge Sr HKOR

A 19-year-old driver took off after being spotted by gardai, speeding along roads where schoolchildren were walking, sending dust and gravel flying and ignoring a stop sign before jumping from the car and es- caping on foot, a judge was told.

On another occasion, Patrick Mur- phy of Tiermane, Mullagh, over- took a line of cars, including that of an off-duty garda, on a continuous white line.

The court heard Garda Gary Lade

was on duty in a patrol car in Kilmi- hill on April 10 at 1.10pm when he spotted the accused driving and talk- ing on his mobile phone.

Garda Lade told Ennis District Court that he knew that Murphy didn’t have a licence.

‘He drove off at speed past the sec- ondary school. It was lunch-time and there were a lot of students walking on the road. There 1s no footpath,” he told Judge Leo Malone.

“T put the flashing blue light on and drove after him. He undertook a vehicle, sending dust and gravel

spinning and drove on to a junction, where he failed to stop at a yield sign. He then overtook a car and a lorry on a continuous white line.”

In Church Street, Murpy got caught in traffic, the witness said and aban- doned the car, running through a number of premises before climbing a wall and disappearing into a field.

But later that day, he walked into the garda station of his own free will and made a full statement in the mat- com

On February 9, the court heard, Murphy came round a bend at speed

in his Honda Civic and whipped the wing mirror off a car which had been forced to pull over. He failed to stop.

On April 1, Judge Malone was told, Murphy overtook an off-duty garda in a line of several cars on a continu- ous white line, coming up to a blind bend. Murphy has never held a driv- ing licence and was not insured when the dangerous driving offences were committed, the court was told. He was pleading guilty to all offences, his solicitor, Patrick Moylan told the court.

He said Murphy had left school af-

ter his Junior Certificate and had dif- ficult family circumstances.

‘He believed he was insured at the time. He had paid instalments on his insurance but the cover had been withdrawn because he had failed to produce a driving licence.”

Judge Malone said he would re- mand Murphy in custody for two weeks so that he could have a pro- bation report drawn up. Having been in custody for a month already, the judge said he would take any period of detention into account in his final ose Kovereruatee

STAFF at Dunnes Stores are “terri- fied” of a man accused of theft and assault, a Garda Inspector said in an application to have the accused re- manded in custody.

Michael Maughan (34) with ad- dresses at 18 Beechwood, Clarecas- tle, and 20 Stone Court, Ennis, was before Ennis District Court yester- day charged with theft from Dunnes Stores and with assualting a member of Dunnes Stores staff.

Inspector Tom Kennedy asked Judge Leo Malone to remand the man in custody as he was not in a po-

sition to go ahead with the charges.

‘“He’s in court today and he’s intox- icated. It’s alleged he assaulted one member of Dunnes Stores staff and confronted another. They are terri- fied of him.”

Maughan asked to take the stand to prove he was not intoxicated, but Garda James Nicholls, who had to re- move him from the court a short time previously, said there was a strong smell of alchohol from the accused.

His solicitor, Tara Godfrey said it was “obvious he has a bad drink problem. There are other matters to come before the court on September 5 and I would ask that he be allowed

to keep an appointment which he has at Bushy Park this week to undergo a residential course of treatment for his problem. At this stage what he is facing are allegations.”

Inspector Kennedy said he was concerned that Maughan had first come before the court on theft charg- es “and this time it has escalated to assault charges.”

Judge Malone remanded Maughan in custody until August 18.

THE Irish Cancer Society welcomed the minister for health’s announce- ment that a vaccination programme against HPV (Human Papilloma Vi- rus), a sexually transmitted infection that can lead to cervical cancer in Some women, will be administered to 12-year-olds from 2009, if it 1s economically viable.

However, like many other organi- sations the cancer support group has expressed disappointment that a “catch-up” vaccine for 13 to 15-year- olds will not go ahead as advised in a report by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

“Overall the evidence suggests that a combination of a vaccination pro- grammes which vaccinates all 12 year olds associated with an effective screening programme will reduce 90 per cent of cervical cancers. A vac- cination programme on its own will reduce probably only 51 per cent of cervical cancers,” said a spokesper- son for the ICS.

“The society is disappointed that the proposed mass vaccination pro- gramme will not be extended to pro- vide a catch-up programme for girls

up to and including 15 years as this would increase the number of can- cers prevented by a potential factor of 13.8 per cent and would therefore speed up the positive impact of such a programme.”

The National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS) also welcomed the announcement.

A spokesperson for the screen- ing service said, “HPV vaccines do not eliminate the need for a cervi- cal cancer screening programme as currently available. HPV vaccines do not offer protection against all types of HPV that cause cervical cancer. Screening will also be neces- sary to protect women who have not been vaccinated. In due course it is anticipated that the impact of HPV vaccination on the incidence of cer- vical cancer will result in changes to the operational structure of a popu- lation based cervical screening pro- reaecbeeve slope

For further information on cervi- cal screening and HPV _ vaccina- tion please call the National Cancer Helpline on Freefone 1800 200 700 (open Monday to Thursday from Jam to 7pm and Fridays from Yam to Spm).

that Cervarix has been tested for six and a half years and 100 per cent coverage has been detected.

The trial has now been extended to nine and a half years.

While Cervarix acts agains two HPV strains – HPV 16 and 18, Gardasil acts against four, which in- clude HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18.

Cancer of the neck of the womb is diagnosed in almost 200 women in Ireland every year. Last year four women in Clare were diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Clare is one of only three counties in the country that has a cervical cancer-screening programme.

Some 70 women nationally die

from the disease annually. If caught in the early stages, cervical cancer has a five-year survival rate of 80 per COMO) mater low

Because of the very strong link be- tween HPV and cervical cancer, giv- ing a vaccine to a woman before she eexeKey eaten wm DONC Kore mmr eI OOM A SCM BD MEK I OT-FS the potential to reduce the number of women at risk of cervical cancer.

HPV vaccines must therefore be given before the recipient becomes sexually active and contracts the vi- Mele

Research suggests the average age at which Irish women become sexu- ally active is between 17 and 23.

A full vaccination against HPV re- quires three separate injections over six months.

As with most vaccines, a local reac- tion at the injection site 1s quite com- mon. Headache, fatigue and tummy upset have been reported following HPV immunisation.

In the US, a possible association between HPV vaccination and a rare neurological condition is being in- vestigated. Three deaths were closely related in time to immunisation with a HPV vaccine, but no link could be found between the girls’ deaths and vaccine administration.