The Clare People Archive

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has stated that the discharge of raw sewage into the River Fergus by Ennis Town Council “represents a serious public risk and should be treated with the greatest urgency”’. Correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act by the Environmental Protection Agency outlines the number of complaints that have been made in recent times

over the pumping of raw sewage into the River Fergus from the pumping station at Francis Street.

The situation is not expected to be fully addressed until the provision of a new €75 million sewage treat- ment plant at Clareabbey to serve the greater Ennis area which will not be in place until 2012.

In one of the letters HSE Environ- mental Health Officer Fiona Healy said she witnessed the discharge of sewerage twice and on both occa-

sions, murky water spread throughout the river, leaving a layer of scum.

“IT have seen sanitary towels in the discharge and there has been a foul smell on both occasions,” she said.

Us Tee MC sc MA SULA OMEN MDAUercA bes 2006 and in a separate letter Envi- ronmental Health Officer, Brendan Mortell says the sewage overflow has been causing a nuisance for residents at this location for a number of years and should be given as high a prior- ity as possible, considering its close

proximity to dwellings.

In a letter to the HSE, Town Engi- neer, [om Tiernan said the discharge to the river following heavy rainfall was “not acceptable in this day and age. It is, however, outside the coun- cil’s control until such time as the upgrading of the station can be pro- ceeded with”.

In response the EPA serving notice, the Town Council compiled a report last October outlining the actions it had taken to minimise the problem.

SPITTING is very serious and can lead to infection, a district judge warned, after he heard that a bar manager had been spat at after he ejected a man from the premises.

Marcin Tkacz (27), of Bruach na Sionna, Shannon, pleaded guilty to assault and two public order charges arising from an incident on Decem- ber 21, last.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court that gardai were called to Durty Nelly’s bar in Bunratty amid claims that there were problems with a man who had been asked to leave.

“Gardai met the manager. He point- ed out the accused, who was sitting in the back of a taxi,” said Inspector Gallagher.

He said the accused was asked to get out of the taxi and he obliged. However, he became verbally abusive towards the manager Gary O’Toole and had to be restrained by gardai.

“Mr O’Toole alleged to gardai the defendant had already punched him in the face and pushed him against

the wall before the arrival of the gardai, when he was refused entry to the pub,” said Inspector Gallagher.

Defending solicitor Jenny Fitzgib- bon said her client had been out so- cialising with work colleagues.

He had a lot to drink and was “not in aclear state’, she said.

Mr O’ Toole told the court the 1nc1- dent lasted more than a half hour.

‘“T had asked him several times to

get a taxi. He assaulted me at the doorway. He swung a punch at me,’ he said, adding that he also spat at abbeee

Judge Tim Lucey said, “Spitting has become a very serious business nowadays, because of the possibility of infections especially. Where did he spit at you?”

Mr O’ Toole replied, “It didn’t actu- ally land on me.”

The judge asked did the accused have compensation in mind and Ms Fitzgibbon said he had €500 in court, which he was prepared to of- oe

The judge said, “Mr O’Toole, that is not in any way compensation for you being assaulted or being spat at, which is an assault in itself nowa- days. I hope you will accept it as a token.”

Mr O’Toole said he wished the money to go to charity and a recom- mendation of Cancer Research at Cahercalla Hospice was accepted by eemeelebum

SENTENCING of a Clare man for sexually abusing two of his daugh- ters has been adjourned, because he claimed he was not told by prison staff that probation officers had at- tended to assess him for a report. The 36-year-old man has been on remand in Wheatfield Prison and told his counsel Gerard Groarke BL that there are four men with the same

name as him in custody there. He suggested that this led to one of them being informed of the probation of- ficers’ attendance, rather than him.

He was remanded in custody last November after a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury convicted him on 10 counts of sexual assault on two of his daughters.

The offences occurred on dates from September 2001 to December 2004.

A probation officer told the court she had been advised there were four people in the prison with the same name as the man. She provided the prison staff with his address, date of birth, his prison number and the wing he was on.

She said she was informed a few minutes later that he was unwilling to attend a visit with her. She said she never met him face to face.

She said that another colleague

also attended at the prison to meet the man and got the same response from prison officers.

She agreed she “could not be sure that there was not a mistake on the other side”.

Judge Desmond Hogan said it was ‘a matter of no small regret” that he could not proceed with the case but added that it would be “foolhardy” to deal with the sentencing without a probation report.

He added that he was “very con- scious’ of the age of the accused’s victims and was “very anxious” to deal with the case soon.

Mr Groarke said his client was “ready, willing and able” to meet the Probation Service and had not re- fused to meet with the officers.

Judge Hogan adjourned the case and told Mr Groarke he wanted him to ascertain “how accurate your cli- ent’s instructions are’.

THEFT of property is particularly prevalent in the Clare Garda Divi- sion and often goes undetected, a court heard last week.

The revelation came in the case of two men who admitted stealing €7,000 worth of wire cable from En- nis Electrical, Quin Road, Ennis, on May 9, last year.

Martin Mongan (21), of Balach Boy Halting Site, Quin Road, Ennis, and Bernard Mongan (20), of Considine Road, Cloughleigh, admitted the of- Kieren

Inspector Michael Gallagher told

Ennis District Court that the two ac- cused and another man made away with the wire cable.

He said that Martin Mongan was driving the truck. As they were leav- ing the premises they were stopped by an employee at around 2pm.

“The two defendants admitted full responsibility. They exonerated a third person who was with them,” he said. The property was recovered.

Inspector Gallagher said, “This is a very serious crime, very prevalent in this division. It often goes unde- tected.”

Solicitor Daragh Hassett, for Ber- nard Mongan, said, “My client

thought the wire was surplus to the requirements of the shop owner. I have no doubt the guards don’t be- lieve that.”

Solicitor Tara Godfrey (below), who represented Martin Mongan, said, “It was not the crime of the cen- tury. It was in the middle of the day. My client was looking for scrap cop- per. We don’t want to make a huge is- sue out of this but my client did get a belt in the face. He got some element of punishment there and then.”

The court was told that Martin Mongan has several previous convic- tions.

Judge Tim Lucey said, “The two

cases are very similar, but in the case of Bernard Mongan, he doesn’t have the previous convictions Martin Mongan has.”

Referring to Martin Mongan, he said, ““What he has done was deliber- ate, conscious. He knows you can’t take things without permission. He chanced it. He was caught. The prop- erty was recovered but it won’t stop him getting a jail sentence.”

He handed Bernard Mongan a three month detention sentence and suspended it for a year. He sentenced Martin Mongan to three months in jail and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

MORE than eight in 10 Ennis shop- pers think that the town needs a better selection of stores. And the shops that they most want to see in the Clare capital are the high-street stores which are popping up in other Irish cities and towns.

The majority of those calling for a better shopping selection are the young shoppers of the future, with 96 per cent of those aged 14 to 20 say- ing they believe that Ennis requires a

stronger selection of stores.

The British high-street stores fea- tured largely in the survey, both in a question in which respondents were asked, unprompted, which stores they would like to see in Ennis and in a question involving choice of named NIKO) KeKe

Unprompted, River Island, alwear and Marks and Spencers were the first choices for women in the age brackets 14-30 and 40-50+, respec- AYO WA

Brown Thomas, Next and Deben-

hams were among the stores of choice of women in the 30-40 age group. The stores that men aged 30-50+ most want to see come to Ennis in- clude Marks and Spencers, Argos and Homebase, with TK Maxx being first choice for the 14-20-year-olds and Jack and Jones the store most wanted by 20-30-year-old men. Other stores on the top six wish list for Ennis shoppers are No Name, Woody’s, Debenhams, ‘TopShop, B&Q, JJB Sports, Champion Sports, Footlocker and Superquinn.

Given a list of named stores and asked which they would most want to see coming to Ennis, women in the 14-20 age group favoured Zara, with Marks and Spencers as their second 1 aToy (exer

Those in the 20-30 age group pre- ferred their first and second choices the other way around.

Females surveyed in the 30-50+ age bracket all gave their first prefer- ences to Marks and Spencers.

Shaws was a popular second choice for women aged 40-50+-.

Between one third and a half of the female respondents were interested in seeing Eason’s open a store here. Up to one third of women, according to age group, would like to see Moth- ercare open its doors in Ennis.

Between 23 and 36 per cent of women across the age groups sur- veyed said they wanted an Evans store in Ennis.

Eason’s was the second choice for males in the 50+ age group, who put Shaws and Mothercare ahead on their wish list.

MORE than eight in 10 Ennis resi- dents believe that the town needs a stronger selection of stores to shop in and the same number are proving it by going to shop elsewhere at least once a month.

Nine in 10 of those shoppers spend more than €50 on their away trips, while 83 per cent of those surveyed believe that Ennis will benefit from the development of a world-class shopping centre and 83 per cent say that a new retail development at Cu- sack Park would add to the town’s economic prosperity.

Questions asked in the survey de- termine that “the provision of world- class retail and entertainment serv- ices 1n the heart of Ennis will retain customers within Ennis town, break habitual spending habits outside the confines of the town and will add significant revenue to the local econ- omy’, according to the summary of the findings, conducted and drawn up by CREST Retail Excellence Ire- land.

76 per cent of those questioned for the survey felt there should be better restaurant and entertainment choices in the town.

Of the stores currently operating in Ennis, women aged 30-50+ years said that Dunnes was the store they most liked, while 20-30-year-old fe- males most like Cornucopia.

Willow was the retail outlet of choice for 14-20-year-olds.

Men aged between 14 and 30 years named Manix as their favourite store and those aged 30 to 50-plus chose Dunnes.

The total sample used for the survey was 839 residents or 4.15 per cent of the population of Ennis, as recorded in the 2006 census.

The sample included 518 women and 321 men who were interviewed on three separate days between March 1 and 8 last by trained re- searchers conducting face-to-face interviews.

The report concludes that an “in- town development of scale would substantially benefit the economy” of the town and the “vast majority

of Ennis residents are fully support- ive of a new in town retail develop- jee 8 i

Reacting to the survey, a spokes- person for the Aisling Chiosoig Part- nership described the results as a remarkable vote of confidence in the proposed RiverSide Quarter.

“Clearly the people of Ennis want this project to go ahead. They want the range of retail outlets that the RiverSide Quarter will provide and they recognise the prosperity it will bring to the town in terms of jobs and increased retail spend.

“With the people of Ennis behind the concept, we feel very confident about the future. We also believe that the incredible support shown by the survey will be consolidated when the detailed plans and illustrations become available for all to see,” he SrBKOe

A PERCEIVED lack of choice is pushing customers away from Ennis and towards larger urban centres, ac- cording to Retail Excellence Ireland.

Commenting on the findings of a re- cent survey, Crest Retail Excellence Ireland CEO, David Fitzsimons said shoppers wanted big-name brands like Marks and Spencers and River Island.

Crest Retail Excellence Ireland was commissioned by the Aisling

Chiosoig Partnership to survey at- titudes of Ennis residents to current shopping choice in Ennis, as well as shopping habits and attitude of resi- dents to the Cusack Park project.

The Aisling Chiosdig Partnership plans a €350 million mixed-use de- velopment to be known as the Riv- erSide Quarter. The 10-acre Cusack Park site is currently the subject of a rezoning submission to Ennis Town Council by Clare GAA.

The survey was carried out in En- nis town over the period March 1-8

last. A sample of 839 respondents were interviewed on three separate days. The survey found that there are 757,500 habitual ‘Out of Ennis’ shopping trips made by Ennis resi- dents annually and that 83 per cent of Ennis residents believe the town re- quires a stronger selection of stores. Mr Fitzsimons said, “The figures are pretty unequivocal. You have al- most 800,000 shopping trips made outside of Ennis and the average spend is close to €100. Ninety per cent of people spend more than €50

on an average shopping trip outside of Ennis. And when people travel they are more likely to buy more. It does appear, or the findings of the Survey appear to indicate, that an aw- ful lot of money is going out of the town because of a perceived lack of selection.”

The survey found that when ques- tioned on their preferred retail out- lets, there was an overwhelming response from shoppers in favour of big-name stores.

Mr Fitzsimons said, “It cuts up pret-

ty differently between age groups but definitely the most favoured selection was Marks and Spencers. Prompted, or when given a Selection of stores to choose from, Marks and Spen- cers came out on top by a fair old bit. Women tended to go for stores like Brown Thomas, while men went for shops like Homebase and Argos. Younger people indicated that they would like to see shops like River Island or Jack and Jones, which was popular with young men, in Ennis.” Limerick and Galway were cited as

that it has bought 17 houses in Clare. A spokesperson con- firmed that the houses were bought

within the past two years.

She said the council was free to purchase housing “inside or outside the boundary”, but refused to say where the houses were located.

A rescue and regeneration initiative for Limerick’s troubled Moyross area means that people have to be relocat- ed while work is taking place. It has not been confirmed that these resi- dents are bring relocated to Clare.

Mayor of Clare Patricia McCarthy said she was concerned as to how the

city council would manage the hous- es it has bought in Clare.

“If the council is applying a strengthened criteria for the new regeneration area then the same cri- teria should be applied in all local authority allocation and HSE rent subsidised housing,” she said.

“IT would be concerned if the city council was concentrating on buy- ing houses on the Clare side of the boundary rather than on the Limer- ick side,” she said.

She said she would also be con- cerned if all of the houses were lo- (OF: Ker OMB NOUN Ol omCT NO GlomreR Rotem

Corbally’s Des Long who 1s chair- man of the Munster Republican Sinn Fein Executive said, “Exporting those involved in anti-social behav- iour by stealth to Clare is no solution to Limerick’s housing problems.”

East Clare Councillor Pascal Fit- zgerald said he would be demanding to know where the houses had been purchased.

CARDIFF’S Millennium Stadium is a place of mixed emotions for Mun- ster men — there was the gut-wrench- ing defeat to Leicester in 2002 and the natural high of beating Biarritz four years later.

Marcus Horan saw action on both those days, but Cardiff was the fur- thest thing from his mind on Sunday afternoon as Munster threatened to throw it all away against a battling Saracens side.

He admitted as much after the heart-stopping 18-16 victory. “We were feeling the pressure,’ he said yeaterday (Monday). “There were a

few line breaks that they made at the end but everyone was battling hard to keep them out.

‘I didn’t realise they were so close — | thought they needed a try and I only realised how close they were at the end. Really, it was nail-biting stuff. It was a classic semi -final.

“Everyone expected us to breeze through it, but Saracens are a well- drilled side and we were under no illusions.

“I don’t know if there was a huge confidence among the fans. There is an expectation built up over the past few years with what we’ve achieved getting to the latter stages of the competition but as a team, we’ve suf-

fered so many disappointments that we can’t take anything for granted. With Alan Gaffney over them, we knew we couldn’t take anything for granted and they’ve some great bat- ase

“We knew what we were up against and we tried to block out what the Supporters were feeling before the game. We put ourselves under pres- sure in the last few minutes. It must have been hell for our supporters but at least we came out the right side and it was a good test for our defence,” he added.

Only then did Horan allow his mind fast-forward to the Millen- nium Stadium on 24 May. “Looking

ahead, it should be a great occasion. Like ourselves Toulouse did enough to get through. That’s what a semi- final is all about, even if you have to win ugly.”

Winning ugly on 24 May would do too. Then Munster could think ahead to a showdown with the All-Blacks on November 18th next to mark the reo- pening of the redeveloped Thomond Park. Thirty years and a few weeks to the day of that 12-0 win that made Munster famous in the first place.

AS CLARE manager Colm Hanley says himself, comparisons with last season’s All-Ireland decider with Derry were inevitable. In that Croke Park meeting, Derry stung Clare with a late, late win but Hanley says this experience was used by Clare to defeat Derry on Saturday evening.

“We knew we had it in us to win the league,” he says. “In fairness, we were the better team on the day and we followed through on that. I still think we were the better team when Derry beat us in Croke Park last year, but this time we stayed going.

“It’s obvious that there would be mention of that game, particularly as we were meeting Derry in another national final and in Croke Park we just didn’t put them away, so it was pleasing to do that this time round.”

As the clock ticked down and with Clare leading, Derry were thrown something of a lifeline with four minutes of injury time announced.

“When the few minutes of extra time was announced at the end it was a real flashback to our last game but even if the referee played ten minutes added time, we never looked like conceding.

“It goes to show that we’ve learned from that experience and hopefully that’s something we can use in the months ahead because Clare really showed enormous conviction.”

With the league secured, Clare move on with the championship on their minds and three more weeks of training has been scheduled before the players take a week off at the end of May.

‘The season was divided into two sections at the start of the year. The league and the championship. We wanted to play well first and fore- most in the league and maybe secure a win. Now that we’ve got the title, it’s full steam ahead for the champi- oyeravl On

“But we’re not looking at Croke Park just yet. We’ve three tough group games to get through against

Offaly, Down and Antrim with our first outing on June 29. But for now, we’re just delighted with the way things have gone in the league. The ereat thing 1s, we have a nice mix of experience and emerging talent and that augurs well for the future.”