The Clare People Archive

A YOUNG man was knocked down and killed by a car driven by his girl- friend, in Kilkee, a court has heard.

Ennis Circuit Court was told that Stephen O’Reilly (24), from Tallaght in Dublin, was on a week-long holi- day with his girlfriend and two oth- ers, in January 2007.

He and a friend were standing on a footpath on O’Connell Street, Kilkee, when his girlfriend Denise O’ Reilly – who was driving his Honda Civic car – approached the two.

Mr O’Reilly stepped onto the road and she struck him and knocked him oleae

Ms O’Reilly (20), of White Brooke Park, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty

to careless driving and drink driving, arising out of the accident, in the ear- ly hours of January 30, 2007.

Ms O’Reilly, a clerical administra- tor, entered the plea, just before she had been due to go on trial for dan- gerous driving causing the death of her boyfriend.

She was banned from driving for two years and fined €2,000, after the court was told that the parents of the deceased accepted it was a tragic ac- cident.

Garda John Convey said the de- fendant and another girl had gone for a drive in Stephen O’Reilly’s car, having been socialising earlier in the night.

As they returned to where they had been staying, Mr O’Reilly and his

friend were standing on the foot- ortaee

“Mr O’Reilly stepped out on to the road and was killed,” said the garda.

He said the accident occurred on a straight stretch of road and driving conditions were good at the time.

He said that the accused told gardai there was little she could have done to avoid the pedestrian. She was “very traumatised” by the incident and admitted driving the car when the accident occurred.

The couple had been together for several years and knew each other’s ie Teeb eR lony

Ms O’Reilly’s Counsel told the court that the parents of the deceased man accepted it was an accident and are supportive of the defendant.

The court was told that analysis of a sample of urine produced by the defendant showed a concentration of 116 mgms of alcohol per 100 mls of Vem alee

Judge Rory McCabe said the inci- dent was tragic. “I’m afraid we read about it every weekend, this type of event happening, a combination of youth, alcohol and possibly inexperi- ence,’ he said.

“A young man lost his life. No-one intended it to happen but it did,” he Sr AKOE

However he said he did not believe it would be appropriate to send the accused to prison.

He imposed fines totalling €2,000 and disqualified her from driving for two years.

JAIL is full of drugs and there is no help available for addicts – according to a former inmate.

The claim was made at Ennis Dis- trict Court on Friday, by a young man who was released from prison last month, having served an 18-month term for criminal damage.

Jason Gordon (29), of St Vincent’s Hostel, Anglesea ‘Terrace, Cork, admitted a charge of burglary of a house in Ennis last Thursday, Febru- eae

Garda Beatrice Ryan told Ennis District Court that she received a call at lunchtime last Thursday, claiming that a man had broken into a house.

Sie IUUA Lot MrI MASON AI KoM Ele noticed that a window had been bro- ken and the accused had crawled in through the broken glass.

He had been seen by a neighbour going into the house and was still there when gardai arrived.

The court was told that Gordon had 65 previous convictions, some of which dated back to 1992.

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client was extremely intox1-

cated, having drank two bottles of 0r6 1 ¢2

He said his client had been travel- ling on a bus from Cork to his native SY ETXey

He got off the bus and broke into the house, which was very close to the bus station, said the solicitor.

He said nothing had been taken from the house.

‘He has a long-standing battle with alcohol. He is smoking heroin and taking cocaine. This was an unhap- py attempt to return home. It was a mindless crime,” said Mr Hassett.

Gordon stood up in court and said he had been released from jail, five weeks earlier, having served time for criminal damage.

“You just end up taking more drugs when you go into prison. Prison 1s full of drugs. You can’t get any help in there,” he told Judge Joseph Man- gan.

Judge Mangan jailed him for six months and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

A MAN has been acquitted of har- assing his former partner in Shan- non, almost three years ago, at the end of a trial at Ennis Circuit Court. Andrew Mullins (34) of Belfield Gardens, Limerick, and formerly of Kincora Apartments, Shannon, faced one charge of harassment. It was al- leged that he harassed mother-of- two Bernice Galvin at Tullyvarraga and Ballycaseymore, Shannon, on dates between April 4 and 11, 2005. The court heard that the pair had

been in an “extremely stormy” re- lationship for about two years and that Mr Mullins was the father of Ms Galvin’s second daughter who was 19 months old at the time of the al- leged offences.

The relationship had ended in 2004 but Mr Mullins had liberal access to the couple’s daughter.

In her evidence, Ms Galvin said Mr Mullins first approached her at her place of work in Shannon at around Ipm on Monday, April 4, 2005, and that he was extremely agitated.

She said that the accused was roar-

ing at her and she left the shop to speak with him. She said Mr Mul- lins told her he heard Ms Galvin’s brother had held a “big drugs party” at her home on the previous Saturday payhca ole

Ms Galvin also said that later, the defendant had leaned over the coun- ter at the shop where she worked and called her a “drug whore.”

Ms Galvin said she had been out on the night and that her brother had been babysitting her two daughters. When confronted by Mr Mullins about the alleged incident, Ms Galvin

said she would “sort it.”

The court heard evidence of similar alleged incidents over the following days at Ms Galvin’s place of work as well as on the roadway near her mother’s house.

Evidence was also given of a Se- ries of telephone calls between the accused and Ms Galvin which she claimed were also abusive.

Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan, told the court the accused had subjected Ms Galvin to a “sus- tained barrage of abuse” and said “if he (Mr Mullins) had valid concerns

about what happened on that Satur- day night, there were other ways of Ole U Epa teans aie 0 Ws | ne

Defending counsel Elaine Houli- han said that because of the genuine concern her client felt for the safety of his daughter, having heard that a drugs party had been held in the house where she was sleeping, he had honestly believed that he had a “‘rea- sonable excuse” to act in the manner WerelmeComenlem

After deliberating for 50 minutes, the jury returned a unanimous ver- dict of ‘not guilty’.

A MAN who conned people into donating money for cancer research, under the pretence that he had suf- fered from cancer, has been jailed for eae lane leyeleelse

Arthur Boland (29), of 1A, No 46 Whitestrand Park, Galway, faced 30 charges relating to incidents in 11 different premises in Ennis and Ssixmilebridge between December |, 2007 and January 21, 2008.

The premises named on the charge Sheets included five bars, a hotel, an auctioneers, an insurance firm,

florists, a convenience store and a newsagents.

He admitted all 30 offences, but 11 of those were later struck out, after the judge noted that the euro symbol was absent from the charge sheets.

Boland admitted 18 charges of dishonestly, by deception, inducing people to contribute money with the intention of making gain for himself. The sums of money donated ranged between €2 and €20.

He also pleaded guilty to 12 charg- es of using a false instrument with the intention of inducing a person to accept it as genuine.

Garda Christopher Whyte told Ennis District Court on Friday that €945 was collected on the sponsor- ship cards, in the Ennis area. €81 of this could be traced back to those who donated.

Boland, he said, entered several premises in Ennis, where he pro- duced a letter stating that he was col- lecting money for cancer.

He stated that he had permission to collect the money and presented sponsorship cards for people to fill out. However the charity mentioned by Boland did not exist, said Gda Whyte.

‘There is a charitable organisation in Limerick, but it is not affiliated with any kind of cards, as it deals with corporate sponsorship,’ said the garda.

Garda Tracey Stanley, of Sixmileb- ridge, told the court that Boland told those who he sought money from in Sixmilebridge that he was a cancer sufferer himself.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that Boland had 37 previous convictions. These include deception offences in Mayo and Tipperary and theft in Sligo and Harristown.

Boland’s solicitor Tara Godfrey

said he was pleading guilty to all stb e ene

“His life is somewhat barren. His relationship with his partner is Strained because of this,” she said.

‘He is willing to look into what is motivating him in this,” she said.

Boland accepted that a prison term was “almost inevitable,’ she said.

She pointed out that the sums of money included on the charge sheets were relatively small – €81 in Ennis and €85 in Sixmilebridge.

Judge Joseph Mangan jailed him for eight months and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

LEARNER drivers who want to take their test in Ennis will have to wait three times longer than drivers in other parts of the country.

The wait for a test in Ennis is cur- rently an average of thirty weeks, in comparison to centres in neighbour- ing Limerick where the wait is just

11 weeks.

Other centres in Donegal, Ath- lone, Cavan, Carrick-on-Shannon, Letterkenny, Monaghan, Mulingar, Sligo and Nenagh have waiting lists of just nine and eleven weeks to sit a test.

But Shannon, once one of the worst centres in the country for waiting lists, has now reduced its list to 22

weeks.

Ennis is in fifth place in the coun- try for L-Plate drivers getting into the test car.

The worst 1s Clifden where would- be full license holders have to wait 40 weeks for a test. In Birr, there is a 36 week queue, in Dublin’s Raheny the wait 1s 35 weeks while Roscommon and Wicklow learners have 31 weeks

to practice their driving skills. Heavy goods vehicle license ap- plicants fare better. They can get a test in Ennis in just 14 weeks and in 19 weeks in Shannon. The amount of time that learner drivers have to practice their hill-stars and three point turns may well be reflected in the pass rate in the Ennis centre. Some 63.7 per cent of drivers who

sit the test there can lay claim to a full driving licence. The only place in the country where test drivers do better is Buncrana, where 64.7 per- cent of drivers pass. Shannon boasts a similarly high pass rate, with more than six in ten drivers who sit the test there walking away with a full h- cence, according to figures from the Road Safety Authority.

THE Government has been warned that it must examine the workings of the Labour Court and Joint Labour Committees (JLC) or face another legal battle with the Irish Hotels Fed- eel wemDe

The warning, from Lahinch hotel- ier and Chairman of IHF’s Shannon Branch, Michael Vaughan, comes days after his organisation success- fully challenged a JLC ruling requir- ing hoteliers in certain parts of the country, including Clare, to pay 2.5 per cent more than the national mini- mum wage.

Hotels in Dublin, Cork and Dun Laoghaire are exempt from JLC rulings. Had the High Court ruled against the federation some 25,000 employees outside of these areas would have been entitled to higher rates of basic pay.

“We have concerns over the con- stitutionality of the Joint Labour Committees and the Government would want to act quickly to review its position on the Labour Court and the Joint Labour Committees,’ Mr Vaughan said yesterday.

“This was never about the mini- mum wage directly. The Govern- ment brought in the minimum wage

but they never considered what effect that would have on the operations of the Joint Labour Committees.

“There were a lot of problems with the system. If you negotiate in the Joint Labour Committees there is no place for appeals and challenges. The system itself is flawed. I know that a number of sectors, such as the build- ing sector, which are also subject to Joint Labour Committees were look- ing very closely at what was going on last week and we could well see a number of other challenges in the near future,” he said.

It is estimated that some 250,000 workers in other sectors could be af- fected if further legal challenges to JLC rulings occur. In the immediate term, however, the outcome of last week’s High Court case means that the IHF will return to negotiations with the JLC on a proposed 22 cent per hour pay increase last Novem- ber.

“Essentially what this means is that we will be going back to negotia- tions,’ continued Mr Vaughan.

“In terms of hotel workers in Clare, we will be re-entering negotiations over the next couple of weeks and we will be expecting the Government to enter into discussions on the work- ings of the Labour Court. There is a constitutional question to answer but we chose not to go into it on this par- ticular occasion,” he said.

THE Mayor of Clare, Patricia McCa- rthy, has criticised air traffic control- lers at Shannon Airport for taking further unofficial industrial action at the weekend. Operations there were brought to a standstill for three hours on Saturday night, hours before it was confirmed that 99 per cent of the country’s 300 controllers had voted to take official action.

Controllers at Shannon, employ- ees of the Irish Aviation Authority, refused to volunteer for overtime against the advice of their union. All flights in and out of the airport were either cancelled or delayed for three hours on Saturday resulting in 12 flights being affected.

Wednesday night’s action when staff refused to work overtime to fill a two hour gap in the roster affected 11 flights.

Councillor McCarthy asked why Shannon was targeted twice in less than a week when Dublin was only affected on one occasion, on January 25, for about 45 minutes.

“I have to ask what is really going on here. This is the second time in a few days that Shannon Airport was closed because of this dispute while Dublin Airport only suffered for a mere 45 minutes. Shannon has been out of service twice for a total of

five hours with disruption caused to flights and passengers. This is a dis- grace and flies in the face of union advice,’ the mayor said.

Air traffic control staff are in dis- pute with the authority on the issues of overtime and recruitment. They have previously indicated to the [AA that demands on staff to work over- time are unsustainable.

‘“T am very surprised that this can be allowed to happen at a time when Shannon is recovering from bad news and every effort is being made by everyone at the airport and in the business and tourism industry to pro- mote an develop the airport,’ an an- ery Councillor McCarthy said.

IMPACT has confirmed that the ac- tion took place despite advice from the union to “work whatever overtime is required” while talks between the union and the Irish Aviation Author- ity were ongoing.

‘Our advice to members has been to work whatever overtime is required to facilitate the ongoing talks,’ the spokesman said.

Ryanair has accused ‘Taoiseach Bertie Ahern of failing to put in place contingency plans to prevent passengers “being hijacked by wild- cat” strikes.

Both sides are due to return to LRC for further talks on February 19. The nature of the action is to be decided.

THE demise of Clare’s rural pubs 1s a major contributing factor to suicides levels in the county, according to an Ennis mental health expert.

Home consumption of alcohol has been singled out by retired commu- nity nurse and Secretary of the En-

nis Mental Health Association, Tom McGrath, as one of the biggest con- tributing factors in many suicides. He believes that excess alcohol con- sumption can be the trigger for many people suffering from depression to attempt to take their own life. “Alcohol is a big problem and it’s going to get bigger. People are drink-

ing at home now and there is no con- trol over how much they have”’.

“It’s a big factor in many cases. It would be better for people to be in the pubs where at the very least there are some regulations on how much WOTeaVAr-DM CMON UDOT Ope ycaua

According to Aware’s Depression Awareness week, as many as 14,000

Clare people will suffer from depres- sion at some stage during their life.

“People can be suffering but are generally okay. They then take too much alcohol and that can push them over the edge. It can be very sudden,” explained Mr McGrath.

CONTRASTING results from last year but Carlow won’t complain. An early set-back by Clare who travelled to Dr Cullen Park saw go under by five points and spiral into relegation Kouser

They then went on to only win one league game in a dismal campaign and looked on the Clare game as the beginning of the slide. But twelve months since that game, Carlow are a completely different side under new manager Paul Bealin.

The former Dublin All-Ireland win- ner has transformed the flagging side into a more determined outfit, epito- mised by a victory over his former side, Wexford, in the O’Byrne Cup before a inspirational performance to draw against Dublin in the sem1- final.

A change of venue – Cusack Park fell foul of the weather – and trech- erous conditions couldn’t halt their progress on Sunday as they turned what looked like a perilous situation into a memorable victory.

After the game, Bealin gave his players a warm down in the centre of the field before relaying his thoughts on the league opener.

“They showed a great bit of spirit and character and I think there’s a

little bit of pride back in the jersey,” he said.

“It’s going in the right direction and they showed that more and more, especially team spirit and team mo- ee NCon

“We are not going to get carried away because we have only won one match, the equivlalent to what we won last year in the league – so we will have to build on that.”

It all looked grim for Bealin’s side seven minutes into the second half when substitute Brian Farrell was sent off for a high tackle on Stephen Hickey. At that stage, Carlow were already two points down and Bealin concedes that if Clare had kept their discipline, it might have been a dif- KROES ON LE

“Don’t forget Clare had the breeze behind them in the scond half, but in those conditions, it certainly would have been an uphill battle. But we tried to keep our discipline. I would be diappointed that any of our play- ers were sent off. I didn’t see the in- cident and I know that’s a cliché that most managers use but I actually didn’t see it.

“Look, we are just happy that we came back at them and this time last year Clare beat us by four or five at home and so it’s a revenge game and that’s what it was.”

Bealin admits that he initially con- sidered the change of venue as a Clare tactic to unsettle his side but whatever the venue, he was also con- scious of his side’s need to consist- ently perform in the league after an impressive O’ Byrne Cup run.

“This year, Carlow competed in the O’Byrne Cup, they beat Wexford, they matched Dublin and Dublin beat them well the second day but it wasn’t about the O’ Byrne Cup today. It was about team spirit, perform- ances, discipline, tackling properly, workrate, intensity and they showed all those aspects of the game today.

‘And they needed to show it in the conditions out there because travel- ling to Cusack Park thinking it was there and then having to come here, we probably used it and said ‘look, they are bringing us down here for a reason’ and I suppose we thought that Cusack Park was alright but we did learn that the conditions were atrocious.

“All things considered, we’re de- lighted to get the game out of the way and to have won it and got off to a great start was a bonus.”

SSE See UbbetcamevenUCe ome: Mech tlm oO! tremors through Miltown on Sun- day. The understandable elation of the McGrath Cup campaign brought back a certain confidence in the team, demonstrated by the large sup- port in Hennessy Park and for 40 minutes, the players responded with an accomplished performance.

An old trait then made an unwel- come reappearance. The self destruct button was a feature of past sides but the new regime seemed to have elim- inated that element in January.

However, in an incredulous ten minute period, Clare went from two points up and a one man advantage to a five point and two man deficit. The referee has to take a large por- tion of the blame due to his card hap- py manner but as Clare slowly lost their initiative, their gameplan and composure also disintegrated before the new managemnent’s eyes.

Clare manager Frank Doherty was one of the last to leave the dressing rooms at Hennessy Park and it was easy to sense from his demeanour he was still trying to get to grips with

what happened on the field.

“Personally, I’m totally disappoint- ed. Now is not the time or place to analyse the game and we will leave that until Tuesday night and address it then. I’m not one for roaring or shouting but the cracks are still there SO We ve got iron out that situation.”

This was Doherty’s first competi- tive defeat as Clare manager and having equalled last year’s com- petitve record of four victories in January alone, everything looked to be in place for a home victory. The dismissals were top of Doherty’s list of ailments, severe refereeing deci- sions which he felt ultimately cost his side all two points.

“The first sending off was harsh enough. It was Conor Whelan that actually fouled inside and Gordon Kelly didn’t lay a finger on the Car- low man. So Gordon got sent off in the wrong I felt, very much so. Maybe the referee got it wrong. He went in and consulted with the umpires and they said it was number six but the second [sending off] was harsh as well. At the same time, I have been a stickler on discipline so to a degree, we shot ourselves in the foot.

‘From being five minutes into the second half and in control we let it slip. Unfortunately David Tubridy missed that free but there are days like that.

“We probably should have gone on to win the game | felt. Not being dis- respectful to Carlow or anything but I felt we were in control. They had a man down and they had to push on and would have left gaps at the back but there you go.

“That’s the harsh reality of football and maybe it’s a learning lesson for our lads and we will just try and sort it out next Tuesday night.”

With a trip to Tipperary on the cards in six days time, lessons will have to be learned fast.

It’s best to write this game off as a one-off blip. Next Saturday should tell a lot more about Clare’s position in 2008.