Month: March 2011

A 61-YEAR-OLD woman from North Clare died after falling down the stairs at home, an inquest into her death has heard.

The body of Patricia ‘Patty’ McDevitt was discovered at her home in Boherbue, Doolin, on September 21, 2010.

At Clare County Coroner’s Court in Ennis last Wednesday, a woman who had rented a room from Ms McDevitt for two years recalled coming from work at the Doolin Activity Lodge on the day in question.

In her deposition, the woman said she had seen Ms McDevitt playing with her three dogs when she came home at 6pm.

She said that Ms McDevitt had “seemed to drink a lot” over the past year but on this occasion she could not say if she had been drinking.

The woman left the house and when she came back she saw Ms McDevitt lying at the bottom of the stairs.

The woman said that both she and her boyfriend had been concerned about Ms McDevitt and had raised their concerns with another woman two months earlier.

The inquest also heard from Garda Deirdre Scanlon who said that Ms McDevitt was prononced dead at the scene by a local doctor. The deceased’s body was identified by Garda Andrew Monaghan to Dr Peter Fawl at the Mid Western Region- al Hospital, Limerick, on September 22, 2010.

Dr Fawl told the inquest that Ms McDevitt died from acute head injuries consistent with having fallen down stairs.

Clare County Coroner Isobel O’Dea returned a narrative verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.

A POLISH man who drowned after falling into the sea near Kilkee last May had fished in the area over “30 times” previously, an inquest into his death has heard.

A verdict of accidental death was returned at Clare County Coroner’s Court last Wednesday, in the case of Andrej Marek (29) who died after falling into the sea at the Bridges of Ross on May 16, 2010.

Mr Marek, who had been living in Nenagh, had been out fishing with a friend at the time.

Sea conditions were rough while it had also been very windy on the day the accident occurred, the inquest was told.

After a two-day search of the area, Mr Marek’s body was recovered from the sea near Kilkee.

The inquest heard from Ian Coll who had been fishing with friends near the Bridges of Ross when he noticed two men fishing at a piece of flat rock along the cliff face.

Mr Coll described the area as a “dangerously exposed” piece of rock particularly when the sea is rough. “The sea was particularly rough that day,” he said.

Mr Coll said that it looked like one of the men was going to lower ledge on the cliff. He added that after the man made his way down the cliff he was “nowhere to be seen”. Mr Coll told the inquest that a Polish man who was with Mr Marek came over and asked them for help. Mr Coll said he rang the emergency services and the Coast Guard helicopter arrived after 30 minutes.

Wladyslaw Filar was fishing with Mr Marek on the day in question. Clare County Coroner Isobel O’Dea was told that Mr Filar has since returned to Poland. Mr Filar’s deposition was read out in court by Insp Tom Kennedy.

According to Mr Filar’s deposition, he and the deceased had fished off the Bridges of Ross “30 times” before the accident occurred.

He said that Mr Marek had been standing 15 metres away from him on a cliff, five metres above the water.

Mr Filar then said that he saw his friend, who could not swim, in the water. Mr Filar threw a life buoy towards Mr Marek. He added that he had not seen how Mr Marek had ended up in the water.

Mr Filar recalled it had been a very windy day and the waterfalls running of the cliffs were very strong. He added that it had not been raining.

In his deposition, read to the court by Insp Kennedy, Garda Ken O’Day said that when he arrived at the scene, he spoke with Mr Filar, who he described as being in a very distressed state.

Garda O’Day said the initial search for Mr Marek was called off at around 6.30pm.

The inquest heard that a search and rescue team recovered Mr Marek’s body from the sea and taken ashore at Kilkee Rescue Centre on Monday May 17, 2010.

Autopsy findings were presented in court by Dr Peter Fawl on behalf of Dr Stephen Finn. Dr Fawl stated that that Mr Marek had died as a result of drowning.

Giving her verdict, Ms O’Dea said that Mr Marek had been pronounced dead at Kilkee Rescue Centre on May 17, 2010.

She said that given Mr Filar’s evidence that the deceased had been familiar with the area where he died, the appropriate verdict was one of accidental death. Ms O’Dea acknowledged the work of the rescue services and gardaí.

Insp Kennedy described Mr Marek’s death as a tragic accident and said that he may have either slipped or have been “blown into the water”.

FINE GAEL in Clare will be making a three-pronged attack to win representation in what could be the last Seanad Éireann in the history of the state, if the Government presses ahead with a pre-election promises to abolish the Upper House of the Oireachtas.

Former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Tony Mulcahy, who polled 6,827 votes in the recent General Election has been nominated by the party in Clare, with his candidacy being copper-fastened at a meeting in the Auburn Lodge last Thursday night.

Cllr Mulcahy was nominated by 12 branches of Clare Fine Gael and will now represent the party on the Labour Panel as an Oireachtas nomi- nee.

Fellow Shannon electoral area councillor, John Crowe has been nominated for the Industrial and Commercial panel, while Ennistymon electoral area councillor Martin Conway will contest the Administrative Panel. Both councillors Crowe and Conway received outside nominations to contest the election.

There will be 60 members of the Seanad, three each from the National University of Ireland and Dublin University panels; Industrial and Commercial (9), Administrative (7), Culture and Education (5), Labour (11) and Agriculture (11) where the electorate is made up of councillors and Oireachtas members, while Taoiseach Enda Kenny will make 11 nominations.

THERE will be a feast of St Patrick’s Day parades this Thursday, with the action in Clare starting at 11am with the Ennis Parade.

From there, both east, west and north there will be parades everywhere as Clare turns green for the day.

In east Clare the action starts in Killaloe at 2pm, before moving to Scariff for 3pm, while the Tulla Parade has a 4pm start.

In west Clare the Kilrush Parade has a 3pm start, but beforehand over 200 St Patricks will converge on the Town Square at 1pm in a bid to win a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

The Shannon Parade has a 2pm start, while events in Gort get underway with the traditional drowning of the Shamrock after 12.15pm mass.

A CLARE artists is on the verge of getting his first major international break through a major solo exhibition which will open in Australia later this month.

East Clare artist Thomas Delohery has spent much of the last 15 years painting about the horrors of the holocaust and the millions who perished in the Nazi concentration camps.

This latest exhibition, which is entitled “Shipwrecked in the Death Camps of Europe”, will be officially opened by renowned artist Victor Majzner on Tuesday, March 29, at the TACIT Contemporary Art Gallery in Melbourne.

Thomas has more then 40 solo exhibitions to his name in Ireland, England, Germany and Canada but this is his first time making it to Australia.

Thomas’ obsession with the Holocaust began in the mid-’90s when he first visited Camp II at Auschwitz-Birkenau. That day he became a pilgrim, visiting ever concentration camp in Europe over and over again, searching for something, drowning in the horror and the beauty.

“I was in the Flossenbürg Camp one autumn with two Germans – one whose father supplied meat to the camps and the other whose father was a high ranking officer in the SS,” he said.

“They walked with me through the camp. I remember looking at this horrific watch tower one minute and I’d turn away and see all of these beautiful blues and yellows. Bavaria at that time of the year, when the trees start to fade, is so beautiful, so full of colours.

“But one of my German friends started to get annoyed with me, he couldn’t understand how I could see the beauty in such an awful place. He was confused by it or maybe even perturbed,” he says.

“It was amazing to be in the camp with these guys, people whose family has such a real connection to it all. I’m always trying to make a connection to it.

“Besides my wife, whose grandmother was through the camps and thankfully managed to survive, I have no real connect to them.”

For information or to view a sample of Thomas’ work visit www.thomasdelohery.com

LOCAL authority housing tenants in Kilrush are being given the chance to buy their houses at knockdown prices, as the town council has endorsed a new purchase scheme putting houses up for grabs at 45 per cent of their market value.

The go-ahead for this groundbreaking initiative was given by councillors at last Thursday night’s monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council, but the town authorities have been warned that confronting the problems in John Paul Estate is key to the success of the new purchase scheme.

“I could see this being very attractive,” Cllr Stephen O’Gorman told the council executive, “but only if we get our house in order. When you go into John Paul Estate with 36 boarded up houses, you won’t see a queue of people wanting to buy them.

“We have a massive problem. It’s a town council problem. There are 40 houses vacant in the town, with 36 of them vacant in John Paul Estate. People are waiting for rents to come down so they can move out of John Paul Estate,” added Cllr O’Gorman.

Under the new scheme which will operate until December 31 this year, tenants must be in local authority housing for over ten years.

“We all welcome the scheme, but the big elephant in the room is market value,” said Cllr Tom Prendeville.

“I know three people who went looking for loans to the banks and the answer that came back is that ‘we have no money’,” revealed Cllr O’Gorman.

THE head of the Clare Garda Division has pledged to set up Neighbourhood Watch and Community Alert Schemes in every pocket of the county.

These programmes, along with Business Watch schemes, are springing up all over the county and Chief Superintendent John Kerin is promising to continue to expand the initiative.

Currently there are 47 Neighbourhood Watch schemes in Clare, 11 of which were established last year. There are 37 Community Alert schemes in the county, two of which were set up last year, while two new schemes are currently being established. There are nine Business Watch schemes in Clare, five of which were set up in 2010. Two new schemes are in the process of being set up. Gardaí are also involved in a Hospital Watch scheme in Ennis. The aim under the schemes is that neighbouring families and neighbouring businesses link up with each other in an effort to prevent crime.

“Our ideal objective would be to have a Community Alert scheme in every rural part of the county and to have a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in every town and several in bigger towns. That would be our hope and our ambition. Two and three parish- es have joined in some areas,” said Chief Superintendent Kerin.

“It is one of my objectives to have as many Community Alert, Neighbourhood Watch and Business Watch schemes as possible in the county. They are crime prevention and crime solving measures. They are our eyes and ears as resources dwindle in the coming years,” he added.

“Right across the county, it is essential to have schemes like this. It is amazing the amount of crime solved in the past couple of months by people ringing in to the Garda stations. There can’t be a garda on every street corner. A lot can be prevented by vigilance,” he said.

Two Business Watch schemes were set up in Shannon last year, in an effort to curb the theft of machinery from various businesses. Businesses in the industrial estate got involved in the schemes and are working well together. “More than 120 businesses are involved. They have been very successful,” he said.

“There has been an escalation in the theft of copper and lead throughout Ireland. There was a huge escalation in the theft of home heating oil and arrests have been made,” he added.

“It is all about people keeping an eye out for each other. It’s amazing how people can help us and help themselves and help their communities,” he said.

TWENTY Green Flags have been awarded to schools throughout Clare by An Taisce under the internationally recognised Green Schools initiative that’s run in conjunction with local authorities throughout the country.

Seven schools were presented with their very first Green Flag on Tuesday namely: Caherea National School; Convent Primary School in Killaloe; Gaelscoil Ui Choimin Cill Rois; Lahinch National School; Quilty National School; Scoil Mhuire in Corofin; and St Senan’s Primary School in Kilrush.

As well as this 13 more schools renewed their Green Flag including Ballyvaughan National School; Carrigaholt National School; Cross National School; Killaloe Boys National School; Knockanean National School; Knockerra National School; Parteen National School; Scariff Community College; Shragh National School; St Augustine’s National School. in Kilshanny; St John’s National School in Cratloe; St Mochulla’s National School in Tulla and St. Tola’s National School in Shannon.

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Christy Curtin acknowledged the schools saying “I am delighted that the Green Schools Programme is such a success in Clare with 79 schools having attained the Green Flag. It is estimated that this amounts to a staggering cost saving of € 182,040.19 for Clare schools, and this is a conservative estimate. Congratulations to all the Clare schools who are flying their brand new Green Flags outside their schools, you should be very proud indeed.”

“In a recent report by An Taisce, participating schools in Clare have in 2010 diverted waste from landfill of over 70 tonnes, reduced energy consumption by 178,560 kilowatt hours, cut water consumption by over 10 million litres and reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 180 tonnes. Schools have done Trojan work and should be highly commended,” said Clare County Council’s Environmental Awareness Officer Joan Tarmey.

“The work that the An Taisce staff are putting in is helping schools to develop the Green Schools programme. A big thank you goes out to each of them for their hard work.” A number of An Taisce staff are currently working with Clare schools including GS Travel Officer, Roisin Ni Ghairbhith and two Development Officers, Sean Hartigan and Graham Clarke,” she added.