Month: March 2006

THE Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell has told each member of Clare County Council that there is no danger of infiltration by subversives or criminals into the new Garda reserve force.

In a bid to counter what he calls the ‘disinformation’ put into the public domain over the new reserve, Minister McDowell has written to each member of Clare County Council and stated, “I am confident that many of our fellow citizens will be proud to serve in the new Garda reserve.

“The reserve will provide an opportunity for continued involvement in law enforcement by retired members of the force, for many of whom policing and serving the community has been a life-time passion.

“Far from undermining the professionalism of our police force, these people will provide a diverse and rich resource for An Garda Síochána. Police forces across the common law countries have had reservists for many years. Is anyone seriously suggesting that police forces in the US or Britain are second rate as a result.

“The Garda Reserve concept has won the support of the Oireachtas, both in the ranks of Government and Opposition parties. I believe that the support of the public will also be forthcoming as the concept and the clear benefits it will bring are well understood”.

The reserve proposal is facing vehement opposition from the Garda Representative Association (GRA). GRA Central Executive member for Clare, Tom Keane stated, “a reserve police force, with little training and full Garda powers is something that we will not accept. It will be met with the opposition it deserves.”

In response to the letter, Councillor Brian Meaney (GP) said, “I am in favour of the Garda reserve and the attitude of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) needs to change on the issue.”

Cllr Meaney said that he would be applying to join the reserve only for Minister McDowell had ruled out members of political parties joining.

“The reserve needs to be given a fair chance. It will enhance the role of the Garda. However the resentment of the GRA towards reserve members will make life intolerable for the Garda reserve.”

LOCALS in Sixmilebridge were left in anger after eight cars were broken into during a three-hour period one night last week.

Four cars in the Mill Court housing estate, three at Cappagh Lodge and one at Chapel Court, were broken into between 2am and 5am on Thursday last.

All of the cars were searched. While nothing was taken from some of the cars, a stereo was taken from one and phones from two others.

“We would view this as a very serious incident. People in those estates may have heard suspicious activity,” said Supt John Kerin, who is appealing for witnesses to come forward.

“This is not the first time this has happened and we are very concerned about it,” said a community spokesman.

THE mother of a six-year-old was jailed for 14 days after a judge heard she was found with 83 Ecstasy tablets that she admitted she was going to supply to other people.

Triona Hayes (28) of Oakwood Drive in Ennis pleaded guilty to the offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act before Ennis District Court at Newbridge Road, Ennis on May 21 last.

Her solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said Ms Hayes had a six-year-old son and had recently divorced after being in a very difficult marriage since she was 21.

“She admitted that she was going to supply the tablets to others and but for that admission, there would have been no evidence of supply in the case,” Ms Godfrey said.

She added that the Ennis woman “had a very hard time in her marriage and social workers commend her highly for the way in which she has worked with them to benefit her son.”

The solicitor told Judge Joseph Mangan that it was “the old story. She fell in with a bad crowd and was asked to hold on to these drugs one weekend and she did.

“She was not involved before this and no longer sees these people. Other than this incident, she is of good character.”

The solicitor added that Hayes had “her family behind her supporting her and her father is with her today.”

After leaving the matter stand until the end of the court sitting, Judge Joseph Mangan jailed the woman for 14 days. He set bail for an appeal at €500 with the woman’s own bond of €500.

Individual planning applications are costing Clare County Council an average of €10,000 each, with the applicant expected to fork out a further €7,100 per application.

According to Clare County Councillor PJ Kelly (FF), this is often borrowed money, which puts even further financial pressure on young people when they are refused permission and forced to reapply.

The figures were revealed by the councillor at a specially convened meeting between the Kilrush Area councillors and planners, to address what were described as “inadequacies” in the county development plan.

In the course of the heated meeting, the planners came under attack for inconsistency in their discussion making.

“It seems to me the architects have a different interpretation to the planners and the planners have a different interpretation to the elected members,” Cllr Bill Chambers (FF) said of the controversial development plan.

Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) said that the county development plan might be the councillors’ plan but it was not their interpretation. He gave an example of four people who applied for planning permission on land in West Clare.

The first applicant got the permission almost straight away. The second person was told he would have to sign up to ‘Section 47’, a local planning provision, which meant that no other houses could be developed on that strip, while the third applicant was issued with the same response. The fourth applicant was given the permission with no reference whatsoever to ‘Section 47’, according to the councillor.

The councillors gave examples of farmers who could not get permission for a home on their own land, and other examples of what they described as “inconsistencies”.

Senior Executive Planner Liam Conneally said Section 47 was an operational issue.

“It would be a tool for us to grant planning permission in high-development areas,” he said.

The planner maintained that the development plan was a good one, with the council members at the heart of it.

CLARE’S first sponsored walk to promote suicide awareness aims to get people talking about one of the few taboo subjects left in today’s society.

One of the organisers, Claire O’Brien, is already aware of the devastation that suicide can cause to a family. Her brother Peter died this way eight years ago. It is only in recent years that the young Ennis woman can talk openly about the tragedy.

Teaming up with her brother-inlaw Keith Molloy and niece Sasha O’Brien, she has organised a walk of awareness for Ennis on April 23.

Keith, who has lost seven Clare friends through suicide in the last two years, said the response to the walk so far had been overwhelming, giving a small indication of the number of people affected by the issue.

“It (suicide) causes so much pain. If people realised there are people they can talk to, it would make it so much easier,” Claire told The Clare People .

Sasha believes that the issue needs to be discussed more in society.

“People are afraid to talk about it,” she said.

The fourth-year student, who has encountered suicide a number of times in her young life, is now trying to raise awareness in Ennis schools through a non-uniform day. The Colaiste Mhuire student hopes to get all the schools in the county town involved.

“My hope is that people will talk about it a lot,” said Ennis-man Keith. He wants the walk to make society aware of the number of people that lose their lives to suicide every year. The organisers say that both the public and the Government need to be aware of the seriousness of the issue.

While helplines are in place across the country, all too often, callers go through to voicemail, which is not good enough, they say. More funding needs to be provided to man such services, they claim.

The only 24-hour support for potential suicide victims in Clare is the Samaritans, according to Keith.

The group will give all proceeds from the walk to the Samaritans, and hope to organise a bag-packing day and non-uniform day in the future to raise more awareness and funds for the Samaritans. A pub collection will also be held on St Patrick’s Night.

The 10km sponsored Suicide Awareness Walk will begin at 2pm sharp from The Court House in Ennis. Light refreshments will be served afterwards in the Barge Rooms, Ennis.

THE Clare GAA board will, in the next week, begin discussions with a number of property magnates who have made submissions to develop a new GAA headquarters for the county.

The Clare People can reveal that the board received 10 submissions from developers.

These submissions were tabled before the cut-off date of March 1 and offers include bids by parties from inside and outside the county.

The county board is remaining tight-lipped on the impending negotiations.

But sources have revealed that competition amongst property developers to secure Cusack Park has been unprecedented over the past month.

“There has been a great response and now the board will be sitting down to meet interested parties over the next month to see what avenue it will go down with Cusack Park. Then a document will be prepared for the clubs in April,” a county board source told The Clare People .

It’s understood that the submissions were made directly by property developers, or by auctioneers, estate agents and solicitors acting for property developers.

Developmental interest in Cusack Park was sparked by a survey by The Clare People , which revealed that 78 per cent of club chairmen in the county were in favour of selling the county grounds and building a new stadium in the environs of Ennis. This represents an overwhelming endorsement for cashing in on what has been described as “the jewel in Clare’s GAA crown” in the same year as the county gears up to commemorate Michael Cusack on the 100th anniversary of his death.

The first hints that Cusack Park could be sold came at the Clare GAA convention in December, when board chairman, Michael McDonagh, said that “we might have to develop a new stadium”.

The first bid for Cusack Park was made by a consortium involving businessmen Bernard McNamara, Sean Lyne and Noel Connellan.

In a €30 million proposal, they pledged to build a new state-ofthe-art Cusack Park on the Quin Road, in exchange for the existing ground.

The Clare People understands that the other high-profile submission has been made by Michael Lynch & Company.

The company has pledged to develop a stadium, also on the Quin Road, in return for Cusack Park.

Meanwhile, just as speculation about Cusack Park mounts, the county board has received full planning permission to develop two grass pitches and dressing rooms at the 70 acres it bought in Caherloghan in Tulla.

GARDA Pat Keating should know within a week if he is to be reinstated to his post at Shannon Garda station, according to the Garda Representative Association (GRA).

Gda Keating (33) was last week found not guilty of threatening a woman in Shannon, after a four-day trial at Ennis Circuit Court.

Keating is facing a public order charge in the District Court in April, in relation to a separate alleged offence in March 2004.

A source close to the garda said he was keen to return to work in Shannon, where he had been stationed for most of his 10-year career in the force.

The GRA supported Gda Keating during the trial. Its Clare spokesman Gda Tom Keane believes Gda Keating should be allowed to return to work in the short term.

“He has been acquitted. He is not guilty of anything and he has nothing to fear. He has been totally vindicated by a jury of his peers.”

Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn, meanwhile, said the decision on Gda Keating’s future rested with the Assistant Commissioner in charge of personnel, Catherine Clancy.

“There is a process to be followed and that is in train. I expect a decision will be made in the short term,” said Chief Supt Quinn. He said there was no general trend in such cases, as the Gda Keating situation was “most unusual”.

“A decision to suspend a garda is made by the Commissioner and is made on the circumstances surrounding a particular case,” he said.

Gda Keating has been suspended since allegations were made against him by his former girlfriend Eavan Drysdale in August 2004. He was acquitted of the charge of threatening her.

The case he is facing in the District Court is a more minor charge, one of engaging in offensive conduct in March 2004, an allegation which did not result in him being suspended.

THE jobs of 140 workers at an east Clare timber processing plant are under threat as a result of new strict environmental controls laid down by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Last month, the EPA awarded a new Integrated Prevention Pollution Control (IPC) license to the Spanish-owned Finsa Forest Products in Scariff.

However, in a strident objection against conditions included in the new licence, the company’s CEO, Virgilio Romero Suarez has told the EPA that having studied the draft licence and discussed its contents “with our parent company, we have concluded that certain provisions will have serious implications for the continued viability of our company”.

Mr Suarez continued, “We are committed to operating the plant in a manner that will minimize its environmental consequences, but we cannot sustain the imposition of environmental conditions that are not imposed on any of our competitors within the EU.”

Enterprise Ireland has come to the aid of the processing plant by also lodging an objection against conditions in the licence, pointing out to the EPA that if the restrictions imposed are not lifted “it will impact negatively on the company’s competitiveness and threaten 140 jobs in Scariff”.

Any move to close down operations would have a massive impact on the east Clare economy as Finsa’s most recent accounts show that it paid out €5 million in wages in 2004.

At the centre of the dispute between Finsa and the EPA is the agency’s insistence that from now on, it must not use any recycled material in its production process, including recycled materials from Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste.

Finsa points out that the use of recycled wooder is cheaper than virgin wood, demands less energy to be processed and reduces the company’s CO emissions by 2040 tonnes per annum.

A decision on the objections will be known in a number of months.

THE woman at the centre of the ‘Ennis pigeon war’ has hit back at the objectors to her pigeon loft, claiming that they have a “personal vendetta” and are “clutching at straws”.

Last week, Ennis Town Council deferred making a decision on the application by May Guilfoyle to install a pigeon loft at her home at 24 Marian Avenue, pointing out that there appeared to be some discrepancy in the drawings submitted.

The application by Mrs Guilfoyle is the source of a bitter dispute, which threatens plans by her son, George Guilfoyle to continue housing 30 racing pigeons at the house.

Their next door neighbours, John and Mary Flynn have told Ennis Town Council that they now regard themselves as “being prisoners in their own home” due to the presence of the pigeons. Solicitors have become embroiled in the dispute ,

The Guilfoyle’s is the only Clare loft ever to come away with a national title, while a number of Mr Guilfoyle’s pigeons have secured numerous runners-up titles. Marian Avenue Residents’ Association have lodged a letter and petition supporting the Guilfoyles.

In their objection, the Flynns stated that they were not aware of the existence of the Residents’ Association.

However, in a rebuttal letter lodged with the council, Mrs Guilfoyle stated, “We are very surprised, in fact, appalled, to hear that Mr and Mrs Flynn have never heard of the Marian Avenue Residents’ Association. One would anticipate that having lived in a closely knit community for 20 years that Mr and Mrs Flynn would be at the very least be aware of the existence of a residents’ association

Mrs Guilfoyle stated, “Photographic evidence can show that pigeons have been kept at 24 Marian Avenue prior to 1985 and Mr and Mrs Flynn bought their house knowing that pigeons were being kept there . . . Therefore, it would appear that perhaps there is another motive to objecting to the planning application and we would politely suggest that in our opinion, the objection is one of a personal nature rather than that of noise, nuisance or dirt.”

Mrs Guilfoyle also refutes a claim from the Flynns that they counted 64 pigeons in the Guilfoyle loft, stating “ . . . we like to keep on average 30 pigeons in the shed. As there is another pigeon loft next door, one wonders whose pigeons Mrs Flynn was counting.”

A decision is due on the application next month.

A “BOY racer” who paid almost €1,000 in fines because of a noisy exhaust on his car has now lost his job because of all the time he has spent in court answering summonses, a judge was told.

Twenty-year-old Brian Keane of Kilcolumb, Kilmaley, in Ennis was before Ennis District Court on a summons for having no silencer. After hearing evidence from Garda Michael O’Halloran, who stopped Keane on May 29, the defendants’ solicitor, Daragh Hassett, said his client was “a car enthusiast, some would describe them as boy racers.”

He had been summonsed four times before for the same offence and had paid almost €1,000 in accumulated fines as a result.

“He’s been in court on four Fridays since Christmas and he has now lost his job,” Mr Hassett said, adding that he had pointed out to Keane that his enthusiasm for cars had cost him the job.

The solicitor asked Judge Joseph Mangan to consider imposing a smaller fine because of what his client had lost.

Keane was fined a further €100 and his driving licence endorsed.