Month: April 2006

THE tradition of policing is set to remain in the family of Ennis Superintendent John Kerin, after his daughter Emma passed out from Templemore last week.

Emma was one of three Clare gardai who graduated at last Thursday’s ceremony at the Garda Training College.

The 21-year-old – who is the youngest daughter of Supt John Kerin and his wife Joan – is stationed at Salthill Garda Station in Galway.

“Emma was always very interested in joining the guards since she was a child. We are very proud of her.

“If she is as happy in her career as I am in mine, then she will be alright,” said her father.

Supt Kerin, who worked in Cork, Tipperary and Limerick, prior to moving to Ennis as Superintendent six years ago, is a native of Belharbour in North Clare.

In fact, his next-door-neighbour from Belharbour, Chief Supintendent Kieran McGann, was Master of Ceremonies at Emma’s graduation.

Last Thursday’s event was memorable for many reasons – Emma’s two grandmothers celebrated their 70th birthdays on the same day!

The other two Clare garda graduates on the day were Garda John Griffin from Shannon and Garda Kevin Eustace, from Miltown Malbay, who are both stationed in Dublin.

Only one of the 84 new recruits is based in Clare — Garda David Givens from Nenagh.

UNIONS and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have been given until June 6 by the Labour Court, to complete talks on the €30 million “survival plan” for Shannon Airport.

The DAA and SIPTU both confirmed to The Clare People that they accepted the Labour Court’s recommendation and that informal contacts were been made with the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to recommence talks.

Talks on the restructuring at Shannon have been going on since last Summer. The Labour Court has given the two sides two months in which to resolve the outstanding issues and has stated that the parties should this time engage “genuinely and meaningfully”.

The court said that the sides’ failure to enter meaningful engagement, as recommended by the National Implementation Body last December, “reflects no credit on the parties”.

Opting against to the DAA request that SIPTU ballot its members on the “survival plan”, the court stated that as the sides had not entered meaningful talks, “the main criterion for referral of the issues to the Court has not been fulfilled properly”.

The DAA’s plan for Shannon is seeking to cut the workforce of 520 by 200 through voluntary redundancies and contracting out of work at a number of areas at the airport.

To date, SIPTU has refused to enter talks on any proposed outsourcing, expressing concern over a “race to the bottom”.

The union argues that discussions can only take place on the basis of maintaining terms and conditions of employment on a direct labour basis.

However, in its recommendation, the Labour Court stated that the “full and meaningful” engagement “obligates the parties to fully engage on proposals on outsourcing and any other alternative means of operational cost saving or efficiency” at Shannon.

The court ruled that it was not for it to decide as to whether or not outsourcing should take place “in the absence of agreement in principle between the parties”.

Its recommendation also revealed that the DAA made a set of proposals at the hearing on March 24, “adding a lump sum payment for those remaining in employment”.

The Labour Court said that if there are any unresolved industrial relations issues, they could be referred back to the court for recommendation.

THE issue of discipline in the classroom dominated the agenda at last week’s TUI annual conference in Tralee, with delegates warning more support must be given to teachers to prevent the problem from spiralling out of control.

Delegates warned Education Minster Mary Hanafin that disadvantaged schools in particular are facing more serious discipline problems than their colleagues in other schools.

According to a TUI survey, 26 per cent of teachers in disadvantaged schools experienced serious forms of harassment and threatening behaviour compared to 16 per cent in other schools.

The findings also showed that teachers in disadvantaged schools spent more time dealing with disruptive students and had experienced a greater extent of verbal abuse from parents.

Clare TUI delegate Mary Burke says the issue of discipline is one affecting Clare’s schools. Ms Burke, a teacher in Ennis Community College, says greater support and resources must be provided to teachers for the issue to be properly addressed.

“The TUI has always sought to initiate discussion on discipline in the classroom. It is a question of putting the right supports in place in schools. We have 200 disadvantaged schools in Ireland and only 50 have been given behaviour support classrooms for discipline.”

According to the TUI, a lack of educational psychologists is exacerbating the problem of ill-discipline.

The lack of such a service will also create problems in the long run for children with special needs seeking to attend post-primary schools. The TUI also wants more done to ensure schools pursue a policy of integrating students with special needs into mainstream schools.

“There is a lack of psychologists for students, which leads to a delay in assessments. When there is a delay, it creates an additional problem as extra resources cannot be allocated to that school. Not all schools are taking on students with disabilities.”

The Government has allocated €2 million to deal with the issue of discipline in schools and the TUI believes this is not enough. “We haven’t the facilities or the funding.

“All schools have problems getting psychological support and with delays. Irish schools are changing rapidly and more resources and money are needed in all schools,” added Ms Burke.

MORE teachers for students is the way to better grades for pupils and greater safety and job satisfaction for staff, according to Clare delegates at the ASTI conference in Ennis.

Delegates Peter Quinn and Jack Keane were speaking in support of a motion before conference to have the pupil-teacher ration reduced to 15 to 1.

Quinn told the conference that keeping the ratio at that level would create a more effective teaching environment and help solve discipline problems in the classroom.

“Teachers are now subject to physical and verbal abuse and are having their authority in the classroom challenged,” he said.

Quinn said that in co-operation with other unions, he believed that the ratio could be achieved.

The Ennis teachers said that it was the aim of all unions involved to have a safe teaching environment, high academic achievement for pupils and a school system to be proud of.

Delegates heard that in France, a 600-pupil school would have 68 teachers, while in Ireland, a school of that size would have just 38 teachers.

The motion was supported by delegate Jack Keane, who said that Ireland had one of the highest pupilteacher ratios in Europe.

Keane said that when he first entered the profession, the ratio was 15 pupils to one teacher, which was a “much better situation.”

He added that the report from the Task Force on student behaviour recommended a reduced pupil-teacher ratio to cope with the discipline problems in the classroom.

But this would not happen without joint pressure from teachers, parents and students, as there was no finance or plan currently in place to reduce pupil-teacher numbers, he added.

Meanwhile, the conference at the West County hotel in Ennis heard from Education and Science Minister, Mary Hannafin, that some schools were not opening their doors to pupils with special needs.

She sharply criticised the attitude of some schools that special needs pupils would be better off elsewhere.

“Open up, make sure that parents know that their child is welcome in your school and I will give you the resources to support them,” the Minister said.

“If there are schools that have half of a learning post, while the school up the road has a whole team of special education staff, it is because the school up the road is the one that has taken in more children with special needs. Take in students and the resources will follow,” she said.

CLARE’S two Steiner schools will not be able to secure official recognition from the Department of Education until the start of the school year in September 2007.

Both the Raheen Wood School in Tuamgraney and the Mol an Oige School in Ennistymon had sought official recognition from the Department in the first move of its type in the State.

Clare VEC was acting as patron for the two schools but the Department has confirmed that the two applications have not been referred to the New Schools Advisory Committee which would have allowed them be recognized for next September.

The main stumbling block to the application is that the VEC replaced the original patron during the public consultation process.

Founding teacher at the Mol an Oige school Una Garvey met with the private secretary of the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin in Ennis last week where she was told that the school would have to re-apply.

A spokeswoman for the Minister said that the same circumstances relate to the Raheen Wood School.

Expressing disappointment that a technical hitch had delayed recognition for a year, Ms Garvey said if they had to wait another year, they would do so.

She said she was told by the Minister’s private secretary that as the school’s application was being done through public consultation and as it had changed patron during that process, it would have to re-apply.

“Nowhere is it stated in the guidelines that the process would have to be restarted if a school changes patrons. We have managed successfully so far and I’m sure that parents and ourselves will pull out all the stops to ensure that it continues. It is very brave of the parents and a huge commitment by them. The Department should be helping us instead of placing obstacles in our way”, she said.

Clare VEC is fully supportive of the applications by the two schools and CEO, George O’Callaghan has been lobbying to have recognition in place for this coming September.

Raheen Wood School spoklesperson, Pearse O’Shiel, said they were working closely with Clare VEC to become a nationally recognised primary school.

“Given the long-standing relationship we have with Clare VEC, we see them as the ideal patron for the school and are very thankful for their support. We see this move as a natural but significant step for theschool”,he said.

Mol an Oige School was started last September by a group of parents. It is run on a voluntary capacity and follows the new primary school curriculum, using Steiner methods. As part of the public consultation phase for the school’s application for funding, a Department spokeswoman confirmed that 21 responses were made in favour of the school with two against.

GARDA management will decide soon if Pat Keating will be reinstated to full duties, according to the head of the Clare Garda Division.

Garda Keating was reinstated to the force last month, following a suspension lasting 19 months. However was confined to desk duties, as he faced a public order charge, which he was cleared of, last week.

Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn told The Clare People that a decision, regarding the garda’s full reinstatement, would be taken within weeks.

“That is something that will be looked at, in light of the court case,” he said.

Keating was suspended from the force after an allegation that he threatened his former girlfriend Eavan Drysdale, in August 2004.

He was found not guilty by a jury on that charge, at Ennis Circuit Court in February, and was subsequently reinstated, but his duties were constrained.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said Keating should be reinstated to the post he held prior to the allegations being made against him.

Central Executive member of the GRA, Tom Keane said “It has been a very tough couple of years for him. He has been proved innocent, without a shadow of a doubt. He is happy.

“He spent five days in the Circuit Court and one in the District. He has been totally exonerated by two courts. There is no reason why he should be confined to the desk,” he added.

The legal costs for Garda Keating’s five day Circuit Court trial in February were covered, in part, by the GRA. Gda Keating footed the bill for last week’s District Court case, which went into a fifth day.

IT was a relationship breakdown that, sadly, ended up in the public domain, through two court cases.

Pat Keating and Eavan Drysdale first met, when she reported a stolen bicycle at Shannon Garda Station, on June 21, 2003. Hours later they bumped into each other in Tesco in Shannon. Later again that day, according to Keating, Eavan Drysdale rang him at work and asked him out.

The couple enjoyed many happy times together during the following nine months, but two incidents in particular led to their private lives becoming very public.

An incident between the two in the carpark of the Shannon Knights in March 2004 led to Keating being charged with an offence under the Public Order Act – a relatively minor offence which would be dealt with in the District Court. But matters were to take a more serious twist when Eavan Drysdale alleged that Keating had threatened her in August 2004.

She claimed comments he made to her over the phone in the early hours of August 18, 2004, led her to fear for her life.

Keating went on trial, accused of threatening the mother-of-two, at Ennis Circuit Court in February. After hearing evidence over four days, the jury took less than an hour to decide that Keating was not guilty.

He was subsequently reinstated to his position at Shannon Garda Station, following a 19 month suspension. However his role was officebased, pending the outcome of last Thursday’s District Court hearing.

Last week’s dismissal of the charge should pave the way for his return to full duties.

But while the curtain has been drawn on the court cases, the relationship enjoyed by two individuals has now become a matter of public discussion. Personal matters between the two were heard during the Circuit Court case, and during a 78-minute District Court hearing last week.

Details of hundreds of text messages and several phone calls between the pair were heard by a jury in the Circuit Court case.

Pat Keating and Eavan Drysdale gave somewhat contrasting descriptions of many aspects of their time together. Keating told the Circuit Court case that Eavan Drysdale gave him a key to her house just three weeks after they first met and that he could “come and go as I wished and could class myself as part of the family.”

But Eavan Drysdale disagreed with this. She told the District Court last week that while Keating had a key, he was not living in her house.

“Pat Keating told lies up here three weeks ago. I am telling the truth . . . I was not living with Pat Keating,” she told the court, adding that Pat Keating was “very persistent.”

The strain was very much in evi dence at last week’s court sitting, as Ms Drysdale wept openly in court.

“I’m sorry, just I’ve been through so much in the last three weeks, with the other case,” she explained to Judge Joseph Mangan, after breaking down in tears.

During his evidence in the Circuit Court, Keating said regardless of what happened in any court, his life was shattered and his career was in ruins.

A PUBLIC order charge against Garda Pat Keating was dismissed at Ennis District Court, after his legal team submitted there was a conflict of evidence between witnesses.

Garda Keating (33), who is based in Shannon, was accused of engaging in offensive conduct in the carpark of the Shannon Knight’s pub, in the early hours of March 13, 2004. He denied the charge.

Garda Keating’s then girlfriend Eavan Drysdale, of Ballycasey, Shannon, told the court that the accused’s behaviour worried her.

“I got very nervous because I saw Pat’s behaviour that evening. I noticed he was getting quite drunk and aggressive,” she said.

She said he wanted to go home to her house in Shannon that night.

“I didn’t want him coming home that night. I asked him for the key. He wouldn’t give it back to me. I tried to avoid him as I was getting embarrassed,” she said.

She said she then decided to stay at a friend’s house.

Ms Drysdale wept in the witness box as she recalled the events of the night. “He just wouldn’t let me go home to my house. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He had come back to my home a number of times uninvited, very drunk and wouldn’t leave,” she said, adding that she was “terrified”.

She said she got into a taxi to go home with her friends, and he tried to pull her out of it.

She said she had very little to drink on the night in question.

“The type of relationship I had with Pat Keating was a roller coaster ride. He was very unpredictable . . . I had my mind made up. This man was bad news,” she said.

But Keating’s Counsel Pat O’Connell replied, “You are trying to blacken Mr Keating. You had drink taken. You were drunk and argumentative.” She denied this.

“The only pulling involved was he was trying to get his keys off you. He never tried to pull you from the taxi and he never gave you any abuse,” said Mr O’Connell to Ms Drysdale.

“Your complaint stems from the breakdown of your relationship with Pat Keating and nothing else,” he added.

Another witness, who was in the taxi, said the accused tried to take Eavan Drysdale out of the taxi, while a statement from another woman who was there, concurred.

However, the driver of the taxi, Robert Martin, said Keating was trying to get a bunch of keys from Ms Drysdale.

“I asked him to leave it ‘till another day. He put his two hands up and walked away. He was just looking for something Ms Drysdale had in the minibus. He was no more drunk, or sober, than anybody else,” he said.

Keating’s barrister submitted that there was a “serious conflict” of evidence. He said the offence with which Pat Keating was charged referred to a particular time between 12 midnight and 7am, but that no specific time was referred to by any of the witnesses.

Judge Mangan agreed that no specific time had been mentioned.

“I believe the most reliable witness is Mr Martin. His evidence weighs very heavily with me and his evidence totally exonerates Mr Keating,” said the judge.

He added that there was a conflict between witnesses regarding how much alcohol Ms Drysdale had consumed on the night.

“In all circumstances, I believe it would be inappropriate to compel the defendant to go into evidence. I am dismissing the case,” said the judge.

A HOMELESS man who was jailed for two years last month for threatening hospital staff with an imitation gun, has been jailed for a further 15 months, for separate offences.

Oliver Boylan (38), a Dublin native who has lived in Ennis for a number of years, was jailed at Ennis Circuit Court in March, after he pleaded guilty to an offence at Ennis General Hospital, in May 2004.

He appeared before Ennis District Court last Friday, on a number of charges, relating to dates in 2004 and 2005.

The court heard that on June 24, 2004, Boylan pushed a garda out of the way, while another garda was trying to arrest him.

On another occasion he refused to leave the area when directed to do so, while drinking at the Cathedral in Ennis.

Inspector Michael Gallagher said the accused was arrested for breaching a barring order, in Ennis, on June 20, 2004 and on July 15, 2004.

Defending solicitor, John Casey, said his client had an extremely difficult life, having suffered badly in a school in Dublin, at the age of 12.

He said he ran away when he was 12 and lived rough. However, despite that, he pulled through and set up his own landscaping business.

The death of his mother, when he was 30, had a “catastrophic effect” on him, said the solicitor.

“Oliver Boylan was drunk more often than he was sober. He lost everything. He lost his wife, he lost his children.

“His life has been one continuous drinking session. He had nothing to keep him off drink,” said Mr Casey.

He said that when the other case [relating to the imitation gun] came before Ennis Circuit Court in March, Boylan agreed that his only option was to go to prison.

“He has been a pain in the proverbial to the guards in Ennis,” said the solicitor.

“He will have spent his entire 30s in an alcoholic stupor. I’d ask you to leave him with some light at the end of the tunnel,” said Mr Casey.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed two six-month sentences, for two separate offences under the Domestic Violence Act and a three-month term for an offence under the Public Order Act.

He must serve the sentences, on top of the two-year term he is currently serving.

A KILRUSH youth who inflicted ‘near fatal’ knife injuries on a man has been warned he will face four years behind bars — if he steps out of line within the next 12 months.

The 17-year-old pleaded guilty last year to assaulting another man, causing him serious harm, on John Street, Kilrush, on November 23, 2003.

On that occasion, he was ordered to obey the Probation Services and to refrain from associating with youths who would be engaging in anti-social behaviour.

However, Ennis Circuit Court heard yesterday (Monday) that earlier this month the youth was sentenced to four months’ detention for assaulting two gardai, last December.

During the incident the two gardaí were headbutted.

Defending barrister Mark Nicholas said the accused’s probation report was favourable. Referring to the assault on the gardaí, he said, “It is a shame that he has slipped in this regard. . . It is a very serious slip.”

“He has been punished and is serving four months’ detention for that. He has no intention of appealing it,” added the barrister.

Mr Nicholas said the assault in November 2003 was “dreadful” but that his client had owned up to it and has since met most of the conditions imposed in the Circuit Court 12 months ago.

Judge Carroll Moran said the assault central to the case was very serious.

“The evidence last year was that the injured party suffered near-fatal injuries when he was attacked with a knife. He was in hospital, first in Ennis and then Limerick, for a total of eight days. The victim did make a full recovery, but has suffered psychological strain.”

The judge added that if he sent the youth to jail, he would be more likely to lead a criminal career than he would if he hadn’t been jailed.

“But he has got into trouble since, by headbutting two gardaí,” said the judge.

He said he would adjourn the case for another year, on condition that he stay out of trouble.

“If he gets into trouble, he will get a sentence of four years,” he said.

Detective Sergeant Sheedy recommended that a curfew be imposed. “My belief is if the accused has any chance of staying out of trouble, a curfew should be imposed,” said the garda.

A curfew — between the hours of 11pm and 7am — was imposed and the youth was ordered to reside with his parents in Kilrush.