Month: June 2006

A JUDGE will rule next month if a young Shannon man is guilty of assault.

Before Ennis District Court was Mark Delaney (18), of Rossbracken, Shannon, arising out of an incident in March 2005.

Witness Thomas O’Connell (20) said the accused asked him for a cigarette, outside Supermac’s, in the early hours of the morning, and he said, “No.”

He said the accused headbutted him and hit him into the stomach.

Defending solicitor Caitriona Carmody said, “My client will say nobody assaulted you at all. You could have fallen over and not remembered it,” she added.

Garda Fiona Coleman said Mr O’Connell arrived at Shannon garda station in the early hours of March 20, and said he had been assaulted by the accused.

“He was in a very disorientated state. He had a cut to the upper bridge of the nose and was bleeding heavily,” she said.

The accused told the court he saw Mr O’Connell staggering around the place outside Supermac’s.

He said Mr O’Connell “came up to me. He walked very close to me. I thought he was going to hit me. I pushed him away and his glasses fell off.”

Ms Carmody applied for the charge to be dismissed. She said there were “several conflicts” between the evidence Mr O’Connell gave in court, to that contained in his statement to gardaí.

Judge Joseph Mangan adjourned a ruling on the assault charge until next month.

THOUSANDS of visitors will flock to Spancilhill on Friday for the annual fair that vies with Ballinasloe for the honour and glory of being the biggest equine gathering of the year.

The Fair of Spancilhill has been running since the mid 1600s and in its heyday attracted horse buyers from all over Europe.

Napoleon’s generals used to come to Spancilhill, looking for horses that would be up to tackling his many war front around his sprawling empire.

Those days may be gone, but there is still a trickle of European visitors to Spancilhill every year, while the fair is celebrated in song and story.

And, not all of those who flock to the cross of Spancilhill are there to buy horses. Some just come for this history and the novelty of it all.

All because, Spancilhill is now considered one of the great days out in the social calendar – a day where experiencing all the fun of the fair is the motto of organisers and participants alike.

Wheeling and dealing as horses and ponies are knocked down, competitions and fun for all the family. “We are looking forward to a great day and are expecting a large turnout,” said Fair PRO Paddy Hassett.

“The champion of the fair will be crowned the Pride of Spancilhill, while there will also competitions for the best dressing lady and best dressed gent.

Among many other things there will also be a raffle for a pony,” he added.

THE appointment of a PR consultant by Clare County Council was last night questioned at the council’s June meeting.

In response to a motion by Cllr Paschal Fitzgerald (Lab), members were told that former Head of News at Clare FM, Mark Dunphy is now working as PR consultant for the council on a trial three month period.

In the response, councillors were told that the “costs involved are very small in the context of the council’s overall budget”.

County Manager, Alec Fleming, admitted that the council did need to improve in the PR area, adding that council employees would continue to deal directly with the media. He said: “The appointment is very much on a part-time basis.”

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said: “I have no problem with the person appointed. He is very competent, but I can’t see how adding a veneer on council matters will improve things. The best PR for the council is top quality service.”

However, independent councillor, Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) said that the appointment of Mr Dunphy was “a masterstroke” by Mr Fleming.

CLARE County Council has confirmed that it is to set up a panel to conduct auditions for musicians who wish to continue to busk at the Cliffs of Moher.

The move by the council is part of its initiative to end the “free-for-all” at the cliffs.

“Some of the comments that have been made to us are that visitors are bombarded with music and that some of the musicians can’t play very well,” said the cliff’s project manager, Ger Dollard.

“At the moment, it really is a free for all and people can take up a tin whistle and go up to the Cliffs of Moher and start busking.

“We will be placing an ad in the local press inviting people to make an application, who will then undergo an audition process where people will be given a chance to indicate what they intend to do, what standard they intend to do it to.”

Mr Dollard said that busking was a positive activity and that a “capable” panel was to be established to ascertain whether the people could play music or not.

The move comes against the council taking legal proceedings against 19 buskers and traders at the cliffs, in a bid to expel them from the site. The case is expected to come before Ennis Circuit Court in October.

“We want to start with a clean sheet,” said Mr Dollard.

He added that there was no question of the council paying the musicians a retainer to play at the cliffs and ruled out holding any talks with the traders or the buskers.

“We haven’t engaged with them, because there are so many, some we know, some we don’t know and if we did engage with them, it would confer a status on them they don’t have in the first place.”

However, busker at the cliffs for the past 22 years, Tina Morrissey, yesterday dismissed the council’s plan as “crazy”.

“I’ve been playing the harp here for over 20 years. I’m well able to do it, so why should I have to audition?”

“It is up to the public to judge if you are good or not. If you are not any good, you won’t make any money.”

Ms Morrissey said that it was not viable for musicians to just busk at the Cliffs – they must also trade.

“Ninety per cent of my income comes from CD sales of my music.”

THE family of abuse victim Peter McCloskey, who died in west Clare in April, say they are concerned that lines of communication with the Limerick Diocese have all but broken down.

Peter was found dead in Kilkee on April 1, days after a mediation meeting with church representatives.

He was abused while serving as an altar boy at the age of 10 in the Diocese of Limerick by Fr Denis Daly, a priest who had been run out of a parish in Sydney for a “moral lapse”.

Following Peter’s death, a meeting between members of his family and representatives of the Limerick Diocese took place on April 23.

According to Peter’s brother Joseph, it was understood the sides would “work together.”

However, eight weeks have since passed and, apart from a statement indicating that the issue was “being explored,” there has been no communication.

“We are getting exacerbated, as, since that day, there has been no contact,” he said.

“I left that meeting with the understanding that we were going to explore that together.

“However, there has been no openness and transparency. I am not prepared to sit and wait. I have contacted these people and have left messages. The response is slow,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Limerick Diocesan office was unavailable for comment.

CLARE County Council is once again preparing to take legal action to stop quarrying at a facility located in Ruan. The quarry, at Moymore in Ruan, was the subject of an unsuccessful legal attempt by the local authority to halt quarrying in 2004.

A number of local residents received letters from the council last week asking them to complete sworn affidavits ahead of the instigation of High Court proceedings. According to the letter sent to eight Ruan locals, the council is to seek an injunction on the grounds of alleged “continued development in breach of planning permission”.

The quarry is currently listed in the name of Harry Tobin Sand and Gravel Ltd., with an address at Gardenhill, Castleconnell, in County Limerick. The council’s previous action to stop quarrying at the site was taken against Ennis Quarries Ltd, which listed John and Joseph Tobin as its directors.

The case was refused jurisdiction in the District Court by Judge Joseph Mangan in March of 2004. It then became the responsibility of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to pursue the matter in the Circuit Court.

This case ended in a ‘nolle prosequi’ with no prosecution being brought against the defendants.

Ruan man, Gerry O’Connor, whose land borders the quarry, is supporting the council in their action.

“Now that the blasting has stopped, the main concerns felt by locals are noise, dust and the heavy vehicles, which are operating on narrow roads and are very dangerous,” said Mr O’Connor.

“There is a real fear that the blasting will start again. When the blasting was going on, boulders used to be blown into neighbouring fields all around the quarry.

“When the DPP took over the case, we decided to sit back and let them deal with it,” continued Mr O’Connor. “The DPP made no contact with any of the local residents and then we heard that the case had collapsed. We were never told why this happened and there are a lot of locals who are very upset about it.”

Planning permission was granted to operate a quarry for reclamation purposes at the Moymore site in 2000.

This entitled the operators to quarry to a depth of 18 feet. However, it is alleged that the quarry is being operated in breach of the conditions of this planning permission.

The Clare People contacted Joseph Tobin of Harry Tobin

Sand and Gravel Ltd., who de clined to make a comment. The Planning Section of Clare County Council also declined to make any statement on the matter.

JUST 10 babies were born in the county last year, according to official figures.

Instead, the majority of Clare babies were born in Galway and Limerick maternity hospitals, as the Banner County has no maternity hospital of its own.

According to CSO vital statistics, first-time mums in Clare are a year older than the national average.

The figures revealed this week showed that the average age of women from Clare giving birth was 29.3 years old, compared to the national average of 28.6 years.

More than 1,600 Clare women gave birth, the majority of whom were between the ages of 30 and 34 years.

Less than 60 women were under the age of 20, while 91 were over 40 years old.

More than a quarter of all babies born to Clare mothers last year were born outside marriage, with 430 births in the county to unmarried mothers.

The majority of births registered in this category were to women under 25. There were 170 mothers in this category.

There were more boys born in the county than girls, with 851 males registered and 802 females.

The CSO’s vital statistics also reveal that the number of births in Clare last year doubled the number of deaths.

There were 1,653 births, while there were 813 deaths.

Of the recorded deaths in the county, 620 people were over the age of 65, and more males than females passed away. A total of 132 people died in the last quarter of the month.

UP to 800 runners, joggers and walkers are expected to take part in the inaugural Clare 10K which gets underway at 11am this Saturday at the Lees Road complex in Ennis.

The event, which marks the first anniversary of The Clare People , has attracted a top line-up of elite athletes who will be joined by family groups, fun runners and fund-raisers availing of the opportunity to help out a range of community and charitable causes.

Those already registered range from eight years old right up to over 70, many raising money for their chosen charity. Also ready to take part are several groups looking forward to run, walk and jog in fancy dress.

Spectators might even recognise several of the participants as not only are some already successful local athletes running, there will also be some well know faces around Clare slipping on their running shoes to join in the fun on the day.

There will be plenty of entertainment for the participants and spectators along the route so everyone is encouraged to take part in the fun.

However, for those who are taking part, there are plenty of prizes. Almost €5,000 will be divided among the top finishers and there will also be spot prizes donated by several local businesses.

And the good news is that it’s not too late to join in as registration will be permitted on the day.

The €10 registration fee will be divided between Clare Haven, Cahercalla Community Hospice, and the Clare branch of the Samaritans.

THE PRINCIPAL of a Shannon college has lashed back at reports that she failed to refund fees to students, saying that her college has fallen victim to an immigration scam.

Ariston College has been temporarily suspended from the Internationalisation Register of the Department of Education.

Ann Magoufis said that the college, “has suffered by being caught in the middle of an attempt to fraudulently acquire entry visas to the country, by a group of Bangladeshis holding themselves out as students.”

A year ago, the college was invited to Dhaka in Bangladesh, by an educational agent, to interview 150 students who had reputedly expressed an interest in attending Ariston College.

“On foot of what now appears to be fraudulent documentation, the college offered places on its programmes to some 65 students,” the principal said.

“The Bangladeshi agent submitted documentation to the college in support of visa applications to be made by the college to the Department of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of these students. Under the department’s regulations, one of the requirements for a student to be granted a visa is that they must demonstrate that they have paid their fees. The college received full fees from these students in the spring of 2005. The standard practice is that the college holds these fees until a visa is granted or denied.”

After the college year had started, Magoufis was contacted by the the Department of Foreign Affairs and was told that the visas were being denied because “the applications had been supported through extensive use of fraudulent documentation,”

The principal said she was “horrified at the extent of the fraud. It was clear that many of these ‘students’ never wanted to study, but gain entry to Ireland, and thereby the EU, to work. Ariston College has fallen victim to an immigration scam.”

With valid applications being refused alongside the fraudulent ones, Magoufis said, she had no students for that academic year and had “no option” but to hold what would normally be returned to the agent, less visa and administration fees. All funds have now been returned to the students and the college expects to be reinstated on the internationalisation register in the coming weeks.

A FOUR-year-old girl was examined at the sexual assault unit in Galway on Friday, amid allegations that she was assaulted by a man in Shannon.

Gardai in Shannon were alerted to a home in the town last Friday afternoon by a woman, who alleged that the toddler was subjected to a sexual assault.

The young girl, from Shannon, was taken to Galway where she was examined, while gardai launched an investigation into the allegations.

“We are investigating a complaint of alleged sexual impropriety against a four-year-old girl. We are following a certain line of enquiry,” said Superintendent John Kerin.

“A file will be prepared and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions,” added the Garda superintendent.