Month: December 2007

SINCE its foundation in 1957, En- nistymon Vocational School, the town and the country have experi- enced much change but, for all of that, the school has continued to provide a much-needed and valuable education to many of the people of

the locality. That was the overview of Clare Vocational Education Commit-

tee’s chief executive officer, George O’Callaghan, as he took part in a 50th anniversary function in the Falls Hotel last week.

Former and present staff and pupils, with a host of others involved with the school, filled the banqueting room of the hotel for a night of celebration, nostalgia and a fresh look into educa- tion in Ireland as it stands today.

A multi-sectional exhibition of pho- tographs and other memorabilia of the school’s 50 years drew great at- tention in the function room through- out the evening.

Idols of the occasion were the two Surviving members of the original teaching staff, Norma Christie (nee Boland), now living in Edinburgh in her native Scotland, first teacher of home economics in Ennistymon, and Mamie Egan (nee Smyth), teacher of commerce subjects, now living in Ferbane, County Offaly.

O’Callaghan began by congratu- lating all present pupils, past pupils, parents, principal Enda Byrt and all teachers present and past, and a host of others associated with the school down through the years, embracing caretakers, secretaries and other sup- port staff.

He reminded the guests that in its mission statement, the school

firstly recognises the individual- ity of each student and through the comprehensive nature of its curricu- lum combined with the professional competence, initiative and caring of its staff, seeks to maximise each individual’s academic, practical and social talents in a safe and support- ive environment, to prepare them to cope with life after school, where they may better contribute to family, community and society in a positive per-peb Alea

Change was with them all the time and challenged them to rise to the

occasion when needed. The school continued to face the challenge of the future with vision and courage. The proposed new community school, of which the vocational school will be an integral part, offered the opportu- nity of new directions. The quality of teaching and learning that is so much part of the vocational school would be a significant building block in the community school.

Cllr Flan Garvey, as chairman of the school’s board of management, formally welcomed the guests to celebrate the wonderful past of the

school which had been achieved by outstanding principals, teaching and support staffs. It was a great pleasure for him to chair the board of man- agement of such an academy, he said, more so even than being chairman of the governing body of Tralee Insti- tute of Technology or vice-president of the Irish Vocational Education Association, the administrative body for county and city vocational educa- tion committees.

He continued by saying that the worth of vocational education was still not fully appreciated in Ireland,

nor what it had brought about for the country. For instance, the Celtic Ti- ger would not have emerged were it not for the business and profession- al men and women who had come through the vocational system armed with a practical and business back- eround that enabled them to succeed magnificently and provide example for others.

Enda Byrt had a special welcome for Norma Christie and Mamie Egan and informed the guests that another first teacher, Joe McCaw, who was called from this life earlier in the year, had been insisting, once the an- niversary began to be planned, that he had to be at the main celebratory function.

Announcing the publication next spring of a school history, he invited as many past students and staff as possible to contribute. They could do so in a variety of small but 1m- portant ways, such as how they trav- elled to school, life in the school, what they did at lunchtime, involve- ment in sport or any other activities, fond memories of favourite teachers, school trips, what they did for recrea- tion in those times, what things cost at the time and so on.

Kevin Duggan, Corofin, of the class of 1969, rolled back the years as he recalled memories of his time in the school and spoke with great emotion of the wonderful teachers it was his privilege to have and how their ex- ample and advice stood him in such good stead throughout later life.

A SHANNON town councillor has hit out at the behaviour of pedestri- ans, amid statistics showing that 20 per cent of road death victims are pedestrians.

More than 70 pedestrians have been killed on the nation’s roads so far this year.

Five of the 12 road deaths in Clare this year have involved walkers, while one cyclist was also killed in June.

Shannon town councillor Tony Mc- Mahon (Labour) has said that pedes- trians’ behaviour is “ridiculous”.

“Really, the behaviour of pedes- trians is ridiculous. There seems to be so much attached to the driver but no responsibility attached to the pedestrian. It should be compulsory that the onus would be on the pedes- trian,” he said.

“The whole behaviour of pedes- trians needs to change. People just walk out on the road and motorists expect them to do just that,” said Cllr

McMahon, at a meeting in Shannon last week.

However, the head of the Garda Divisional Traffic Corps in Clare, In- spector John Galvin, said there is an onus on walkers.

‘There is an onus on pedestrians to be safe and to be seen and obey the rules of the road,’ said Inspector Galvin, who has just taken up his role, having moved to Clare from Galway Garda Station in recent weeks.

“We would encourage them to be seen and wear reflective gear. At all

times, we would encourage pedes- trians to cross the roads at appro- priate places, particularly in winter time and to walk against the flow of traffic. There is a huge onus on pe- destrians to exercise caution and not presume they can be seen,” said In- spector Galvin.

According to Muintir na Tire Com- munity Alert, pedestrians and cy- clists have become increasingly vul- nerable on the nation’s roads.

Last week, the group warned that wearing a simple high visibility vest

will reduce the risk of being involved in a fatal or serious injury collision.

“The best advice that we can give, is to remind all road users of their vulnerability, plead with them, to take personal responsibility for their actions on the road and to make sure, that they and those in their house- hold, wear a high visibility vest, when walking or cycling, day or night. It could be the difference, between be- ing seriously injured, killed or stay- ing alive. Quite simply, wearing the vest could save your life,”

THE €1.4 million lands at the centre of a bitter family dispute in the Tulla area have failed to sell at public auc- nO)

However, leading auctioneer John de Courcy, who is handling the sale, said yesterday that he is confident that the land will be sold in the near future, stating, “There is plenty of in- terest and it will sell in due course.”

Mr de Courcy said that the lands didn’t sell at auction “due to the cur- rent climate and time of year”.

The lands at Larraroe and Ran- nagh, Tulla are being sold in five lots and include two ruins and an old resi- dence, with the lands having substan- tial road frontage.

The proposed sale was allowed to proceed after Judge Harvey Kenny ordered that Marie O’Halloran va- cate the 66 acres of farmland near

Tulla in response to an action from her sister-in law, Josephine Barry (72).

Mrs O’Halloran told Ennis Circuit Court that her late husband, Stanley O’ Halloran, reached a deal in the late 1970s with the owner of the farm, his late brother, Michael to purchase the lands for £65,000.

Mrs O’Halloran also told the court that Stanley paid different sums of cash over the years to Michael, who was a bachelor farmer. However,

counsel for Mrs O’ Halloran, Leonard Parker BL, admitted that no record of the agreement exists, nor has Mrs O’Halloran been able to recover any record of cheques paid by Stanley due to the time that has elapsed. Counsel for Mrs Barry, Gerry Kie- ly BL, said that Michael O’ Halloran died aged 64 in May 2004 intestate. Without a will being made, his farm was divided three ways, between his two sisters, Mrs Barry and Ida Ro-

han, and Stanley O’ Halloran.

Stanley died four months later aged 68 and his share passed onto his wife, Marie O’Halloran.

In his judgement, Judge Kenny granted possession of the lands to Mrs Barry, an injunction against Mrs O’Halloran from re-entering the lands, damages of €30,000 with a permanent stay if there is compliance with the order and that Mrs Barry be granted her costs.

has also learned that US Secretary of the Depart- ment of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, was given a tour of the air- port earlier this month.

“The customs and border protec- tion investment is significant for the continuation of transatlantic serv- ices,’ said Mr Shanahan. “Shannon could be the first airport in Europe to have full US customs and immigra- tion in the airport itself. This means that any airline can fly directly from Shannon to any airport in America, which could make it very attractive for airlines wishing to use low-cost American airports.

‘We are ready to push the button on the pre-clearance situation but there are one or two minor issues to clar- ify. But once they are clarified, then we are ready to begin construction work on this.”

Mr Shanahan also confirmed that a major replacement route will not be in place when the Aer Lingus Shan-

non-Heathrow route finishes next year.

“There will not be a Heathrow serv- ice after January 14. We do and will continue to have flights into London. We are also in talks with a provider about the creation of a route to Lon-

don City Airport.

“Right now, Heathrow is beyond us. But if we can announce connectivity with another major European hub when the Aer Lingus routes pull out, then we will be okay. We have ad- vanced talks with Charles de Gaulle and are talking about other possible hubs also,” continued Mr Shanahan.

“We have been working hard with Aer Lingus to ensure that they main- tain their transatlantic link. We are also looking at introducing a winter season discount scheme to encour- age airlines to maintain their year- round service between Shannon and the US.”

The chairman of the Shannon Air- port Authority also commented that Shannon’s “tatty” image would be tackled once independence from the Dublin Airport Authority had been achieved and a debt-free start-up had been achieved for Shannon.

“There is an infrastructure deficit in Shannon Airport. Once an initial investment has been received, we feel that the airport will be able to self-fund its capital expenditure from then on out,’ he said.

‘We have assumed a debt-free air- port in our business plan which has been given a broad agreement from the Dublin Airport Authority. The time is right for segregation. The time has come for Shannon to be able to make decisions for itself.

‘Under the Shannon Authority, the airport has grown and is now a profit- able airport. It will remain a 100 per cent Government-owned company so terms and conditions for employ- ment will remain.”

The council members supported a motion to support moves from the Shannon Airport Authority to gain full independence from the Dublin Airport Authority.

HOME-owners in County Clare could be forced to cough up money for monthly water charges following a motion put forward at last night’s meeting of the local authority held at Shannon Airport.

As part of a motion put forward by Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind), calls were made to put in place a system of wa- ter charges in which business rate- payers, farmers and domestic users

paid in accordance to the amount of water used.

“The way that the water services are operating at the moment leave a lot to be desired. I have records of customers who have been billed from Clare County Council for services that they have never used,” said Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind).

“There is a lot of confusion with this. There are quite a lot of busi- nesses who need water operating in County Clare.

‘The council needs to get its act to- gether on this.

“If a business and domestic homes Operate out of the same water sup- ply, then why shouldn’t the owners be allowed to use their domestic al- lowance first and then be charged as a business for water used beyond dakelmaas

Commenting on the motion, Ruan- based Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) com- mented that if the Government wish- es to continue with free water for

domestic users, that they should pay for it rather than asking the rate-pay- ers of the county to foot the bill.

“I think it is very unfair to ask the business and farming community to fund the provision of water in the en- tire county,” said Cllr Arkins.

“If the Government wants to give free water then so be it, but along with that they have to give us a means of funding it, other than pass- ing on all the burden to the business and farming communities.”

has learned.

Last night’s meeting of Clare County Council also heard that three neighbouring families have been trapped inside their house because of rising waters over the weekend.

Responding to motion on the condi- tions of bog roads put forward by Cllr Colm Wiley (FF), Cllr Joe Cooney

(FG) challenged the local authority to set up an emergency response unit to deal with the stranded east Clare families.

“One family left their home in east Clare to go shopping last Friday and still haven’t returned to their house. I think an emergency plan needs to be put in place this evening for these families. There are three families trapped in their house and one family trapped outside of their house since then,” said Cllr Cooney.

The issue wasn’t dealt with at the meeting as it wasn’t on the agenda.

Meanwhile, in a separate motion, Cllr Wiley called for an explanation from the local authority as to whether rural roads are being built too small or trucks being built too large.

‘We have lorries on the road at the moment that are so long that they are not able to turn on the road without going all over the place. I am con- vinced that the lorry companies are ignoring the regulations on the road and making their lorries too big,” SFG ON UDMA Eo

“All I want to know is are the lorries too big or has Clare County Council

made the roads too small.”

Cllr Wiley’s motion was supported by Brian Meaney (GP).

“I rarely find myself in agreement with Cllr Wiley but there is certainly some merit in what Cllr Wiley is say- ing on this issue. It is true that lorry size has increased.

“IT know myself from driving on the roads around Clare that the white line is something that you can drive on and over. The solution would be to bring as many goods as possible by rail or improving roads for trans- porting.”

THE inquest into the death of a young man who died after he was slashed in the throat at an Ennis pub was delayed for over 16 years due to a mix-up, it has emerged.

The inquest into the death of Cork native Robert Lynch (22) at Ennis Coroner’s Court yesterday was told the Coroner was not aware the in- quest had never been held.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea said the in- quest into the young gardener’s death wasn’t held previously as “I wasn’t aware it hadn’t been held until now.”

“The file was completed at very Short notice,’ said the Coroner. She immediately scheduled the inquest, after she was made aware it had not taken place.

In 1992, Christopher Cooney (42) was convicted of the murder of Mr Lynch, at the Banner Arms.

Cooney had an address in Shan- non at the time. His family has since moved to west Clare.

Retired Sergeant Phil Coll told En- nis Coroner’s Court yesterday that he was the sergeant-in-charge at Ennis garda station on February 17, 1991.

He received a call to go to the Ban- ner Arms where there had been a fa- Ye eel) patee

He went to the scene and the body of Robert Lynch had been removed to Ennis General Hospital.

The inquest was told that attempts by medical staff to resuscitate Mr Lynch were unsuccessful.

Retired State Pathologist Dr John Harbison carried out the post mortem examination on Mr Lynch’s body. Dr Harbison is retired and current State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy out- lined the details of the post mortem to the inquest.

She said that Mr Lynch had suffered one “major injury,” a large cut to the front of the neck, which stretched ‘from one side to the other.”

The wound, she said, was “fairly deep” and “cut through muscles.”

“There was no evidence of any oth- er significant injuries to the body,” she said.

Death was due to the inhalation of blood, as a result of an incised wound to the neck, concluded Dr Harbison.

‘He was not in a position to say which direction the weapon was drawn,” said Dr Cassidy.

Ms O’Dea pointed out that a mur- der conviction had been recorded in court, in this case.

‘There is sufficient evidence to es- tablish the deceased met his death by murder” and the jury agreed a ver- dict in accordance with this.

The details surrounding Mr Lynch’s death were brought to light earlier this year when it emerged that Fianna Fail Deputy Tony Killeen’s constitu- ency office made enquiries about the release of Mr Cooney.

Those revelations enraged Mr Lynch’s mother Nora, who criticised Mr Killeen and said the representa- tions caused more heartache for the family. The politician said he was unaware of his office making the representations and he visited Mrs Lynch in Bantry.

Mrs Lynch didn’t attend yesterday’s inquest, but her daughter Bernie was present.

DETAILS of the horrific injuries sustained by Ennistymon schoolgirl Marguerite O’Dwyer were recalled at the inquest into her death yester- Cr MA

The 17-year-old was killed by her brother Patrick (now 22) in the fam- ily home at Shrohill, Ennistymon, on November 29, 2004.

He was found guilty by a jury of manslaughter, by reason of dimin- ished responsibility, at the end of a six-day trial in the Central Criminal Court in April and was later jailed for Six years.

His defence had claimed that he suffered from a mental disorder, when he killed his sister, a Leaving Certificate student.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy told the inquest into Ms O’Dwyer’s death yesterday that she had been “the victim of a violent assault” and had sustained “at least 90 stab wounds” and “at least six blows to the head.”

“This type of injury would cause rapid death and was irrecoverable,” she said, adding that many of the stab wounds appeared to have been “inflicted after death.”

She may have been knocked uncon- scious by the first blow,” she said.

She said that the young woman had sustained 64 stab wounds to the trunk, many of which were deep and which had penetrated organs. Dr Cassidy carried out the post mortem into the death on December 1, 2004.

“She had been healthy prior to this,” she said.

‘The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, as a contributory cause stab wounds to the body,” she HKG

Coroner Isobel O’Dea told the jury that the most appropriate verdict is “in accordance with the findings of the Central Criminal Court” and the jury agreed with this.

Ms O’Dea expressed her sympathy with Marguerite’s parents Paddy and Claire, who attended the inquest. She said it was “a very tragic and unfor-

tunate occurrence.”

Inspector Michael Gallagher also sympathized with the O’Dwyers “on the tragic loss of their beautiful daughter”.

Earlier, Marguerite’s employer at Enzo’s chipshop in Lahinch, Olivia Gosseau, said the young girl had worked in the fast food outlet part- time for a number of months while she attended school. She worked six days a week during the summer holi- days.

She said that Marguerite had called to the chipshop with her friend Laura Hartigan on the evening of Saturday, November 27, 2004.

She said Laura looked for that night off so that she could attend a party at Marguerite’s house.

She said that Marguerite worked between 2pm and 6.30pm the fol- lowing day, Sunday, November 28.

Marguerite told her she had tidied up the house after a party the night before.

“She said Patrick had got drunk the night before. He hurt himself,’ re- called Ms Gosseau in her statement.

Marguerite told her employer that Patrick was at home asleep, when she went to work that Sunday after- noon.

“She was in great form. She left at 6.30pm on foot. It was the last time I saw her,” she recalled.

Garda Pat Brennan said he was driving the patrol car at 2.45pm on November 30, 2004, when he re- ceived a call to go to Ennistymon Garda Station.

When he and his colleague, Garda Alan Keane, arrived at the station, Patrick O’Dwyer was sitting in the public office.

“Patrick O’Dwyer had come into the station and informed Garda Gantley he had killed his sister,’ said Gda Brennan.

O’Dwyer handed the keys of the house to the garda and said, “She is in the sitting room.”

The two gardai went to the house and found Marguerite’s body in the sitting room.

‘Her skull appeared to be smashed open to the right-hand side. There was a lot of blood. A blanket covered the body,” he recalled in his deposi- tion to the inquest.

Marguerite was pronounced dead by a doctor at 4.50pm and her body was identified by her uncle, John Ryan.

BOTH entrances to the town were lined with signs of encouragement for the Gaels. ‘Beware of the girls from the Gaels’ was one such notice and as a sea of blue and white sup- port huddled in the main stand, the atmosphere was building towards eaCeCOh Ver. Caiconsoele

Unfortunately for the crowd, aside from a battling first fifteen minutes, the Gaels were always playing catch up and when they went 10 behind with less than twenty minutes to go, they could sense that it was not going to be another famous Gaels win.

The inexorable nature of the elec- tronic clock system gave the likely- hood of defeat a more definite time- line and as the seconds ticked away so did any hope of a recovery.

The goal they craved never came and the Dublin side held out for their first All-Ireland title.

As the wind and rain blew through

the ground after the game, the play- ers gathered around the centre of the field and after consoling his players, co-manager James Troy attempted to voice his obvious sadness.

“It was disappointing. We thought that we had played a good first half against the wind but things didn’t go right for us in the second half. The goal came at a bad time because we needed to get it at that stage.”

The murmurs of the crowd after the game were all about referee Eamonn McElroy and his handling of the game. At several stages throughout the match, the supporters chanted and sang of their displeasure to his bizarre decisions and manager Troy was equally as irritated about the Down offical.

“The ref didn’t help things at all. He made things very hard for the whole game and made a lot of stupid decisions. But we can’t be blaming the ref at the end of the day but we were just unlucky and things didn’t

O Our Way.”

This result aside, it has been a great run for the Clare side who won both Clare and Munster titles in style and Troy was quick to praise the efforts of the girls durling the year as well as the quality of the Foxrock/Cabint- eely side.

“They are a good team and they were handpassing well out of defence in the second half. They played well against the wind but we are proud of the girls because they had a great year. They deserved to be in the final anyway but it was just disappointing on the day. But they deserve great credit for the work they have put in all year.”

THE Cheltenham Gold Cup may still be over three months away but March 14 is already the most eagerly antici- pated day of the new National Hunt season following Denman’s stunning victory in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday.

Just a week after his stablemate Kauto Star re-affirmed his position as the best chaser in these islands, Paul Nicholls’ giant seven year-old threw down a gauntlet to the cham- pion that will not be accepted until the two stars clash on the second Fri- day in March.

Carrying top weight of Ilst 12Ibs on soft ground on his first start of the season, the 5/1 chance was expected to need the outing and seemed to face a big task at the weights to emulate the likes of Burrough Hill Lad and Arkle who had previously carried top weight to victory in the prestig- ious early season handicap.

However, last season’s impressive Sun Alliance winner looked a more mature horse in the parade ring and, despite his fitness doubts, he was prominent from the early stages of the 3 IA mile contest under Sam SW steyeer-hy

Once the fast-improving son of Pre- senting assumed control on the far side of the track, he always looked the likely winner as most of his rivals began to struggle, and he came home the hugely impressive eleven lengths winner from Dream Alliance with Character Building and Madison Du Berlais making up the places.

The Willie Mullins trained Snowy Morning was sent off the well-backed 9/2 favourite but he got no further than the seventh fence where he was a faller under Tony McCoy.

Although it was difficult not to get carried away by such an authoritative display, it must be remembered that if Denman is to be considered a gen-

uine Gold Cup contender, he was en- titled to win the Hennessy off a mark of 161 as Kauto Star sill remains the standard bearer on a mark of 179.

Most bookmakers cannot separate the two Paul Nicholls trained horses as 2/1 favourites for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and they will not meet before the Festival as Kauto Star heads to Kempton Park for the King George while Denman will travel to Leopardstown for the Lexus Chase during the Christmas period.

It was business as usual for trainer Howard Johnson and owner Graham Wylie at Newbury after Inglis Drev- er won the Long Distance Hurdle for the third time despite having to con- tend with another new stable jockey.

After Galway jockeys, Graham Lee and Paddy Brennan, had parted company with the Johnson stable, it was the turn of Cork jockey Denis O’Regan to develop a_ successful association with the World Hurdle champion and the 15/8 favourite only had to be pushed out by O’Regan to register a comfortable four lengths winning margin over Special Envoy.

It was the turn of some Champion Hurdle contenders to make their mark at Newcastle on Saturday where Harchibald was attempting to win his second Fighting Fifth Hurdle since 2004.

Having made an encouraging re- turn to action on the all-weather at Dundalk last month, Noel Meade was quite confident of a return to the Harchibald of old and the eight year- old did not disappoint the Meath trainer under a supremely confident ride from the irrepressible Paul Car- UMS

Having seized the initiative with a fine jump at the last, the controver- sial son of Perugino only had to be kidded home by the stylish Carberry who produced the 4/1 chance with his usual brilliant timing to beat Al Eile and Katchit.