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THREE members of the same family charged over a row that occurred in the grounds of Ennis Courthouse earlier this year will be sentenced next month.

Adjourning sentence at Ennis District Court last week, Judge Patrick Durcan said, “It’s just the gross lack of regard for law and order is what troubles me.”

His comments came as a solicitor admitted there were times this year when legal practitioners feared for their safety due to a spate of disturbances.

Details of a public order incident were heard at Ennis District Court on Wednesday where Michael Molloy (19) and sisters Laura Molloy (22) and Rose Mahon (23), all with addresses at Bay 2 Ballaghboy Halting Site, Quin Road, Ennis pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening and / or abusive behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace at Ennis Courthouse on June 19.

Laura Molloy and Rose Mahon also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the directions of garda.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told the court the altercation developed when two groups of people met in the grounds of the Courthouse on a day of scheduled sitting of Ennis District Court.

Defence solicitor Daragh Hassett said Michael Molloy was pursued into the courtroom by a woman who “read him chapter and verse.”

The court heard Laura Molloy then received a phone call from the woman who told her she wished to make peace. A large number of people then gathered outside the Courthouse where a dispute developed.

“Not only was there no peace talks but war had been embarked upon” explained Mr Hassett.

Mr Hassett said there had been a period in the first half of the year when the Courthouse had been the venue for a number of rows and dis turbances. However he told Judge Durcan there had been a significant improvement in recent months.

“There was a period in here, two months, where you would fear for your safety,” he added. Mr Hassett said his clients wished to apologise profusely to the gardaí and court. Judge Durcan said it is important that people can come into the court and not observe “wild west lawlessness”.

He said it was his job to ensure respect is maintained and given.

He said this was a most serious offence and he required time to consider sentence. The case was adjourned to November 6.

A DECISION on bail for a 78 yearold man charged with rape and indecent assault is due to be made at Ennis District Court tomorrow.

The man is facing 24 counts of indecent assault and one count of rape contrary to the Offences Against The Person Act 1861. It is alleged the alleged offences were committed between 1971 and 1980 in areas of Clare.

The man is currently in custody on remand following a bail application at Ennis District Court Wednesday.

The court heard the man denies all charges and intends to contest the case fully. He was originally brought before the court on Thursday, October 10.

On Wednesday, defence solicitor John Casey told the court his client was applying for bail. Inspector Michael Gallagher said the State strongly objected to bail for the man, who was described in court as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Detective Garda Donal Corkery told the court gardaí objected to bail on a number of grounds including the seriousness of the charges and their belief the accused is a flight risk. The court heard the man has lived in a number of countries around the world. Det Corkery said he believed the accused would leave the jurisdiction if granted bail.

The accused’s wife told the court the couple intend to remain in Ireland for the duration of legal proceedings. The man told the court he has no reason to leave the country. “I’ve no intention of running. I’m going to face these charges,” he said.

Judge Patrick Durcan said he was reserving judgment on bail to tomorrow. The man was remanded in custody to appear again at Ennis District Court on Wednesday, October 23. Reporting restrictions have been placed on the case.

A MAN who told his neighbours he would burn them out of their house has been ordered to pay a contribution to charity.

Shane Constable (25) made the threat following a heated row with his neighbours in Dun n hInse, Ennis in May.

Last month Mr Constable, with an address at Dun na hInse, appeared in Ennis District Court charged with public intoxication and engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour on May 9.

The court heard gardaí called to the estate to deal with a dispute between residents.

The court heard he was in one of the houses shouting at his neighbour.

Last month Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court Mr Constable shouted that he was “going to burn them out of the house.”

Gardaí arrested the accused to defuse the situation, the court heard.

Mr Constable’s solicitor, Tara Godfrey disputed her client made the threat to burn down the house.

Judge Patrick Durcan adjourned the case to hear garda evidence.

On Wednesday, Garda Colm Geary of Ennis Garda Station told the court Mr Constable did say he would burn down his neighbour’s house.

He said Mr Constable was very intoxicated and has since apologised for his behaviour. Ms Godfrey said her client was sorry for his behaviour.

She said he was a valued member of his local soccer club Lifford B and was considered a good tenant by his landlord.

Speaking in court, Mr Constable said, “I’m very sorry.”

Judge Patrick Durcan ordered him to pay € 200 to the court poor box.

He told Mr Constable he did not want to criminialise him but warned him not come before the court again.

The case was adjourned to November 13 for payment to poor box.

FINANCIAL issues, debt and the 2014 Budget announced on Wednesday are seriously impacting on the mental health of the county.

According to those on the coal face, including Clare MABS co-ordinator Denis Corbett and psychiatrist Dr Moosajee Bhamjee, more and more people are presenting at their offices with anxiety and depression directly associated with financial worries.

“It has been the cause of a number of suicides as well. It is a major issue. We are now getting people in families, wives and husbands – who are worried. People think it is only contractors and builders or business people who owe a lot to the bank that are coming,” said Dr Bhamjee who reported mental health issues related to financial worries are increasing in the county year on year.

“We are seeing people with anxiety and that anxiety is turning into depressive symptoms.”

He said there is also a resulting increase in alcoholism and marriage disharmony.

“People are accustomed to a certain standard of living and now find it difficult to adjust. A lot of people need tranquillisers to calm down and maybe sleeping tablets at night. Other people are using yoga and doing some light exercise to help,” he said.

“The whole society is stressed at the moment. This budget has put more stress on mental health, more so on the elderly,” said the psychiatrist and former Labour TD.

“Counselling does give people help, support and reassurance. It might not be able to solve their financial issues but it can provide a way of coping with stress.”

Mr Corbett agreed that MABS in Clare is also seeing an increase in people with financially related anxiety and depression seeking help.

“When your basic needs are threatened then you are in trouble,” he said.

MABS is calling for a working group to be established to develop and agree mental health guidelines for banks and lending institutes so that people in debt with mental health issues are treated appropriately.

“It is about support. It is not that people don’t want to act, it is that they can’t and need support,” he said.

On Friday at a special seminar on Budget 2014 in Ennis chairperson Dermot Hayes said, “This is the seventh year of budgets cuts on welfare recipients and low income families. Pushing people further into to cutting essentials. That enable them to live a quality of life and to sustain reasonable health and lifestyle.”

RYANAIR has been challenged to deliver on a promise to grow traffic out of Shannon Airport on the back of the Government decision to scrap the controversial travel tax in last Tuesday’s Budget.

The abolition of the tax, which was originally introduced by the Fianna Fáil-led government in 2009 and fixed at € 10 only to be scaled down to € 3 in subsequent years, was seen as a major stumbling block to Ryanair passenger growth out of Shannon.

Now, on the back of its abolition and Ryanair’s commitment to grow its traffic at its Irish airports by at least 1m passengers per annum from April 2014 has led to renewed hopes that Shannon can created into a lowcost hub for the budget airline.

To this end Shannon Airport executives, along with those from Dublin, Cork Kerry and Knock, were represented at meetings with Ryanair to make their pitch for enhance flights and destinations out of the airport.

“The repeal of the air travel tax helps restore Ireland’s competitiveness and attractiveness to overseas visitors from the UK and Continental Europe in particular,” says Ryanair’s Michael Cawley.

He said the meetings with airport executives were about exploring “where we can add new routes or additional frequencies on existing routes, and deliver at least 1m new passengers which will create over 1,000 new jobs as a direct result of the Government’s decision to scrap the visitor tax”.

The chief executive of Shannon Airport says the abolition of the tax represents “a very timely and proactive move by Government to support air travel as it effectively amounts to a stimulant for both our airline customers and the airport”.

“We have already begun, in this our first year as an independent airport, a recovery in passenger numbers at Shannon so this decision by Government will boost our chances of continuing in that vein and achieving the targets we have set over a five-year period as an independent entity.

“For international airports like Shannon, this initiative may help tip the balance in our favour when it comes to convincing airline customers to enhance existing and put on new services.

“We ultimately hope that this will increase our chances of growing passenger numbers and it will have a positive knock on effect for not just ourselves but for the wider business and tourism sectors in the region we serve,” he added.

WHAT exactly happened behind the scenes of Clare’s thrilling All-Ireland senior hurling title win?

If you want to find out then you’re in luck, The Clare Hurling Supporters Club as part of their fundraising efforts for the upcoming team holiday, are releasing a behind the scenes DVD of their remarkable season.

The DVD, which will be available to buy in shops in November, features exclusive behind the scenes footage that includes peeks inside the Clare dressing room during championship matches, training sessions, team talks and players personal recollections of an incredible summer’s hurling.

The squad allowed a camera access to the dressing room, as well as team meetings and training sessions throughout the season and countless hours of footage are now being edited into ninety minutes of previously unseen history.

The hurlers are expected to travel for a team holiday towards the end of December and as part of the fundraising efforts for the All-Ireland champions, the supporters fund are releasing the historic DVD, an official team calendar, official Clare team Christmas cards and the official team photograph.

SEVENTEEN Clare tourism hotspots are to benefit from a share of the € 8 million which was allocated for the development of the Wild Atlantic Way.

These coastal locations, which stretch from Black Head and Fanore in North Clare to Carrigaholt and Scattary Island in West Clare, are all destinations on the new driving route, which will be officially launched next year.

It is unclear how the € 8 million will be allocated but a portion of the funding has been earmarked for the construction of new signage and other small infrastructure projects.

This funding, which is being made available from the sale of the National Lottery, has been welcomed by Lahinch hotelier and head of the Irish Hotel Federation, Michael Vaughan. Mr Vaughan also welcomed the maintenance of the 9 per cent VAT rate in the hospitality trade.

“There was widespread belief that the VAT rate was going to go up and that would have created a lot of difficulty in the industry, especially for the majority of companies who have already signed tourism contracts for next year. They would have been forced to absorb the cost of a VAT increase and a lot of them would not have been able to go it,” he said.

“This VAT rate has a wide impact on the industry. Golf is one area that it effects greatly and is key here in Clare. There are a lot of gold clubs out there who feel that they cannot charge any more for their green fees and to absorb the increase would cost them into the hundreds of thousands.

“The Wild Atlantic Funding is to be welcomed and I certainly hope that Clare will receive a big chuck of that money. This is certainly good news for tourism in the county,” said Mr Vaughan.

“Overall I think it was a generally pro-tourism budget. There were some negatives, like the additional duty on wine and beer and cuts to the tourism bodies, which come to about 5 per cent. But overall, we are hopeful for next year.”

THE HSE has paid tribute to the staff at Ennis Hospital following the hospital’s most successful HIQA report to date.

Dr Con Cronin, Clinical Director for Medicine at the University Hospitals, said the hospital would also be addressing any of the deficits highlighted in the overall positive report.

“I would like to thank the staff of Ennis for their commitment to the hand hygiene programme and welcome the positive report from HIQA. We are committed to improving patient safety and the environment for patients and the report identified evidence of good practice in Ennis Hospital. We are implementing our action plan to address the deficits identified and build on the areas where we have demonstrated good practice,” he said.

“The Hospital Group recognises the importance of hand hygiene and its significant role in infection control prevention and has been working to improve hand hygiene compliance.

“Ennis Hospital provides hand hygiene training to all staff, this is mandatory training and repeated frequently. Unannounced hand hygiene audits by senior clinical staff within the UL hospitals are carried out to ensure that compliance and training is prioritised. The hospital is implementing an action plan to address any deficits identified and to build on the areas where good practice has been demonstrated,” he concluded.

MORE than € 4 million will be leaked out of the Clare economy in 2014 because of a drastic cut in the number of Clare farmers eligible for Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS) – formally knows as REPS.

In excess of 750 Clare farmers will come to the end of their current AEOS deal over the next 12 months, with no fresh scheme coming in 2014 following last week’s budget. The scheme, which compensated farmers for conducting environmental improvement on their land, has been dramatically cut since the start of the recession in 2007.

The lion’s share of the money allocated under AEOS payments is spent almost immediately by farmers, either on building materials or labour, meaning that this € 4 million cut will have a massive knock-on impact on the wider rural community.

“The loss of the environment scheme [AEOS] is a major blow for the county. These 750 farmers in Clare will now be spending € 4 million less in the local economy next year and that is going to effect the entire rural community. We are not talking about farmers alone here,” said Andrew Dundas, Clare IFA chairperson.

“Farmers are in a situation now where they are sending every bit of money that is coming in. You have to spend the money to be in these environment schemes and this loss will be felt by the whole comunity.”

There was some good news for Clare suckler farmers in the budget with the introduction of a € 60 calf grant. The payment will come in part from a new Beef Genomics Scheme and the Beef Data Programme and will effectively replace the old suckler scheme.

Beef or suckler farms are by far the most common form of agriculture practiced in Clare but the county’s sucker herd has fallen from a high of 76,000 in 2011 to an estimated 60,000 today.

THE members and supporters of the County Clare PB&S Association of New York City have much to celebrate at their annual ball this year.

Not only is it marking the 125th anniversary of the organisation, it is also celebrating Clare’s All Ireland Senior and Under 21 Hurling win with special guests former All Ireland winning manager Ger Loughnane and current All Ireland winning manager Davy Fitzgerald.

Since the Clare Association was founded in New York in 1888, its officers, members and friends have joined together each year to celebrate their Clare heritage and remind themselves of the purpose and goals of the association.

This year on Saturday, November 9, at Riverside Church in New York City, Sixmilebridge and Kilkee natives will be honoured as Claremen of the Year.

Association President Catherine Hogan said, “In a year where we celebrate our past, we honour our future. We are extremely pleased to announce our Claremen of the Year for 2013 are Kevin Grady and Tony Nolan.

“Kevin, a native of Sixmilebridge, County Clare, is a resident manager in Manhattan; and Tony, a native of Kilkee, is president of Allcom Electric Inc. Both these young men are relative newcomers to the association but have from the very start lent their support to many an association undertaking.

“They take great pride in their native county and are already proud members of the association, willing to lend a hand to any cause they are asked. We see them doing great things for the future of the association. We are proud to claim them as our own, and add the names of two great Claremen, Kevin Grady and Tony Nolan, to our honour roll this year,” she said.

Ger Loughnane will be returning as Master of Ceremonies for this year’s event.

Partial proceeds of this year’s event will be donated to two charities Share a Dream Foundation, County Limerick, and YWCA Special Needs Programs, White Plains, New York.