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AN Afghan national, who lived in the Corofin Hostel until last September, has told The Clare People that he is prepered to die on hunger strike if he is not granted refugee status in Ireland.

Hashmat Habbib is part of the 41strong group of men who are entering the second day of their hunger strike in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin protest at the Department of Justice’s refusal to allow them to remain in the country.

“My life is in real jeopardy if I return to Afghanistan. My enemies will kill me,” Mr Habbib told The Clare People through an interpreter yesterday.

“I am okay, but the situation here is getting harder as time goes by. I will stay on hunger strike until the Department of Justice lets me stay. I will keep going until I die if I have to. We are all committed to it.”

The hunger strikers, who are being led by Osman Hotak, claim that they are at risk of torture and death if they are forced to return to Afghanistan.

The group also includes blind diabetic Sultan Kabirchakari, whose health will be seriously affected by the lack of food and water.

“We want people to know that we are in worse circumstances than them. We have been mental prisoners for years,” said Mr Hotak yesterday.

“All of us will die unless we are allowed to stay. We are willing to end our lives.”

The stand-off began just after midday on Sunday when 33 Afghan asylum seekers, including Mr Habbib, entered the Cathedral and declared that they would refuse all food and water until the were granted refugee status.

The men were asked to leave by a member of the Gardaí on Sunday afternoon but have since been granted sanctuary by Cathedral officials. No attempt has been made to forcibly remove them.

These men were joined by eight others yesterday morning and it is believed that a number of other Afghani men are currently on their way to the Dublin Cathedral to join their countryman.

The men are aged between the ages of 16 and 45 and have all been living in different parts of the country for the last five years.

They believe that their claims for asylum have not been taken seriously by the Irish authorities and that they are just trying to highlight their situation.

Orla Ni Eili of the Ennis Refugee Council told The Clare People that it was an unsafe time to return these people to Afghanistan and that the Minister for Justice must look at each case on an individual basis.

AN INAGH man accused of threatening to kill or harm a man, and of recklessly discharging a shotgun, has been acquitted by a jury at Ennis Circuit Court.

Brian Barry (53), of Ballyea, Inagh, was also accused of assaulting Patrick Nilan, causing him harm.

He had denied all charges, which arose out of an incident outside Purcell’s bar in Ruan, on January 8, 2005.

Mr Nilan, a farmer in Ruan, told the court he was in the bar on the night on January 7, where he met a number of people including Brian Meaney and Gavin and Derek Barry, who are both sons of the accused man.

He said he left after 2am and chatted to Mr Meaney in the pub carpark. They discussed going elsewhere for a drink and Mr Meaney asked the Barry brothers if they wished to join them.

Mr Nilan said Gavin Barry had said he had rang someone.

“I presumed it was somebody that was going to join us,” said Mr Nilan.

He said some time after, a car drove into the carpark and a man – who he now knows to be Brian Barry – jumped out, carrying a gun.

“He waved the gun towards me and said not to be holding his sons at ransom. I put my hands out and said, ‘What is going on?’ He said ‘I’ll tell you what is going on’ and fired a shot towards my feet. Next thing I got a belt of the gun above the eye,” Mr Nilan told the court.

He said he did not know what was the motive for this.

Defending barrister Michael Collins said Gavin Barry had phoned his father to say that they were in trouble and that he feared for his brother’s safety. As a result, Brian Barry drove from his home in Inagh to Ruan.

The barrister said when the accused got out of the car at first, he had no gun, and that Mr Nilan laughed at him.

“Mr Barry went back to the car and got the gun and he loaded it and you still approached him laughing,” said Mr Collins. Mr Nilan denied this.

Mr Collins said the accused had the gun pointed downwards at all times and said he was using the gun to frighten Mr Nilan off.

“He hit you into the side of the head with the barrel to get you to stand off,” said the barrister.

Brian Meaney, who lives in Ruan, told the court the accused pointed the gun at him and told him to stay in the jeep. Mr Meaney said he then heard a shot and got out of the jeep.

“He (the accused) said, ‘I’ll blow your head off’,” he told the court.

Mr Collins said his client told Mr Meaney to stay in the jeep, but that he did not point the gun at him.

“He didn’t point the gun at anyone,” said the barrister.

Mr Collins said there were “gaping holes” in the prosecution.

“This prosecution has raised more questions that Chris Tarrant in Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? ” he said.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all three charges, on the second day of the trial.

FINE GAEL made history in the West County Hotel on Sunday – the largest selection convention in the party’s seven decades was staged, but it brought with it a whiff on controversy following the controversial decision by the top brass to deny a vote to 300 members of the youth wing of the party.

It prompted the 11th hour withdrawal of Councillor John Crowe who hit out at the party’s top brass over the decision. However, Fine Gael General Secretary Tom Curran was making no apologies for the controversial move.

“There is a procedure whereby one has to register as a voter. It was deemed that proper procedures weren’t followed,” he told The Clare People .

“If you were a new member of Young Fine Gael you had to attend an AGM.

“What we were really concerned about was the thought that there was a possibility that people would be signing up members to try to get selected at convention.

“We have to be very transparent in all our dealings, so the matter was appealled and the executive council of the party made a decision at the end of the day and some people were denied the opportunity to vote,” he added.

Convention chairman, Deputy Jim O’Keeffe, refused to be drawn on the controversy, preferring instead to dwell on the positive that the event represented the largest gathering at any Fine Gael selection convention in the country.

“I wouldn’t get involved in that controversy at all,” he said. “I think it is a great thing that we have so many members here. Quite a lot of them are new members and we are delighted to see new members coming in.

“We are a very open party and it’s great that they are coming in. I hope that they stay the course and become committed and long established members of the party.

“I want each of you delegates to secure ten votes for Fine Gael candidates selected for the General Election – if you do that Fine Gael will have two quotas and two seats. That’s the objection of this exercise. It is crucial that there are two seats in Clare for Fine Gael in the next election.

“I will be reporting to Enda Kenny on Tuesday – it will be a very strong report, it will be a very encouraging report.

“I have evidence before my own eyes of the vibrancy of the party in Clare. I think it is a great sign – I am hugely enthused by what I have seen here.

“I would wish that the enthusiasm and commitment that I have seen was translated in like measure all over the country in every constituency,” added Deputy O’Keeffe.

TONY Mulcahy’s selection as the second candidate on the Clare ticket for Fine Gael sparked a major controversy on Sunday evening, even before the official confirmation was announced.

As chairman of the Convention Deputy Jim O’Keeffe announced that Mulcahy would join Deputy Pat Breen on the ticket, some disgruntled voters at the back of the room booed loudly.

However, Mulcahy’s loyal supporters were having none of it and the Shannon Mayor was held shoulder high. Moments later Mulcahy, a native of Newcastlewest, spoke of his relief.

“I am relieved. It was a tough campaign. I knew it was going to be a hard battle,” said Mulcahy, a chef who works in the catering business in Shannon.

The huge increase in the number of people in the Shannon area declaring themselves as Fine Gael supporters benefited Mulcahy, who lives in the town and is involved in many sporting and social groups there.

“At the end of the day, I don’t apologise for anything I have done. Anyone is entitled to vote. If the people of Shannon come out and support me, I am not going to turn them away,” he pointed out.

Mulcahy dispelled any suggestions that the decision by Cllr John Crowe to withdraw at the last minute was part of a plan. Crowe first introduced Mulcahy to politics and encouraged him to enter politics 12 years ago.

The two formed a close alliance in the build-up to the Convention.

“I didn’t expect John not to contest. There was no preconceived plan. John is a great servant and campaigner and I regret him doing that. I am absolutely devastated for him,” Mulcahy said.

With the margin so tight in the end, Mulcahy believes his campaign team’s work swung the verdict in his favour.

“It is down to hard work. I had a team of 50 to 60, who have worked hard, while people came from all over the country to vote here today,” he said.

During his speech to members earlier in the evening, Mulcahy said, “Today is the proudest day of my life.”

Mulcahy was first elected to Shannon Town Council in 1994. Five years later he held on to that seat, and also won a seat on Clare County Council.

In 2004 he received 1,195 votes and retained the county council seat. He received almost two-and-a-half times the quota (820 votes) in the town council elections and retained his seat.

DEPUTY Pat Breen has called for a united front within Fine Gael as it gears up for the challenge of winning two Dáil seats in Clare for the first time since the 1989 General Election.

Deputy Breen made his comments to The Clare People in the wake of his poll-topping performance at the Fine Gael selection convention on Sunday evening. And he called on party headquarters to stick with a two-candidate strategy going into the general election campaign.

“There has to be a united front now. That is very important. I don’t know if they are going to add another candidate. I would urge that they take their time about this – we have to try and maximise our vote as much as possible. We will have a united front,” he said.

“The crowd at the convention shows that people are full of enthusiasm and support for the party. It was wonderful and this is the first obstacle surmounted in the race to get two seats in Clare. We mean business and the business is that we are going to get two seats in Clare. I’m confident we can do that with two candidates.

“Membership don’t like the adding of candidates. This is their day out. They are the bosses – most people feel that if we pick two candidates that we should leave it at that. However, I have no problem if they want to add another candidate. I will go along with that if it gets two seats for Fine Gael in Clare,” he added.

Deputy Breen put his poll-topping performance down to hard work on the canvass in recent weeks as well as his record as a TD for the past four years.

“I set it as a task to meet everyone in the organisation over the past six weeks. I felt it paid off at the convention and I also think that my work over the past four years in the Dáil paid off,” he said.

“I’m delighted at topping the poll, but it’s not about topping the poll. I’m delighted that people have that confidence and faith in me. I asked for that support and people rallied around me.”

CONSPIRACY theories reverberated around the Liam McCarthy Suite in the West County Hotel when Councillor John Crowe from Sixmilebridge dropped his bomb and used the platform to announce his withdrawal from the convention race minutes before the vote.

A cunning move aimed at helping the selection chances of Shannon electoral area colleague Tony Mulcahy, was one theory. Part of electoral strategy aimed at keeping Councillor Joe Carey off the Fine Gael ticket, was an extension of that theory.

But Councillor Crowe was having none of it – the only theory in his mind was that the convention platform afforded him to make the ultimate sacrifice and send a clear message to party headquarters.

“There were 300 Young Fine Gael people who were registered as members of the party and because they didn’t turn up at an AGM, they couldn’t vote here today. Young people are the lifeblood of this party. To take a vote off them because they didn’t turn up at a Fine Gael meeting is very, very wrong,” he said.

“This has been going on for a couple of months. It was to be sorted out – there were meeting about it and the votes were to come, but they never arrived. Members got letters during the week stating that they hadn’t got votes at convention.

“I had to make a stand on it. You go on your principles and I felt that pulling out was the stand I had to make for the young people of the county. I felt this was the right platform for me to use and help me bring my point across. That’s why I waited until today to do this. There was no other reason.

“I felt it was an attack on my candidature here today – it was by headquarters. They knew I was depending on these young people and headquarters undermined my chances here today of getting elected. The national secretary of the party was here today and he heard my message loud and clear,” added Councillor Crowe.

AS Madeleine Taylor-Quinn faced up to her defeat, she hit out at tactics employed by some of the other candidates in the run-up to the Convention and suggested that there were signs of a “boys’ club” in evidence.

Taylor-Quinn (54) confirmed to The Clare People that she still intends to run in next year’s General Election.

“I am now in a situation where I am determined to run for the Dáil in the next General Election. The situation should clarify itself within the next few weeks,” she said.

The Kilrush native’s 193 votes fell well short of the quota on Sunday, but she says, she had predicted how things would turn out and said she was “relying on the traditional members” to support her.

“I am not particularly disappointed. I had more or less expected the result that has emerged. I had the result predicted long before I came in here,” she said.

During her speech earlier in the evening, she said she had not “contrived” to add any new members to the party’s branches ahead of the Convention, and afterwards, she elaborated on this.

“I didn’t engage in loading on additional members to any branches and that obviously didn’t help my situation. However I am deeply appreciative of the voters who did vote for me because they are the genuine, reliable and dependable backbone figures,” said the former TD.

“There were so many people here who were corralled into voting. A number of people here are members of other parties. I was very happy with my own vote.

“It would have come from branches that hadn’t been boosted and was greater than the vote I got in the last Convention. Maybe there was an element of the boys’ club going on, but one has to respect the democratic decision,” added the former teacher.

She believes she has the support of the people of Clare, having secured 22,000 votes in her native county in the European elections two years ago. She said she believed some other backers were unable to travel to the packed Convention on Sunday, due to a variety of family and personal commitments.

Taylor-Quinn, who has vast experience in the Dáil, Seanad and Clare County Council, is a former front bench spokesperson on European security, Marine and Defence. During her ten-year spell in the Seanad (1992-2002), she was a prominent speaker on Foreign Affairs and Justice.

TENSIONS ran high as the verdict was imminent. Joe Carey’s camp were huddled in one corner, while Tony Mulcahy walked to and fro, in front of the stage.

The recount added to the sweat, as Carey and Mulcahy waited and waited. Then the announcement that Mulcahy was victorious caused great disappointment in the Carey camp.

Supporters of the 30-year-old had been vocal throughout and his reference to the good old glory days, during his impassioned speech, created much reaction among his faithful.

After the outcome was announced, Carey – son of former TD Donal – was whisked away by his advisors and returned moments later to make a brief statement. He said many questions must be asked about the way the process was undertaken.

“I am very disappointed with the outcome of this convention. I, along with my supporters, have put an awful amount of work into today. Unfortunately the result was very close, with only three votes between us,” he said.

“I would really have to question a few things about today…the issue regarding a candidate withdrawing at the 11th hour. I need to reflect on that matter,” he told The Clare People .

“I believe that maybe procedures weren’t adhered to today and I feel (losing by) only three votes, there is merit in reviewing what happened here today,” he added.

He also said that, while victory eluded him on Sunday, he will continue to fly the Carey flag in politics.

“I am certainly not finished in politics. I have huge support. The people of the town of Ennis need a candidate to run in the next general election and the road doesn’t stop here for Joe Carey.

“I think the road is getting wider and I intend to travel it all the way up to Dáil Éireann.”

Earlier, Carey had told members that politics in the county was at a “crossroads” and required “new blood”, and that James Breen’s votes in Ennis must be targeted by Fine Gael.

Carey was first elected to Clare County Council in 1999, with 786 first preferences, and at the age of 23, became the youngest councillor in the county. He scooped a recordbreaking 1,939 votes and was reelected in 2004.

THE second gangland murder in Clare in less than seven months has sparked fears that Limerick gangs will continue to use the area to conduct criminal activity.

Nineteen-year-old Aidan Kelly, a small-time criminal from Moyross in Limerick, was shot up to five times in a laneway in Blackwater, at around 11pm last Wednesday night. Kelly was alive when he was discovered but was pronounced dead a short time later at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

According to gardai involved in the investigation, he was “lured to the area” and shot dead. A rifle, found close to his body in his Opel Astra car, was taken away for analysis but gardai say they believe it was not the murder weapon.

The shooting happened just yards from the home of Sean Poland, a car salesman who was shot dead on New Year’s Eve in 2002.

This latest killing in the quiet area is a further devastating blow for east Clare. Last October, the people of Parteen were plunged into shock, when Limerick man David Nunan (25) was killed in gangland style and his body was found in a laneway.

Limerick gardai are investigating all three murders, as these parts of east Clare are in the Limerick Garda Division. Clare Chief Supt Liam Quinn said areas like Blackwater are monitored by criminal gangs from Limerick.

“It is very much a Limerick issue. These areas are obviously chosen specifically from a criminal’s point of view,” he said.

He said that while there are few garda resources in east Clare, it is no different to any other rural part of the country.

“There are few garda resources in all of rural Ireland. It could just as easily have been in rural Limerick,” he said.

Fine Gael Justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe said people all over rural Ireland are particularly concerned about gangland crime, which is no longer confined to the large urban centres.

“There is an overspill of gangland crime and this brings home to people it is not just for cities.

“We have mobile criminals now and this is a worrying development. This is another reason for ensuring garda numbers in rural Ireland are not reduced.

“If criminals feel under too much pressure in urban areas, there is a tendency to converge on relatively remote areas, areas where there is no police strength,” said Deputy O’Keeffe.

East Clare Labour Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald said last Wednesday’s murder again highlights the need for more gardai in the area.

“We need the extra gardai that we have been promised. This is the third death in the area in three years and the other two haven’t been solved,” he said.

“Blackwater is a nice, quiet community, but people do not see enough gardai in the area. Some people here are worried that this is the second murder in less than a year in the area,” he said.

THE 19-year-old Limerick man who was shot to death last Wednesday night, at Blackwater near Ardnacrusha, was facing a Circuit Court trial in Ennis later this year after he allegedly stole €10,000 worth of property from houses in the county in 2005.

Aidan Kelly of College Avenue, Moyross in Limerick, died in hospital soon after he was discovered lying in a laneway with several gunshot wounds to his body. Gardaí have confirmed that he was known to them but that he would not have been considered to be a “serious criminal.”

While the dead man had several previous convictions, it is thought that they were mainly for road traffic offences.

He appeared at Tulla District Court on Thursday, May 4, just six days before his death, where he faced two charges of burglary. However, after hearing evidence in the case, Judge Joseph Mangan refused jurisdiction in the matter and ruled that the case should be dealt with in the Circuit Court.

Property including building equipment, tools and jewellery amounting to €10,000 were stolen during burglaries at two houses in the Tulla area of east Clare in August 2005.

The accused was arrested at his home in Limerick some weeks later and was taken to Killaloe garda station for questioning. Some of that property was later recovered.

Kelly was released on bail and had been due to appear again at Tulla District Court in July 6, for service of the book of evidence.