Author: admin

A MAN who assaulted his girlfriend with the flex of a hairdryer has been jailed for five months. Oliver Boylan (38), a homeless man, who is originally from Dublin, pleaded guilty to assaulting Jennifer McMahon, on April 20, 2004.

Sergeant Frank Naughton told Ennis Circuit Court that Ms McMahon had been locked into her flat on O’Connell Street, Ennis. She told gardai she had been assaulted by her partner.

She said she had been struck in the face a couple of times. He cut the flex of a hairdryer and used that to assault her, said the garda.

He took her mobile phone and keys and left. She couldn’t get out, but eventually managed to alert a passer-by, who contacted gardai.

Sgt Naughton said the accused had been in a relationship with Ms McMahon for five years, prior to this incident. Ms McMahon told the court that for two years she was afraid of going into town, for fear of bumping into Boylan.

Defending barrister Michael Fitzgibbon said his client — who was jailed for two years in March for threatening staff at Ennis General Hospital with an imitation gun — has settled well in jail.

“Bishop Walsh has been to see him on a number of occasions and has offered him work when he serves his sentence, in the line of landscaping,” said the barrister.

Judge Con Murphy accepted that Boylan pleaded guilty and that he was endeavouring to put his life together. He imposed a sentence of five months.

PLANS have been lodged with Clare County Council for a €30 million retail park in Shannon.

Greenbrand Investments and Sean Halpin are proposing to develop a mixed-use park, consisting of a DIY anchor store, garden centre, three retail warehouses, 10 retail units, eight office units and one department store. The proposed development is located at Smithstown with 15,777m in gross floor retail space and 1,336m in office space.

The developers state that the proposal “will promote growth in a sustainable manner by concentrating development in an area adjacent to the town core, which will maximise use of the existing infrastructure”.

The plan “would improve the socio-economic profile of the town in particular the indigenous population, addressing the identified deficiencies in this sector”.

They promised their development would be a significant boost to the local economy and environment in the Shannon region and that it would integrate with the town centre.

“The proposed development is in an optimum location from a retailing perspective and in terms of retail planning policy,” the developers say. “From a planning perspective, impact on the town centre would be positive.

“The proposal will provide a state of the art, modern mixed use development, which will enhance the sustainability of the town in general. This will be to the benefit of the local community, visitors and workers in the town and will accord with the objectives of the Retail Planning Guidelines and the South Clare Economic Corridor Local Area Plan.”

They say their development will provide “a contemporary purpose built retail park of a scale or quality not currently present in the town or county. The proposed development could more than readily accommodate a wider range and choice of goods within one area.”

This proposal has been the subject of a number of discussions with the council over the last 12 months. At the advice of the council, the developers deferred lodging the plan on a number of occasions, to facilitate amendments to the development plan. They claim that the amendments have not progressed in the timescale advised.

“Notwithstanding this, we are satisfied the proposal will complement all council objectives pertaining to the site and surrounding area.”

A decision is expected on the application later in the year.

WHO should pick up the outstanding tab for the Cliffs of Moher interpretive centre was the subject of political wrangling this week.

Suggestions that Shannon Development, Fáilte Ireland, Central Government and money collected from the controversial project’s car park have all been cited in an attempt to pay off the €3.1 million debt.

But county manager Alec Fleming is adamant that the project will clear its own 10 per cent shortfall and maintain the centre’s running cost.

Fianna Fáil Senator Brendan Daly has called on Shannon Development to put up the short fall for the project in line with its tourism remit.

“Shannon Development has a sizable capital budget this year,” added the west Clare Senator.

The senator said that while he appreciated there was a difference of opinion between Shannon Development and the county council when the project began, the two bodies should now work together to make sure the venture is a success.

Meanwhile, north Clare council lor Martin Lafferty (Ind) believes Fáilte Ireland are more than capable of making up the shortfall. The state tourism promotion company underspent by €25 million last years, and the money was returned to the EU.

The council contributed half a million euro from the Planning Development Contribution Scheme in 2005 to the cliffs project. Cllr Lafferty asked why should people building one-off houses have to contribute to the Cliffs of Moher.

Fellow north Clare councillor Ri chard Nagle (FF) said he was sure that fees collected from the carpark would cover the over-spend.

County manager Alec Fleming has revealed that approximately €650,000 is collected every year in the car park. This goes directly into the council budget for the year.

He said he would not over worry about the €3.1 million debt as the project will be run in such a way as to maintain itself and pay the money back.

“This project is not set out to be a commercial project,” he added.

He said the project is to provide proper facilities to keep tourists in the county longer, as the majority of tourists just pass through.

The second reason for investing in such a project is for the county’s citizens.

“Many of the thousands of the people who visit the cliffs on a regular basis are from the county.”

THE trial of a man accused of murdering Ennis taxi driver Liam Moloney last year will not go ahead today, as had been scheduled.

Anthony Kelly (53), of Emlagh na Muck, Emlagh More, Waterville, Kerry, is charged with murdering Mr Moloney, at Portlecka, Ruan, on February 11, 2005. The 56-year-old father-of-four was found dead in Ruan almost 15 months ago.

Last December, the Central Criminal Court fixed today’s date for the trial to commence.

However Mr Kelly’s senior counsel, Brendan Grehan applied to the court last Thursday for an adjournment, pending the preparation of psychiatric reports.

This application was granted by Mr Justice Paul Carney, who adjourned the case to later this month. He will fix a date for the trial then.

According to sources close to the case, the trial is not now likely to go ahead for up to six months.

The case will be mentioned at the Central Criminal Court this morning and it will be formally adjourned.

THE Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, has confirmed that Shannon Airport will not have its €70 million debt cleared by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) when it becomes independent.

The Minister said there was no question of either Shannon or Cork escaping debt.

Mr Cullen’s view, expressed in the Seanad, runs contrary to that expressed by former Transport Minister, Seamus Brennan in July 2004.

Mr Brennan, also speaking in the Seanad, said that under the terms of the restructuring, both airports would commence operations debt free.

Minister Cullen said his job was to ensure that both airports were “set off” with the strongest possible commercial mandate for future development.

“That is the only agenda that the Government and I wish to pursue. Therefore each authority is required to prepare a comprehensive business plan and obtain our approval for these plans before any assets can be transferred.

“The Commissioner for Aviation Regulation made clear that he will not allow a charging regime at Dublin Airport to cover the costs of Cork or any other airport.

“That is the law within which we must operate.”

Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) said the inability of Dublin Airport Authority to “spin off” assets into the two separate companies had created a problem.

“There is no point dwelling on the reason this was allowed to occur or whether better or different advice should have been obtained,” he said.

“The intent at the time was to ensure the airports had sufficient capacity to manage their business, expand their market, generate increased numbers of passengers and provide better facilities for customers.

“A review of the progress achieved in realising the aims set down in the legislation is required. Policy could then be examined in light of the outcome.

“It is possible, for example, that the spin-off of assets to three individual companies will prove unnecessary.

“I propose such a review on the basis of the position at which we have arrived as opposed to the original aim.

“Given the substantial progress achieved to date, perhaps the establishment of three independent, statutorily constituted companies operating under the provisions of company law is no longer required.

“It is this proposal that is causing the problem.

“The airports are working well in the current hiatus.

“While I am not an expert in this area, I suggest that the Dublin Airport Authority be restructured to act as an umbrella encompassing all the State airports,” he said.

TALKS between the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and unions on the €30 million “survival plan” for Shannon Airport are to commence at the Labour Relations Commission this Wednesday.

The two sides have been given a two-month deadline in which to resolve issues by the Labour Court, which urged the parties last month, to engage “genuinely and meaningfully” in negotiations.

The talks process commenced last Summer. But there have been no discussions on the substantive issues over the past nine months.

Throughout, SIPTU has maintained its opposition to plans by the DAA to cut the workforce of 520 through 200 voluntary redundancies and by outsourcing a number of areas of work at Shannon, including exiting completely from catering.

Ahead of the talks at the LRC, Clare Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) told the Seanad that the board and management at Shannon, needed to engage more with staff on the issue of outsourcing.

He said that the management had been suggesting, through the board, that outsourcing was the the only solution for catering.

“I disagree. I am not a business expert, but having discussed the matter with a number of people who have an interest in this area, it is clear there is a viable business in the catering section and the management and the board must be more open to ideas on how that business might be part of a restructured operation,” he said.

“Given that there can be no mandatory redundancies the board will have to work with the hand of cards it is dealt.

“I hope that happens without delay. There is a need to look at all the alternatives in this area.”

As part of the “survival plan”, the DAA is offering sums of up to €10,000 for the 300 or so workers that opt to remain, costing the DAA €2 to €3 million. The payments are being made in recognition of changing work practices.

The voluntary redundancy package gives staff with over 24 years experience a €10,000 pay-off, while it also entitles workers to their company pensions at 55.

The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, said he acknowledged the efforts going on at Shannon.

“I welcome the fact that the Labour Relations Commission is meeting with people there, which I hope reaches a positive conclusion for all the stakeholders in order that we can move on.

“That will be an important contribution to the success of Shannon Airport,” he said.

A YOUNG man who was the victim of an unprovoked attack in Ennis has told how he has become a recluse as a result – his attacker was jailed for four years last week.

Anthony Conlon received a threeinch deep wound to the chest, after he accidentally bumped into David O’Loughlin, along a footpath at Harmony Row, Ennis, on June 30, 2005.

O’Loughlin (19), unemployed, of Finian Park, Shannon, was jailed for attacking Mr Conlon, a native of Mayo, after he pleaded guilty.

Detective Sergeant Joe O’Brien told Ennis Circuit Court that Anthony Conlon (who was then 21) and his girlfriend were walking down the street at around 7.30pm.

O’Loughlin and Mr Conlon bumped into each other, along a narrow footpath. Words were exchanged between the two and O’Loughlin stabbed his victim in the chest, just under the ribs.

Mr Conlon sustained a wound, three inches deep and one-and-a-half inches long. O’Loughlin was arrested later that night and the following day he admitted his part in the stabbing.

He said he had thrown the knife into the River Fergus, but it was never recovered.

A consultant surgeon who assessed the victim said he was “lucky to have survived, considering the depth of the wound.”

Dt Sgt O’Brien said there was “absolutely no logic whatsoever” for what had happened, that the victim and his girlfriend were out for a walk, minding their own business.

He said O’Loughlin is a “very volatile individual” who comes from a “dysfunctional” family.

Mr Conlon, an apprentice aeroplane mechanic, was in intensive care for a week after the assault and was unable to work for five weeks.

“I don’t go out anymore. I am basically a recluse… No more walks – I take the car,” he told the court.

He has fully recovered from his injuries, but remains wary of anyone he meets on the footpath.

In court, O’Loughlin apologised. “There is nothing I can say or do to take away the injuries I have done to Anthony Conlon. All I can say is sorry.”

His barrister Brendan Nix said his client has been in foster care since he was 11.

“It is a bad case. It could have been an awful lot worse,” said Mr Nix.

Judge Con Murphy said the offence was “horrendous” he said Mr Conlon “very nearly sustained a fatal injury, given where he was stabbed was very near to his heart.”

He said he accepted O’Loughlin was pleading guilty and that he apologised.

“He came from a dysfunctional background, which is no fault of his own,” he said, imposing a four-year term.

O’Loughlin has already served six months on remand and this was taken into account.

THE Mayor of Ennis believes the only thing that will curb serious crime is to increase garda presence on the streets.

Councillor Frankie Neylon said it is not acceptable for someone to take out a knife and stab an innocent passer-by in broad daylight, as happened in the case of David O’Loughlin.

He was jailed for four years at Ennis Circuit Court last week for stabbing Anthony Conlon, at Harmony Row, Ennis, on June 30 last year. The attack occurred a stone’s throw from Ennis Garda Station.

“Anybody who takes it upon themselves to stab someone is just not acceptable,” he said.

“You don’t expect anybody to stab someone outside a garda station, or outside a hotel, or wherever.”

He expressed concern that knives are being carried around town and said this appears to be some people’s “daily routine.”

“When it comes into the town, you have to be able to deal with it. We are very short of gardai on the ground,” he said.

“We should be looking at some way of ensuring visitors to our town would be healthy while they are here and that they leave healthy. If you want to curb this, you have to have gardai on the streets,” he pointed out.

GARDAI say they are satisfied that serious head injuries sustained by a man in Lisdoonvarna last week were as a result of a fall.

Jim Kearney (56) was found in an unconscious state on a footpath close to the Square in the town, in the early hours of Monday last. He had been seen leaving a pub in the town a short time earlier.

Mr Kearney, a chef who hails from Wexford, was removed to hospital in Ennis.

He later underwent surgery at Cork University Hospital, where he remained in a critical condition yesterday.

It was initially unclear how he sustained his injuries.

A full garda investigation was conducted last week and a Detective Superintendent was deployed from Galway to work on the investigation.

Clare Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn said it appears Mr Kearney was not the victim of an assault.

“It seems there was nothing to indicate there was any assault. The indications are his injuries were as a result of a fall.

“Our investigations haven’t indicated there was anything suspicious,” he said.

A number of people have been interviewed by gardai, including those who found the Mr Kearney at around 2am, and people who were in his company earlier that night.

A MAN who sexually assaulted a Clare teenager after a St Patrick’s Day drinking session in north Clare has been jailed for seven years.

James Donovan (37), of Fona Glas, Ballybane, Galway pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the then 16-year-old victim and assault, causing her harm, in March 2004.

Garda Andrew Monahan told the Central Criminal Court that the girl had celebrated St Patrick’s Day with her friends and they arranged to meet again later. She and one other girl left in a car with three men, one of whom was Donovan, the driver. They weren’t acquainted with him previously but one of the other men was known to them.

After they had some drinks, they returned to collect the third girl who wished to join them and resumed celebrating. Some time later, the victim complained of being cold and returned to sit in the car.

Donovan — a married father-of-seven — went with her to let her into the car, where a music tape was played. His suggestion that they should kiss was refused by her but he started kissing her after letting back her seat.

Gda Monahan said Donovan pulled down his trousers and then her lower clothes, leaving her naked from the waist down. She covered her genital area with her arms but he pulled them away and struck her across the face before sexually assaulting her.

Donovan went voluntarily to gardai and made a statement. He acknowledged they were drunk and said they had only kissed consensually. He volunteered to his car being searched and to giving samples which didn’t provide anything of evidential value.

He had no previous convictions and hadn’t ever come to garda notice.

Defence Counsel Martin Giblin said his client “wants it noted that he will never stand in court again for this kind of offence or any form of anti-social behaviour.”

Mr Justice Eamon de Valera certified Donovan as a registered sex offender. He said the victim could not have been mistaken for anything but a 16-year-old girl, which placed the offence at the higher end of the scale.

“He was considerably older than her and was merciless in the way he treated her,” the judge said. He added that Donovan’s wife deserved great credit for sticking by him.

He imposed a seven-year sentence with the final three years suspended on conditions.