Author: admin

A YOUNG Clare businessman, who legitimately imported a car from England to sell to a client here, has been left out of pocket by up to €23,000, after it subsequently transpired that the vehicle had been stolen in England, leaving a judge with no choice but to return it to an English insurance company.

Twenty-four year old Derek Considine, who runs a car dealership business in Miltown Malbay since he was 17, was told by Judge Geoffrey Browne at Miltown Malbay District Court that his “hands were tied” and could not return the car to him although he had “done nothing wrong.”

Gardaí had pursed the matter under the Police Property Act to have the Audi A4 car returned to its rightful owner after discovering that it had been stolen in West Yorkshire in 2004. Mr Considine was seeking to have the car returned to him while an agent for the insurance company Norwich Union claimed that his client was the rightful owner. Mr Considine told the court that he had purchased the car in England after seeing it advertised in Autotrader magazine.

“I checked with the police and everyone else and I was told that the car was not stolen, had not been crashed previously and was not subject to a hire-purchase agreement,” he said in evidence.

“I had done all the things that were necessary and the car checked out perfect. I paid £8,500 (Stg), brought it home and paid the duties to Revenue.”

Mr Considine later sold the car to his brother-in-law but it later transpired that the car had been stolen. Gardaí visited Mr Considine and inspected the vehicle and later seized it for further examination. Gardaí discovered that another chassis number plate had been placed over the original.

Also contesting ownership of the car was the general manager of an English-based company, given responsibility for recovering vehicles for insurers Norwich Union. Mr John Armstrong of Norman Marshall confirmed that the car had been stolen in England in 2004 and that Norwich Union had paid out £10,395 to the owner for the loss on September 21, 2004.

Judge Geoffrey Browne accepted that Mr Considine had acted in good faith and had “done nothing wrong”, but added, “what can I do? I would return the car to you if I could, but you are not entitled to it. I am sorry, Mr Considine, my hands are tied.”

Judge Browne granted the garda application and ruled that the car should be handed over to Norman Marshall.

DEREK Considine has now accepted that he was cleverly conned, but has resolved to continue with his garage business, even though his experience has cost him €23,000.

He has run his own garage since he was just 17, and sells new and used cars in Miltown Malbay. He also employs a mechanic at his Ballard Road premises.

Speaking to The Clare People after last week’s court hearing, Mr Considine said, “it is a very hard lesson to learn. You work hard to ensure you are doing everything right and you get caught out like this by a crook.

“Even the judge said I had done everything right and nothing wrong. But that’s business, once in a while someone is going to catch you out. Unfortunately I got caught out for €23,000 when everything is taken into account.”

Mr Considine has already returned to England to try and locate the man from whom he purchased the car originally only to discover that the address he had for the fraudster was for an unoccupied rented house. He has also reported the matter to police there but admits he is not confident that they can do anymore.

“The police say they have tried to locate this man but have had no success. I think that is the end of it and I will just have to get on with it,” he said. “It has been a costly and embarrassing lesson. I sold the car to my brother-in-law so you can imagine how I felt when the car was taken back from him. I replaced it with a newer Audi A4 straight away, but it was very embarrassing for me.

“It goes to show that you can’t be too careful in business. All the paperwork showed the car was above board and the police had no record of the car being stolen. Anyway, it is an expensive lesson and all I can do now is put it behind me and get on with it,” Mr Considine added.

CLARE Youth Service has drawn up a comprehensive plan for the next three years. Strategic Plan 20052008 was launched in Glór last Thursday by the Minister of State for Education, Síle de Valera.

This is the first such plan drawn up by Clare Youth Service since the enactment of the Youth Work Act 2001 and the publication of the National Youth Work Development Plan 2003-2007.

Youth Work for the first time ever now has a statutory footing and is defined in the act as “a planned programme of education designed for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young persons through their voluntary participation.”

Eight areas of concentration have been mapped out by the Youth Service. These include programme development, public relations, partnerships and alliances, training and development and infrastructure and capital programmes.

Since 1974, there have been 15,000 members of Clare Youth Service and 2,000 volunteers.

Today there are 25 staff working in the service.

Since its inception in 1986, the Youth Service Bureau has had 210,000 queries from young people.

“These are very compelling statistics. Clare Youth Service has touched the lives of an extraordinary number of young people and is an extremely positive force within the community,” said the Youth Service Chairperson, Mary Cashin at the launch of the strategic plan.

“It is our goal to build on our existing external relationships with out partners, both voluntary and statutory, and to form new relationships for the purpose of working with these partnerships in the delivery of services to young people,” she added.

“The priorities of this plan are the result of inclusive and comprehensive consultation with all the various strands of the organisation.

“The Strategic plan is a process rather than an end in itself and this process is important in order to develop a real sense of ownership and commitment to the plan,” said Leslie Button of the Youth Service.

GAMA Construction Ltd has received a major boost in its plans to complete the Ennis bypass on time and within its budget.

Clare County Council has granted planning permission to the Turkish-owned company to develop a large-scale quarry to provide materials for the €190 million road.

The council made the decision to grant planning in spite of opposition from local residents and An Taisce.

However, as part of the 22 conditions attached, the company must pay €250,000 to the council in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting the development.

The council has imposed the condition even though the development will not be using any public roads to transfer rock materials to the bypass project.

The go-ahead for the quarry will now allow GAMA to source rock materials for the bypass from its own resources, thereby cutting its costs for the project, which is due to finish in April 2007.

The 37-acre quarry is the third of three GAMA quarries to secure planning permission from the council and by far the biggest.

In all, the council has granted planning permission to GAMA, for two years, to excavate 900,000 cubic metres of rock material, with 480,000 cubic metres of the total to be excavated from the quarry now granted planning at Killow/Kilbreckan on the outskirts of Ennis.

The council granted permission, ruling that it would not seriously injure the amenities of the area, or of property in the vicinity and would not be prejudicial to public health.

The authority ruled that granting permission will result in a vast reduction in the amount of material to be imported on the existing road network and thus represent a more sustainable approach towards the construction of the bypass.

At one juncture during the planning process, the council had “serious concern” over aspects of the proposal, but the final planner’s report stated that outstanding issues could be dealt with by condition.

In their objection to the proposal, the local residents group stated: “we now fear that the proposed major expansion of this quarrying operation and its movement much nearer to our homes, is going to result in major structural damage being suffered to our dwellings and we wish to object in the strongest possible terms to permission being granted.”

THE Chamber of Commerce in Ennis has expressed concern that a number of prominent premises at the heart of the town centre are vacant and retailers do not appear to be attracted there.

Chamber CEO Rita McInerney made the comment in the wake of Bank of Scotland choosing to locate in a prime retail premises at the centre of the town.

The bank, which will open in April, will move to the former premises of ACC bank on High Street in the town.

While welcoming the move to the town, Ms McInerney said, “The only concern in relation to the location is we would want to see more retail in the town centre. I would like to see more retail moving into the town”.

A number of buildings including the premises formerly occupied by Japan, Fox’s butchers, the old Carrig Donn building and Cassidy’s Pharmacy, on O’Connell Street, are all vacant. Carrig Donn and Cassidy’s did move to larger premises, but their old premises remain vacant.

“We do welcome Bank of Scotland coming to the town, but I would be jumping up and down even more if it was retail,” added the Chamber CEO.

Bank of Scotland, meanwhile, says it did not move into the former ESB offices on Carmody Street – many of the Bank of Scotland outlets moved to vacant ESB stores nationwide – because it was too big.

The bank’s head of retail Chrissie Quinn told The Clare People , “It was just too big. We were looking for a particular size of unit.”

Workers are due to go on site at the High Street building next week and will continue to work there until scheduled opening in early to mid April.

Some former ESB employees – who worked in the Carmody Street office prior to its closure – will take up employment with Bank of Scotland, whose Ennis branch is one of 46 nationwide due to open over the next 14 months.

“The emphasis will be on value for money and products that customers said they wanted. The premises are very open, colourful and welcoming,” said Ms Quinn.

Asked if there is a possibility of further expansion, to include other Clare towns, she said, “We will consolidate and see where we will go from there. The first 46 branches will give us reach to two-thirds of the population.”

The Ennis branch will open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and from 9am and 12 noon every Saturday.

MONTHS of study and preparation paid off for Clare’s students this week at the annual Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin.

This year there was a record entry of 1,100 projects, with Clare schools entering 23 projects. In total there were 14 Clare winners out of the 500 entrants that made it through to the final round of judging.

The day was extra special for two North Clare students who were awarded top prize in their respective categories. Mark Sims, a student in Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna, and Declan O’Loughlin, from CBS Ennistymon, were both awarded individual first place at senior and junior level respectively at Friday’s judging ceremony.

Mark’s project ‘Voting patterns – a tale of two counties’, scooped the top prize in the senior section of the Social and Behaviour Sciences Category. The prize represents something of a milestone for Mark. It is the sixth time that one of his projects has taken an award at the competition.

Students from Mary Immaculate Secondary came away from the competition with a total of eight awards and their exploits were the subject of RTÉ’s Nationwide programme on Monday night.

In the technology category Declan O’Loughlin’s entry on improving efficiency in a domestic oil central heating system won first place in the junior section.

The judges were impressed with Declan’s project, which found that by adding a simple modification to the average domestic heating

system he could continue to circulate the wa ter that would normally be left to cool after the burner had been switched off.

In the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences category, St John Bosco Community College students, Stephen Finucane and Liam Kenny’s project on the flow patterns of liquids came second in the junior level. Meanwhile, Jennifer Coote, Ashling Crowe and Marie Culligan from Kilrush Community College finished third in the same category and were also recognised in the Special Category.

The Cry Babies project undertaken by Ciara Deloughrey and Louise Morrissey also from Kilrush finished second in the Social and Behaviour category. In the intermediate section of the same category Cora Commane and Patricia Cusack from Mary Immaculate Secondary School also finished second.

The Display winners from Clare were Evelyn Linnane and Tess McGovern from Mary Immaculate Secondary School and Claire Meade, Michelle O’Brien and Megan Fitzgerald Bradley from St Anne’s Community College.

Special recommendation was reserved for Shona Ni Mheachair, Nicole Ni Chearmada and Cillian O’Buiteach from Ennis Community College for their research on diet drinks. Also commended were Laura Sims, Darren O’Gorman, Kevin Walsh, Christy Storer, Aishling Clancy, Noreen Lynch, Shona Fitzpatrick, Lorraine Stringer, and India Molloy, all representing Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna.

The work of Christopher Walshe, Eoghan Ryan and David Lynch from St Caimins Community School on feminising hormones was also recognised.

A 20-YEAR-old man who resisted arrest has been ordered to stay out of licensed premises and abide by a curfew.

Colin Ogrin, with an address at 19 Carrig Donn, Shannon, pleaded guilty to assaulting a garda and a civilian, on March 21, 2004.

Garda David Buckley told Shannon District Court that he and Garda Pat Morrissey observed the accused punching another man in the face outside Supermac’s.

Both Gardaí went over to him to arrest him. He was extremely drunk, shouted and roared, and was uncooperative, said the Garda. He said they eventually managed to handcuff him and Garda Morrissey sustained an injury in the process.

Garda Morrissey told the court he was assisting Garda Buckley in carrying out the arrest and the accused swung his arms and was “very violent and abusive towards us. He tried to evade us putting handcuffs on him and I injured my left hand.”

The Gardaí managed to restrain the accused after a short time.

Defending solicitor Rachel Dobson said her client was extremely drunk on the night and resisted arrest.

She said he has lived at home with his parents for the past year, having previously worked in the UK.

Judge Joseph Mangan remanded him on bail to appear again in court in March, to allow a probation report to be compiled.

He ordered that a professional report re drug and alcohol abuse be carried out.

The bail conditions include that he abstain from alcohol, stay out of licensed premises, abide by a curfew between 9pm and 9am and that he stay out of Shannon town centre.

TWO parochial houses were broken into and an attempt was made to raid a third in north Clare on Sunday afternoon.

A sum of money was stolen from Newquay parochial house, after the safe was broken into. The keys to the church were also taken.

In Ballyvaughan, keys to the church were also taken after intruders gained entry to the parochial house.

Both incidents are understood to have happened between 1pm and 5pm.

An attempt was also made to break in to the parochial house in Ennistymon but the intruders made off emptyhanded after the alarm was activated, at 3.30pm.

“The scenes were preserved for technical examination and we conducted house-to-house enquiries,” said Ennistymon Supt Eamon Dolan.

He said a number of raids on churches took place across the country over Christmas and suggested this may be “copycat crime.”

“We are not ruling out that these may be linked. Three areas were targeted on a Sunday afternoon.

“We are keeping an open mind at this stage and are appealing to anyone who may have seen anything suspicious to come forward,” added Supt Dolan.

A CLARE businessman accused of failing to comply with an enforcement notice served by Clare County Council will appear before Ennis Circuit Court, after jurisdiction was declined in the district court.

The council is taking the case against Newmarket-on-Fergus supermarket proprietor David Crimmins and Allyco Developments Limited, following complaints about noise emanating from a plant room on his premises at The Green, Newmarket-on-Fergus.

Planning enforcement officer Ann Colleran told Shannon District Court a number of matters are outstanding, since the case was previously before the court last year.

She said a retention application has been received by the council. She added that an enforcement notice had not been complied with and that further information had only been submitted on the morning of last Thursday’s court hearing. A third party, in an adjacent property, had made a number of complaints about noise, she said.

“He didn’t carry out the development in accordance with the plans submitted and there was an unauthorised development of the plant room,” she said.

She pointed out however that a lot of signage on windows and storage of shop trolleys has been regularised.

After hearing from Ms Colleran, Judge Joseph Mangan said he was declining jurisdiction. Solicitor for Clare County Council Rachel Dobson said that declining jurisdiction would not give the third party any satisfaction.

Judge Mangan replied, “I have made my decision,” and adjourned the case until March, for service of the book of evidence.

AS THE Council of Europe supports calls for greater transparency on the US use of Shannon Airport, peace activists have hit out at the government’s failure to carry out an investigation on the matter.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro GilRobles said he supports calls by the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) for greater transparency on the use of Shannon, and the possible transportation of prisoners through.

The IHRC has, in the past, said the government had a positive obligation to ensure prisoners were not being illegally transported.

Peace activist Ed Horgan said he supports calls for investigations to be carried out. Mr Horgan, along with other peace activists, have met with the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, and have detailed reports to the Minister for Justice, the Council of Europe, the UN Commission for Human Rights and the European Parliament.

“We have outlined that Ireland is in breach of the UN Convention on Torture. We are pleased the matter is getting attention, but it is belated and it has taken three years, during which many people have been tortured,” said Mr Horgan.

He said however the increased number of troops passing through Shannon – more than 330,000 during last year – is, in some respects, more important than the torture issue.

“Virtually all of the troops going to the Middle East are going through Shannon. That is inexplicable. Ireland was a neutral country. Other European countries have said ‘no.’ The number of troops passing through Shannon is doubling each year,” he added.

Meanwhile Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan’s criticism of the US for its lack of transparency over the use of Shannon has been described as his party colleague Clare Deputy Tony Killeen as “interesting”.

“It isn’t clear to me on what basis he doubts the veracity of Condoleeza Rice’s undertakings to Dermot Ahern,” said the Junior Minister.

“I have always said if people have evidence of prisoners being transported through the airport, they should come forward. I certainly don’t have the resources to check out these flights. The down side of it is the day you decide to do such checks, you are effectively calling a friendly government a liar,” added Deputy Killeen.

Commenting on the increased number of troops passing through Shannon, he said, “I’m not so sure how the numbers impact on the principal. If you are opposed to troops passing through, surely you are as much opposed to 1,000 as 100,000.”