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THE organiser of a vigil for Savita Halappanavar in Ennis on Saturday said there will be further demonstrations and other actions if the government does not legislate for the X case.

According to organiser Ann Cronin, who ran as an Independent candidate in the last general election, action must be taken in the coming weeks to resolve the legal uncertainty highlighted by the death of Savita Halappanavar at University College Hospital in Galway last month.

The vigil attracted a crowd of almost 150 people, with a large number of passers-by joining in to show their support.

“It was a really good turnout. We had a nice turnout and a lot of people joined the vigil from the street. It was very encouraging that so many people showed up. It just shows you that this is such a personal matter and it affects a lot of people,” said Ann.

“No representative from any of the political parties showed up but then we didn’t go out of our way to invite anyone. I don’t think anyone in politics wants to touch this – it is too much of a hot potato. I think it is notable that all four of our elected candidates voted against legislation for this when it was proposed last year.

“I think it shows you exactly that they think of women’s health and how important it is for them.”

According to Ann Cronin, more events will be staged in Ennis in the weeks ahead if the government does not move quickly to resolve the situation.

“We will hold another event if there is no action. This isn’t going to go away, this is an issue that really upsets me and a lot of other people and I think that people realise that they have to do something about it – because if you wait for other people to do something then it will never happen,” continued Ann.

“This wasn’t just me and a bunch of my friends. This vigil was made up of strangers – men, women and families with children. People feel really strongly about this and the issue is not going to go away. People are not happy to wait for this to be resolved.”

A PROMINENT North Clare hotelier believes that local surfers will have to be “held to account” if funding for a new pier in Doolin is lost.

John Burke, of the Burke Group of hotels, said yesterday that the majority of local surfers are in favour of the pier in principle but have been “misinformed” about the impact that the current design will have on the Crab Island wave.

The Burke Group currently employs 125 people in the area between the Armada Hotel, Hotel Doolin and Tír Gan Éan and believe that the development will be good for everyone in the area, including surfers. In a statement to The Clare People yesterday, he said that surfers will be “held to account” for their opposition, if plans for the pier are rejected by An Bord Pleanála and the funding is lost. “The surfing community is being misrepresented and perhaps misinformed by a number of people, as most surfers I’ve encountered claim that they do not in principle object to the development,” he said. “Some are misguided in believing that this pier will have a significant negative impact on the Crab Island wave, when in fact there will be no impact in most [weather and tidal] conditions on the most surfed portion on the wave. “The surfing community needs to be made aware of the facts of the situation and they need to assess their position based on those facts.

“If, after that, they still wish to object to the proposed pier development, that is their prerogative, but the current position taken by their representatives – that they don’t object to the pier but rather the level of research undertaken – does not represent a fair and honest approach.

“It’s now time to either object on clearly stated grounds, while accepting this may be to the detriment of the piers development, or apply pressure to their representatives to move forward with this.

“This pier will not have another opportunity for development, its funding will be taken, and there will not be energy or drive by any promoters to develop the pier. In this case, the surfing community will have to be held accountable for their position, it is imperative that they are comfortable with where they stand, they are obliged to the broader community and interests in the pier to satisfy themselves with their position.

“If they can’t do this, and can see the work and investigation, and that this can satisfy them, then now is the time to stand side by side and voice their opinion of support.

“The weight of history will rest on their shoulders.” The Clare People contacted the Lahinch-based West Coast Surf Club in relation to this story but no response was forthcoming at the time of going to print. We t fo r t h e e a rly p a rt o f t h e we e k b u t c le a rin g t o d ry a n d c o ld w it h t e m p s st a yin g we ll a b o ve fre e zin g

A FORMER GAA coach who indecently assaulted two young boys in areas of Clare over a two-year period in the early 1980s will be sentenced next January.

James ‘Tony Lowry’ Maher (69), of Clonroadmore Beg, Ennis would drive the victims around Clare, buying chips, cigarettes and alcohol before performing sexual acts on them. Ennis Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday that the abuse of one young boy began in 1982 when the accused was the manager of a hurling team.

One of his victims told the court that he was ‘scarred for life’ as a result of the abuse.

Mr Maher previously pleaded guilty to 14 counts of indecent assault in respect of this victim, committed in areas of Clare between January 1982 and July 1984.

Mr Maher, a founder member of the Banner GAA Club, would call to the boy’s house after going for drinks with his father.

A Banner GAA club spokesperson confirmed to The Clare People on Monday night that Mr Maher has not had any involvement with club ‘for well over twenty years’.

Detective Garda Beatrice Ryan of Ennis Garda Station told the court that the former Clare County Council employee would drive the boy home from training and matches.

Victims have told how they battled addictions and attempted suicide after the abuse they suffered at the hands of the Ennis man.

Detective Garda Beatrice Ryan read out the man’s victim impact statement in Ennis Circuit Criminal Court. The man stated, “It’s sad that I was always blaming myself and family for what this paedophile was doing to me.”

The man first met Mr Maher through his involvement with the Banner GAA Club. He stated, “At 15, I was hospitalised for drink and I tried to commit suicide.”

The man’s statement added that he tried to commit suicide for a second time aged eighteen.

Another victim of Mr Maher read his victim impact statement in court yesterday.

He told the court that he was 11 when Mr Maher first assaulted him. He said the incidents had a “horrific impact” on his life and that he would be scarred permanently as a result.. Judge Caroll Moran adjourned sentencing until January 14, 2013.

THE exploits of the “fighting priest”, Ballyvaughan’s Father Cornelius Sexton, have been revealed for the first time in a new book soon to be released.

Father Cornelius, or “Con”, joined the Australian army in 1940 and spent five years in combat areas in Malaya and Singapore.

During that time he suffered many injuries, was wounded in a Japanese shelling and was also captured and served time as a prisoner of war.

His story is now told for the first time in a new book, Hard Times, Decent Men by Neil Richards, which has just been published.

According to Richards, one of Father Sexton’s most dangerous nights came on February 8, 1942, when he was witness to a major Japanese offensive which forced a general retreat by Australian forces on Malaya.

During the ill-fated retreat, the truck that Fr Sexton was travelling in was hit with a Japanese shell.

“We had several wounded brought in during the night from the shelling and the colonel of our battalion sent up men to try and stop the enemy landing.

“It should never have been ordered, it was a massacre” he said in interview after the war.

“They didn’t stand a chance. The first two who were brought in were Chinese who were fighting with our forces.

“The doctor said to bring them down to the hospital so we loaded them on the back of the truck.

“The truck was struck with a mortar and myself and Jack [Australian soldier Jack Bowman] were blown out of the truck.

“I remember Jack said to me ‘are you alive, Father?’. And I said. ‘I am, are you?’”

Later that year, Fr Sexton was on a Red Cross truck bringing wounded men to the Selarang Barracks in Singapore which was fired on by Japanese soldiers.

Fr Sexton managed to make it through to the barracks only to become a prisoner of war when Aus- tralia surrendered the island on February 5, 1942.

During his three years as a prisoner of war, Fr Sexton continued in his ministries and delivered sacrament to both allied and Japanese soldiers.

He was eventually released in August of 1945 and was diagnosed with neurotic beriberi, a condition of the nervous system brought about by a lack of vitamins.

After the war, Father Sexton returned to Australia where he served as a parish priest until he retired in January of 1978.

CLARE County Council have spent € 571,000 on legal expenses for the first 10 months of this year, according to figures released at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council. It now appears likely that the total legal fees paid by the local authority for 2012 will be substantially lower that the € 1,083,000 paid out by Clare County Council in 2011.

Despite the likely reduction of legal expenses for 2012, a number of councillors raised the issue of Clare County Council employing its own in-house legal team, instead of sourcing outside legal representation. Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) referred to a motion put forward by former county councillor, Senator Martin Conway (FG), on this issue a number of years ago.

“I think the costs of legal fees are quite considerable. One wonders is there value in the argument that the council should have in-house legal expertise instead of having to buy it in in this way. I don’t think that the local authority can continue in this way. The public are looking for value for money and I don’t know does this represent value for money,” said Cllr Arkins (FG).

County Manager Tom Coughlan said that despite a previous motion by Senator Conway being approved by the council, this was not implemented because the council could not afford to take on an in-house legal team.

“The motion put to council by Senator Conway asked if it would be more efficient to outsource our legal services or to employ people in-house. Every motion adopted by the council can’t be implemented, because there is not funding for it. Just because a motion is put forward and seconded by the council, doesn’t mean that we have the ability and the money to actually do it,” said the county manager.

“Savings and value for money is something that we are looking at very closely. I wish we didn’t have any legal costs at all. Life would be much simpler for us if people didn’t take cases against us. It would also be much more helpful for us if these cases were resolved as quickly as possible. But that is the legal system.

“It is not that we just accept a bill and say we will pay it. Many of our bills, especially the larger bills, are assessed independently to determine if we are being charged fairly. I would prefer to drive down the legal costs in the system that we have and not change the system.”

The meeting also heard that total architectural, civil and mechanical engineering fees from January to October of 2012 came to € 930,000, auctioneering came to € 48,000 and energy came to € 3,228,000.

ELEVEN fire and rescue service personnel from Clare who, between them, have a combined service record of 260 years were the toast of the 11th annual National Long Service Awards Ceremony that took place in Dublin at the weekend.

At a ceremony hosted by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Fergus O’Dowd, two fighters from the county were presented with 30-year awards, while the remaining nine received 20-year awards.

The 30-year award winners were Martin Rodgers, who is a Sub Station Officer with Killaloe Fire Brigade and Joe McMahon, a firefighter with Kilkee Fire Brigade.

The 20-year award winners were Clare’s Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly; firefighters Cormac Quinlivan, Brian Rudd, Frank O’Gorman, Paddy Doyle and Joe Tuohy; as well as Killaloe Fire Station Officer Paul Mollaghan and Sub-Station Officer Robert Fitzgerald.

The National Long Service Awards scheme is administered on behalf of the Department of the Environment by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management.

The award in recognition of 20 years’ service takes the form of a medal bearing the traditional logo representation of the fire service – a helmet and crossed axes; the medal ribbon bears the Irish national colours, with a central column in red to represent the fire service.

The 30-year award is a representation of a flame in emblematic form. Both awards are accompanied by an appropriate certificate. Presenting the awards, Fergal O’Dowd TD, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment stated that awards scheme is the State’s way of honouring local au- thority fire service personnel for “being there over all the years, for being prepared to respond to calls for help, at all times, and in all weathers.”

“The commitment and professionalism of these long serving fire fighters is indicative of the highly experienced personnel employed by Clare County Fire and Rescue Service,” said Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald in congratulating the award recipients.

“Clare County Fire and Rescue Service has a proud tradition of Serv- ice to the people of Clare. Presently, our fire and rescue staff are among the most highly trained in the country and we are continually pushing to raise staff training levels even further,” said Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly.

“We remain fully committed to providing a multi-skilled approach not alone to the areas of fire fighting, but also to rescue and fire safety engineering. We are available for emergency response to the Community 24 hours a day seven days a week,” he added.

ENGINEERS in Ennis may request that the speed limit be reduced in the town centre to ensure greater pedestrian safety.

Senior executive engineer Eamon O’Dea said yesterday that he may consult with gardaí over the speed limit. It comes after concerns were raised over the layout of pedestrian crossings.

Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) said elderly people are having difficulty crossing the street. At yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis West Electoral Area, he called on the council to restore the pedestrian crossings at O’Connell Square. Mr O’Dea told the meeting that the council had been forced to alter the crossings to comply with the latest traffic signs rules.

Mr O’Dea stated, “The crossings are uncontrolled crossings and the road markings comply with the latest traffic signs manual. The provision of lines across the road at a pedestrian crossing can only be provided at controlled pedestrian crossings in accordance with the traffic signs manual.”

He continued, “Therefore a set of amber pedestrian lights would have to be provided at each crossing point which would both be very confusing to the drivers and would detract from the centre of the town. Ennis Town Council consulted with the road safety engineer of the NRA before the present markings were put in place.”

Mr O’Dea told the meeting that he is “not totally happy” with the current layout at the Square. He said one possible solution would be to request that gardaí consider reducing the speed limit in the town centre.

He said slight alterations could be made to the current layout but that a system of numerous lighted crossings would confuse drivers and detract from the visual amenity of the town.

Town Manager Ger Dollard said the council accepts there is an issue with the current layout.

The meeting also heard calls for pedestrianisation to be introduced on a trial basis in May, June and July. Cllr James Breen (Ind) called for the system to be put in place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during summer 2013.

He told the meeting that pedestrianisation had the potential to revitalise the town.

Mr Dollard said it remains the objective of the council to pedestrianise the town centre.

He said a bid to achieve Purple Flag status for the town’s nighttime economy and the opening of the inner relief road could boost plans for pedestrianisation.

“It’s [pedestrianisation] considered a matter of when it’s achieved and not if it is achieved,” added Mr Dollard.

OFFICIALS at Clare County Council remain confident that major flood relief works to protect homes and businesses in the south of Ennis will get the approval of An Bord Pleannála.

The Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme will see works carried out in Ballybeg and St Flannan’s College areas of the town.

A bank of the River Fergus from Doora Bridge to Clarecastle will also be strengthened as part of the works.

Councillors in the Ennis Electoral Area were given a progress report on the project yesterday.

Senior Engineer Tom Tiernan told the meetings that the council had submitted an Environmental Impact Survey (EIS) to An Bord Pleannála. He said a number of statutory bodies, including the Railway Safety Commission, had made submissions on the project.

He told the meeting that an issue had arisen regarding the cost of the embankment works.

Asked about a timeframe for the works, Mr Tiernan said the council hoped to receive a decision from An Board Pleannála in January.

He said that depending on the length of the tender process, work on the project could be complete by 2014.

The project forms part of a series of flood relief works to be carried out on a phased basis in Ennis.

Phase one of the € 26 million Ennis Flood Relief Scheme, which involved works at Parnell Street and Mill Road, is credited with preventing floods in large areas of the town centre during November 2009.

Phase two will see improvements to river walls and other flood defenses on the Fergus from Bank Place to Doora Bridge. The work will include the construction of new structural embankments, preformed reinforced concrete walls and three storm water pumping stations.

Mr Tiernan said the tender process is nearing completion and that 2014 is a “realistic target for completion at this stage”.

KILRUSH Town Council will not be missed until it is gone.

That was the message from the members of the council at its November meeting, the first since the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan signed the council’s death warrant last month.

The town councillors felt that the loss of the council would leave a gaping hole in access to services and local people’s direct involvement in the development of the town, a fact that will not be recognised locally until it is too late.

Father of the council Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) proposed that the members meet with the councillors from the other three town councils whose time is also up according to the Government.

Former mayor of the town, Ian Lynch (FG) believes it is time to go to the people to see what they feel about the loss of the 126-year-old council by organising a survey or questionnaire.

Cllr Liam Williams (FG) said he was disappointed “especially as a long time member of the Fine Gael party to think local democracy has been damaged. I can’t see the town being better off because of it.”

Fellow Fine Gael councillor Marian McMahon Jones said she was equally disappointed and said the loss of the council will have a detrimental affect on local rates and parking costs.

Cllr Tom Clyne (Ind) feared that any move to change things now was too little too late.

“I think we are waiting until the horse has bolted, we should have done something sooner. We knew it was coming down the line,” he said.

Cllr Prendeville even went as far as to compare the political situation to Germany in 1934, saying people were disillusioned with party poli- tics.

“If there was a vote in the morning to get rid or the Dáil there would be 100 per cent turn out to get rid of it. That is just how people are feeling.

“We could get rid of two of our four TDs in the morning and save a quarter of a million euro. We have a Sen- ate that Enda Kenny promised to get rid of but will we get the turkeys to vote for Christmas?” he asked.

“We have a great council going now, maybe the Senate will go next and then maybe the Dáil next and then we are in a 1939 situation.”

Mayor of Kilrush Mairead O’Brien (Ind) concluded with “this is a community blow. It is a blow for the community but I am not sure the community knows it yet.”

The councillors resolved to meet with other town councillors in the county to organise a protest or a way of highlighting their joint concerns.

CLARE County Council could be stuck with a bill for more than € 15,000 for sending out 33,000 warning letter – some of which were addressed to dead people. A spokesperson from the local authority confirmed to The Cla re People yesterday that the cost of sending out the warning letter would be significant but he could not comment on whether the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), will be reimbursing them for the cost of postage and stationary.

While the latest figures from the LGMA reveal that 30 per cent of homeowners in Clare, approximately 16, 500 people, have not yet paid their household charge. Despite this, the LGMA instructed Clare County Council to issue 33,000 warning let- ter last week and provided them with a database of addresses to use.

“€ 15,000 is the approximate cost associated with issuing the letters and Clare County Council is unable to comment on whether this cost can be recouped or not at this point or in the future,” said a council spokesperson yesterday.

This follow criticism of the letter by Clare TD, Michael McNamara (LAB) in Dáil Éireann last week as well as reports of letter being sent to hundreds of people who have already paid the household charge and a number of deceased people.

“It is very disconcerting for people who have paid to see equal services still being provided to those who haven’t paid, but it is even more disconcerting for those who have paid it to receive letters asking them to provide proof of having paid it to the very local authority where they brought their cheques,” he Deputy McNamara.

According to Clare County Council, they were simply carrying out instruction as ordered by the LGMA.

“Clare County Council issued letters to householders in Clare on foot of a request from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA). The letters issued are based on a database compiled by the LGMA. The LGMA has carried out a comparison between the data on the Property Registration Agency database, and those that have registered and paid, or obtained a waiver, in relation to the Household Charge,” said the spokesperson.

Clare County Council have already been docked € 250,000 by the Department of the Environment due to the level of non-payment.