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THE Clare branch of Legalise Cannabis in Ireland (CLCI) has vowed to continue to fight for the decriminalisation of the use of medicinal cannabis following the withdrawal of a case against one of the group’s key members last week.

The case, which was taken against one of the founding members of CLCI, Kevin Clohessy, was withdrawn last week because of a technical issue involving the search warrant used by Gardaí in the case. Mr Clohessy suffers from Osteoarthritis, which is a progressive condition that effects his shoulders, hips and knees.

“It is very painful for him to move, and he has reduced flexibility in certain areas. This is a progressive condition so it is going to continue to get worse as he gets older. Cannabis is an anti-inflammatory; it also provides pain relief and is a muscle relaxant.

“When he can smoke, all of his body frees up and he can flex his wrists and his shoulders in ways that he just couldn’t before,” said Niamh O’Brien, founder of CLCI.

“There is a chemical tablet for cannabis about to come on the market in the coming weeks. We can’t understand why it is okay for some pharmaceutical company to grow it, put it in a pill and sell it to people for a massive profit, and it is not okay for us to grow this natural plant for ourselves.”

According to Clare LCI, the decriminalisation of cannabis will help stop people with genuine medical conditions from coming into contact with criminals and help stop the drugs trade in Ireland.

Medicinal cannabis has been legalised in a number of European countries to date, including Spain and Portugal as well as a number of US states.

“We don’t want to be involved in criminality, we don’t want to go down any dark alleyways and be involved with unsavoury people. We want to know what we are smoking. We are being responsible, we know that this stuff works and all we want to do is to be able to treat ourselves in the best way possible,” continued Niamh.

“What we need is more education and information about this issue. The Clare organisation is still going strong but it is hard to get people actively involved.

“People are still afraid of what might happen if they speak up. We really do want to reach more older people in Clare. They are the people who are most likely to get a benefit from this.”

LOCAL interests can’t be trusted to run Shannon Airport properly, because the move to give Clare County Council, Limerick County Council and Shannon Development control of the county’s international airport could bring about its “closure in a short few years from now”.

That’s the warning that has been sounded out by local Fianna Fáil TD and front bench spokesperson on Transport, Timmy Dooley, who has railed against the main recommendation contained in the Booz and Company report.

“This would be hugely damaging,” Deputy Dooley has told Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, who commissioned the report on the future of the three state airports from the team of international consultants at Booz and Company.

“According to Booz, the new air port model will also be based upon developing the land bank at the airport and developing cargo along with passenger traffic,” continued Deputy Dooley.

“We are in the worst economic crisis since the 1920s and there will not be any revenues from the land bank for 10 years and we are way off developing cargo, so before there is an upside from these in 10 years time, the airport could be closed before there is a recovery in the economy.”

Mr Dooley has claimed that the locally-owned based model “would be disastrous for Shannon and the region” in an airport that’s currently making losses of between € 8m and € 10m a year has accumulated losses of an estimated € 100m.

“Under the model proposed by Booz, where will the money comes from? Clare County Council doesn’t have any money. Shannon Development also doesn’t have any money and its functions are currently being reviewed by Government,” said Deputy Dooley.

Shannon currently receives € 8m per annum in subvention from the Dublin Airport Authority.

LIMERICK County Council says they stand ready to play a major role in the future development of Shannon Airport, should a member of the local authority be appointed to the new management structure for the airport.

Following the publication of the Booz Report into the future of Shannon Airport last week, it looks increasing likely that both Clare County Council and the soon to be amalgamated Limerick City and County Council will have a seat at the table when a future management structure for Shannon is announced.

According to the Cathaoirleach of Limerick County Council, Mary Harty (FG), a public voice on board of the airport will prevent it getting “wrecked” in a similar way to the local health services.

“I think it is important that the locally elected representatives have their say when it comes to something as important as the airport. We all know the difference it has made to the health system not to have a local say in how that operates and we don’t want the airport to be wrecked in a similar way to this,” she said.

“Shannon Airport is a massive driver for everyone in the mid-west, for Limerick and for Clare. We are very keen to have a role to play, Shannon Airport is the biggest gateway location in area and there is no question that it is vitally important to everyone in Limerick that it is made to work.”

Cllr Harty also dismissed the notion that councillors would not have the expertise to operate a complex facility like Shannon Airport.

“At the moment we don’t have the experience but we will never get the experience until we have a chance to work with all the other stakeholders and make our points heard,” she continued.

“This is such an important facility for the area it is vital that a local representative has a say in its future.”

THE quest to reclaim the memory of one of Ireland’s foremost storytellers and social historians begins this weekend in Kilbaha with a lecture on the life of Bríd Ui Choisteala – the blind storyteller of West Clare.

Bríd, who was recorded by Tadgh Ó Murchú on behalf of the Irish Folklore Commission in the 1930s and 1940s, was once recognised as one of the finest tradition-bearers in Ireland. However, over the last number of decades, Bríd Uí Choisteala has largely fallen from social memory.

Cuimhneamh an Chláir, the Clare Oral History and Folklore Group, will host a public lecture in Kilbaha Community Hall this Friday, March 9, to remember Bríd and her work.

“Women can be fantastic bearers of tradition but often dismiss themselves and fade into the background. In our collection of work, we have made every effort to ensure that the memories of Clare’s older women are documented and added to our archive and have been privileged with some of the memories and stories we’ve documented from women in Clare,” said Tomás Mac Conmara of Cuimhneamh an Chláir.

“The case of Bríd Uí Choisteala is a sad example of how, over time, these great storytellers can be largely forgotten outside of their native area.”

Last year, Cuimhneamh an Chláir produced an outreach project called Faces of Folklore, which featured Seamus Ó Duilearga, Stiofán Ó hÉalaoire and Bríd Uí Choisteala.

“We highlighted in Faces of Folk

lore that, in a picture

of Bríd Uí Choi

steala taken in the

1930s, she had been

reduced in the cap

tion to the blind wife

of Mr Costelloe,”

continued Tomás.

“We wanted to ad

dress this terrible

reduction and it re

ally seems to have

struck a chord with

people across Clare.

We received a lot of

interest in the storyteller over the following moths and so decided to arrange a public lecture in her honour in her native place of Kilbaha. In fact, the lecture takes place in the very building she went to school in the late 1800s.”

Cuimhneamh an Chláir have spent a number of days in the Kilbaha area, gathering local traditions about Bríd Uí Choisteala and are anxious to meet with any other people who may remember her from their childhood or have heard any information about her.

THERE is good news on the horizon for one Clare company as – after making himself Ireland’s foremost hurley maker – O’Callaghan’s Mills businessman John Torpey is about to take on the production of renewable fuels.

Torpey Hurleys have almost doubled the workforce at its Sixmilebridge factory over the last two years and now employs seven full-time people and a number of part-time workers.

The company began producing briquettes from the ash left over from making the hurleys last year and they are currently seeking funding under the LEADER Programme to roll out this product on a large scale.

“I have been able to take on a few people in the last few weeks and that brings it up to seven full-time employees and a few part-time. I’d say we now make between 60,000 and 70,000 hurleys a year now so there is a big demand for it right now.

“It’s about giving the customer what he wants. My father gave me a saying one time – he said ‘make quality and you’ll never be out of the job’. So that is what I have done. You will only sell a poor-quality product once and that is a fact,” said John.

“I have started into briquette-making using the waste from the hurleys. The briquettes are now selling in a number of shops in Ennis and they are selling well.

“These briquettes are made from material that would otherwise be going to a landfill. I have been in contact with LEADER and I am hoping that they can help me expand the Belvoir Briquette product.

“The lads are making hurleys flat out at the moment and, because of the mild spring, there probably won’t be as large a demand for the briquettes as there might be in other years. The briquettes will be great for the business.

“I have an ongoing supply of waste from the hurleys that is the raw material for the briquettes. At the moment, I have an acre of ground taken up with these pieces of ash because I have no place to put them. So the briquettes will be great for the business and great for the environment locally if I can expand this.”

John was brought to the attention of the world last week when he supplied hurleys and a lesson in the game to the Chinese president elect, Xi Jinping, on his official state visit to Ireland.

A DISTRICT court judge has noted the potential risk to consumers posed by buying goods over the internet.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said consumers “had to be very careful these days”, particularly when making purchases online.

Judge McCarthy was speaking last week as he ordered that a stolen van purchased for close to € 10,000 in good faith by a Newmarket-on-Fergus man be returned to an English-based insurance company.

Judge McCarthy granted a request for a four-week stay to be placed on the order, pending a possible appeal.

At Ennis District Court last Wednesday, Gary Howard, of Drumline Newmarket-on-Fergus, applied to have a 2006 sprinter Mercedes Van, seized by the Gardaí last February, returned to him.

During the case, it was accepted by gardaí and Judge McCarthy that Mr Howard was the bona fide purchaser of the van and had bought the vehicle in good faith, not knowing it was stolen.

Mr Howard, who runs a Shannonbased haulier business, told the court that he bought the van in Tuam, County Galway, in January 2010, after seeing an ad in Done Deal.

Mr Howard told the court that he paid € 7,250 for the van and spent a further € 2,500 on repairs. He ex plained that he obtained a loan from the credit union to fund the purchase.

“I thought I was getting a good deal but I knew I had to put a bit of work into it,” he added.

He said an online check of the van’s history had not shown it was stolen. His solicitor, Daragh Hassett, told the court that his client had also asked the gardaí to check the history of the van. Mr Hassett said, “He rang his local gardaí and the got the two thumbs up. There’s no more this man could have done.”

The court was told that the van had been stolen in the United Kingdom, falsely registered in the Republic of Ireland and subsequently identified as part of Operation Swallow – an investigation involving the gardaí, Police Services of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Scottish and English Police.

Detective Garda David Magee of the Stolen Car Unit told the court that gardaí had issued a warning for falsely registered vehicles. Insp Tom Kennedy said that while Mr Howard was the “bona fide owner” of the van, this was a case of “buyer beware”.

Solicitor John Casey, representing NFU Mutual Insurance, said the company had paid out a £10,000 claim on the van, making them the beneficial owner. Mr Casey added, “They never relinquished ownership, even though it was in the possession of other people.”

Judge McCarthy said evidence had been given that the van was stolen by a professional criminal gang and exported to Ireland. He added, “I have no doubt that Mr Howard is the bona fide purchaser who bought in good faith.”

He said the insurance company had paid out a claim. Ordering that the van be returned to FNU Mutual, Judge McCarthy said, “I have great sympathy with Mr Howard.”

BUSINESSES and residents have been urged to dig deep to fund a € 10,000 “fighting fund” for the next phase of the campaign against a planned retail park on the outskirts of Ennis.

A public meeting in Ennis last night heard that € 3,000 had been spent by business groups so far against plans by Michael Lynch Ltd to build a 70,000 foot retail park.

The developers have appealed Ennis Town Council’s decision to refuse planning permission to the proposed development at Tobertascáin / Clare Road to An Bord Pleanála.

Local businessman and former En- nis Chamber President, John Dillane said towns such as Naas and Tralee had been “completely decimated” by out-of-town retail parks

“We are not afraid and we do not object to competition but we’re afraid of our town being destroyed,” he added.

He called on street leaders to appeal to businesses to donate money to the “fighting fund”.

He told the meeting that Tesco, the anchor tenant for the proposed development, would operate a “mini town under one roof” which would have disastrous consequences for jobs in Ennis. He added, “It should be a matter of pride that we’re not going to be steamrolled by them.”

Architect and planner Michael Leahy, who prepared Ennis Chamber’s submissions against the proposed development and planned changes to the Ennis Development Plan, told the meeting that An Bord Pleanála would likely deal with the appeal through an oral hearing.

He explained that the council re fused permission pending the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant at Clareabbey and pending the implementation of the Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme. He said it was “quite likely” that the Board would accept the developer’s suggestions to deal with wastewater treatment.

He said an oral hearing would allow specialist evidence to be given on flooding and wastewater issues. Mr Leahy said the likely cost of the appeal process would be € 10,000.

The purpose of the meeting on Monday evening was to inform the business community and others of the appeal process to An Bord Pleanála, which has a closing date of Friday, March 2, for acceptance of submission.

The meeting in the Old Ground Hotel also heard calls for a more community-orientated form of protest. One Ennis resident said businesses should be “cultivating” customers to adopt the same position as them.

A spokesperson for the Ennis Development Forum said that in a recent meeting, all of Clare’s four Dáil TDs had backed the business community’s position on the proposed development.

ORGANISERS say there was a high turnout at a protest against new Government taxes and charges in Ennis on Saturday.

An estimated crowd of 200 people attended a protest march, according to the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT).

The rally was organised as part of a national day of protest. Recent meetings held around Clare have highlighted growing public opposition to the new charges

CAHWT organiser Chris Quinn explained, “Protest marches were planned to go off all over the country at 2pm, which is why we planned the same start time.

“It was initially my idea to gather at the O’Connell monument and go from there, with the organising committee assembling earlier to pass out a few leaflets and pass out protest posters/placards. Just before 2pm, I got a phone call from the Limerick organisers wishing us well and letting me know they had roughly 450 at their march.”

He added, “My colleague Pamela Rochford first addressed those assembled, followed by Brian O’Coillin as the rest of us distributed the 70 or so placards we had.

“As more people gathered, we were asked to briefly delay our start time as more people were making their way to join us. Finally, we felt we could delay no longer, and set off from our start point at 2.15pm. We had, by my estimation, more than 200 with us at this stage, of all ages. As we headed up O’Connell Street, more joined our march.”

Chris explained, “After swinging through the Market Square and then up Parnell Street, we returned to our start point. I, along with the others at the head of the march, began to place our posters around the plinth, and others followed suit. By my estimation, we had at least 325 to 350 likeminded people with us.”

Chris believes the protest spirit is alive and well in Clare. He hopes that Saturday’s march can be the spark to organise other protest movements around the county.

He added, “I thanked all the marchers and asked for a round of applause for themselves, which was thunderous. Any and all people that wanted to volunteer were invited to present themselves to us so we can begin to organise in as many areas of the county as possible.”

A MAN is due to appear in court again today in connection with a seizure of drugs near Ennis last week.

Trevor Gargan (31) with an address at 179 Cregayn Street, Belfast, Antrim, Bt6 8NI, was brought before Ennis District Court on Friday.

Detective Garda Seamus McMahon gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He told the court that he arrested Gargan in Ennis on Thursday February 23. He said the accused made no reply after caution.

According to court documents, it is alleged that Gargan was in possession of cannabis for the purposes of selling or otherwise supply to another at Ballymaconna, Barefield on Wednesday, February 22.

Gargan is also charged with the unlawful possession of a controlled drug, to wit, cannabis, at Ballymaconna, Barefield on Wednesday February 22. An estimated value of the drugs was not given in court or outlined in court documents. Solicitor John Casey told the court that he had no questions at the moment. An application for legal aid for Gargan was approved.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy remanded the accused to appear again at Ennis District Court on February 28.

Asked by Judge McCarthy if was going to make a bail application, Mr Casey said he was not. Mr Casey explained, “Hopefully we’ll be in a position to make a bail application” at the next court appearance.

AN Ennis man who stole a handbag containing € 3,000 from a woman as she was shopping has received an 18-month prison sentence. At Ennis District Court last Wednesday, Robbie Nestor (31) was also convicted on other charges of theft and of having heroin for sale or supply.

Nestor, with an address at 142 Hermitage, Ennis, pleaded guilty to eight offences committed between July 2011 and February 2012. Details of the offences were read out in court by Insp Tom Kennedy. He said that Nestor had been seen by gardaí selling a € 25 wrap of heroin to a woman in the Hermitage area of Ennis on Decem ber 1, 2011. The accused admitted selling the drugs, the court heard.

The court heard that Garda Francis Brennan carried out a search of 142 Hermitage on December 2, 2011. Insp Kennedy said 16 wraps of heroin valued at € 480 and € 460 cash were found during the search. He said Nestor admitted to having the drugs for sale or supply. He told gardaí that the money had been obtained from selling drugs.

On July 30, 2011, the court heard, Nestor was seen on CCTV taking a suitcase from a bus parked at En nis bus station. The case, which belonged to a student on her way to Galway, contained a laptop computer valued at € 500 and other items. Insp Kennedy said Nestor, who has 31 previous convictions, admitted the theft and told gardaí that he sold the laptop for € 100.

The court heard that at some time between September 16 and 17, 2011, Nestor took € 50 from an apartment in Barretts Lane, Ennis.

Insp Kennedy told the court that on January 31, 2012, the accused stole a handbag containing a mobile phone and € 100 cash from a woman in Tesco, Ennis. The phone was subsequently recovered. The court heard that the next day Nestor took a handbag containing € 3,830 from a trolley in Dunnes Stores, Ennis. Insp Kennedy described it as “opportunistic crime” and said the money was not recovered.

Solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client has suffered from a “very bad heroin addiction”. Ms Godfrey said her client, a single, unmarried man, had made full admissions regarding all of the offences.

She asked that the court consider adjourning any custodial sentence to allow Nestor receive residential treatment. Judge Aeneas McCarthy said he was not “doing that”. He imposed three separate six-month sentences to be served consecutively. He imposed a further four-month sentence to be served concurrent to the 18-month term. Recognances were fixed in the event of an appeal.