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THE priest in one North Clare community last Sunday asked for prayers from the pulpit to protect the local primary school. That is according to Tubber-based county councillor, Michael Kelly (FF), who raised the matter of the threatened closure of a number of rural schools at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council.

While Cllr Kelly declined to identify the school mentioned or the priest who made the appeal, he did confirm that it was a school in the North Clare area.

“I had occasion over the weekend to listen to a parish priest ask the local people of the parish to pray that their school will be left open,” said Cllr Kelly.

“There is no good talking about this years and years down the line when these school are shut and people start coming back to some of these regional areas.”

According to East Clare councillor and school teacher Cathal Crowe (FF), the closure of rural schools will not save any money for the exchequer.

“When a school closes, the school principal of the closed school will continue to be paid a principle’s wage. The same amount of teachers will still have to be employed so the saving will be just be made on the building itself, which will be minimal,” said Cllr Crowe.

“We need our TDs to represent us on this. We don’t need them to be out there putting out soundbites and getting kicked out of the Dáil.”

It was also revealed at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council that at least one West Clare primary school will be remaining open, thanks to the efforts of Rural Resettlement Ireland.

West Clare Councillor Oliver Garry (FG) confirmed that Tullycrine National School has recently gained eight new students from three new families who have moved to the area as a result of the efforts of Rural Resettlement Ireland.

“It is the first thing that people look for when they are moving into an area. If the school is removed, then it is like removing the heart and soul of the community,” said Cllr Garry.

“Thanks to the great work of Jim Connolly and Rural Resettlement Ireland, there has been a major development for Tullycrine National School and three new families coming to the area have secured the future of that school.”

THE Mayor of Clare yesterday hit out at critical comments made by a senior councillor towards the County Manager.

Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) told Cllr James Breen (Ind) that he was “disappointed with your comments on a personal level” after the former Dáil TD had expressed criticism of Tom Coughlan’s work as County Manager.

Mr Coughlan was moved to defend himself against comments made by Cllr Breen at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council.

Mr Coughlan said, “I am doing my job and I am doing it the best I can.”

The comments were sparked by a motion tabled by Cllr Breen seeking a written report from the council containing information on how many contractors were employed by the council in 2011 to do work that was heretofore done by council staff; the entire cost of the contracts; the name, amount and type of works undertaken.

Cllr Breen also asked if this would be a normal feature of council operations in 2012.

Pointing to what he said was a lack of information in the council’s response, Cllr Breen called on the manager to provide a “factual and straight” answer to his queries.

Mr Coughlan said Cllr Breen had requested a great deal of complex information that could not be collected simply by “pressing a button”. He said staff had been removed from “productive” duties to address Cllr Breen’s motion.

Mr Coughlan said that while Cllr Breen is entitled to the information, he had to make the best decision on how to allocate scarce resources.

Mr Coughlan said, “I can’t give it (information) at the moment because I don’t have the staff to deal with Cllr Breen’s enquiries.”

Cllr Breen said he failed to understand how a group of people would be required to collect financial data. “The information should be available to one man at his fingertips,” he said.

Mr Coughlan said 167 people at the council were authorised to deal with contracts and it would be impractical to have one person do the job.

In response to a comment about his work as County Manager, Mr Coughlan said, “I think the way you are treating me at the moment is really unfair.” Cllr Breen said he was entitled to his opinion.

In her reply, Nora Kaye, Acting Director of Service, gave details of surface dressing contracts engaged in by the council’s transportation department.

She explained that in 2011, the council engaged in two separate surface dressing contractors in the Shannon Electoral Area and Killaloe Electoral Area.

Ms Kaye continued, “The total cost of outsourcing this particular body of work was € 78,000 in 2011. In relation to the hiring of contractors for 2012, no decision has yet been taken with regard to same – however, it is likely that due to depleting staff resources, some works will require to be outsourced during 2012.”

Ms Kaye said contractors had been hired to carry out maintenance works in the Environment and Water Services Directorate.

Ms Kaye told the meeting that there was no intention whatsoever to withhold information from elected members.

THE President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, has failed to accept an offer made by Clare County Council to host a Civic Reception in his honour, more than three months after the invitation was originally made.

President Higgins, who spent many of his formative years living in Newmarket-on-Fergus, was invited to be honoured by the local authority on November 14 last, but has yet to indi- cate whether he will be interested in receiving the honour or not.

This apparent snub comes after President Higgins topped the poll in Clare during last Octobers election, receiving 20,828 first-preference votes.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that no response, beyond the standard acknowledgment letter for all correspondence, has yet been received from Áras an Uachtarán.

It was confirmed last week that President Higgins will become only the third free citizen of Galway City, joining Ireland’s first president, Douglas Hyde, and Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. While no official date has been set for this ceremony to take place, it is understood that it will happen before the end of April this year.

The invitation to the Civic Reception was suggested by former Labour councillor Christy Curtin (IND) who yesterday said that he understand that President Higgins has had a very busy couple of months.

“I am very confident that he will come to Clare. He has been a regular visitor to Clare over the years and has visited the Willie Clancy Week up here in Miltown on a number of occasions,” said Cllr Curtin.

“I have no doubt that he will come and see us in his own good time. It has been a very busy few months for him and I am not disappointed that he has not been in touch [with Clare County Council]. I am very optimistic that he will make it down to Clare for the reception.”

GREATER efforts must be made to promote Clare to the “untapped market” of US military personnel passing through Shannon Airport.

That’s according to Newmarket on Fergus councillor Pat McMahon who said yesterday that it is “economically criminal” that no dedicated marketing strategy is in place to promote tourist attractions to the thousands of American soldiers that use the airport.

In a motion at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr McMahon (FF) called for Shannon Airport to work more closely with tourism providers to market the banner county to US military personnel.

In his reply, Director of Services Ger Dollard said the Clare Tourism Forum had previously identified the opportunity to market Clare.

He explained, “Some elements have already been identified and these include an agreement for playing Clare ‘Live the Life’ DVD in four key locations around Shannon Airport: public restaurant (1), British Airways Lounge (1) and baggage reclaim area (2).

Mr Dollard stated that the forum is currently updating signage and bill – boards that promote Clare in the airport. He added, “Proposals are being discussed to include brochures and brochure stands in the departures area of the airport that will be filled with information / brochures on County Clare. This would be targeted primarily at military personnel.”

Mr Dollard continued, “It is recognised that a marketing opportunity does exist in terms of time period during which military personnel are located in the departures area. The Clare Tourism Forum will continue to work with Shannon Airport to promote the county in the best manner possible to this target group.”

He said that the council is also working with Shannon Development in relation to the Tourism Information Office, which has been relocated at the airport.

Mr Dollard told yesterday’s council meeting that a lot more could be done to market the Clare in the airport.

Commenting on plans to distribute the Clare Live the Life promotional DVD in the airport, Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) suggested that it be presented in a postcard to military personnel.

He said this would boost the “in timate circulation” of the DVD in homes around America. “We would be hitting a market that we are not hitting,” he added.

THE headquarters of Ennis Town Council has been identified as a possible venue for humanist funeral services.

Green Party councillor Brian Meaney has urged Clare County Council to consider the options available to it in providing a suitable location for a humanist funeral service.

Cllr Meaney tabled a motion on the issue at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council.

In his reply, Ger Dollard, Director of Services, stated, “According to the Humanist Association of Ireland, a non-religious funeral ceremony will generally be held either in a crema torium, the undertakers rooms or at the graveside.”

He continued, “The association has produced an information leaflet which is available on their website www.humanism.ie and also states that there is no reason why such a service could not be held in any other suitable venue. In this regard, the location for the service does not appear to be an issue.”

Cllr Meaney said that while he did not agree with Mr Dollard’s reply, he had not asked for a full and detailed response on the matter.

Cllr Meaney told the meeting that the provision of humanist funeral services will become more frequent as the so-called “more liberal generation” grow older.

“There will be an increased demand for this type of service,” he added.

Cllr Meaney said he had discussed the matter with another fellow member of Ennis Town Council. He said the council’s headquarters at Waterpark House in Drumbiggle could be a suitable site for humanist services. He said the proposal would first require the approval of the Ennis town manager, Ger Dollard.

NONE of Clare’s Government TDs were in attendance last night for an “emergency” meeting of Clare County Council to discuss the proposed transfer of water services from Clare County Council to the new Water Ireland organisation.

Michael McNamara (LAB) and Fine Gael Deputy’s Joe Carey and Pat Breen each sent letters of apology for not attending the meeting. Only Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) and Senator Martin Conway (FG) attended the meeting, while Senator Tony Mulcahy was en route to the meeting but was forced to turn back because of an urgent family emergency.

The three Government TDs were heavily criticised by some members of Clare County Council, with some members suggesting that the meeting be suspended to accommodate the attendance of the Government TDs.

“This is not good enough. We have an opposition TD and a member of the second house. I commend them for coming today but what are they going to be able to do wfor us? This is a fruitless exercise to continue with this without the Government TDs. I welcome Deputy Dooley and Senator Martin Conway on being here but, in truth, it is not good enough,” said Ennis Green Party Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).

The local authority went ahead with the meeting, despite the absence of the Government TDs but have decided to reconvene a similar meeting before an upcoming council meeting.

Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) described the move to establish Water Ireland as privitisation by the back door. “This will do nothing to improve the water quality n this county. This is privitisation by any other word and the public will be thrown to the wolves. The best that Clare County Council can hope for out of this is limited agency work and the current staff will be thrown on the scrap heap. I say shame on Fine Gael and Labour,” he said.

Senator Martin Conway (FG) said that it would be “wrong and foolish” to discard the wealth of knowledge that exists within local authorities but Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) said that the proposal in its current form would cost almost 4,000 jobs.

“I am concerned about the threat to the jobs of thousands of local authority workers. My understanding is that this will affect something like 3,600 workers across the county and, if this project is brought forward using the framework that is currently in place, then these jobs are at risk,” said Deputy Dooley.

A PSYCHIATRIC report has been ordered in the case of a Clare man who pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault during unspecified dates in 1984.

The man who cannot be named pleaded guilty to the charges at Tuesday’s sitting of Ennis Circuit Court.

He replied guilty when charged with indecently assaulting a named male on a date between January 1 and January 31, 1984.

He made the same reply four more times, when charged with the same offence which took place on unknown dates between March 1 and March 31, 1984, between May 1 and May 31, 1984, July 1 and July 31, 1984 and October 1 and October 31, 1884.

Judge Tom O’Donnell agreed to extend the accused’s legal aid to cover the psychiatric report, when ask by the defence barrister for such a report.

The man has been remanded on bail until March 26.

DOMINIC Moloney was hailed a hero who fended off a mob of thugs, as his account of the morning of September 21, 2009, was supported by the majority of witnesses both for the prosecution and defence.

For many of the witnesses that took the stand in Ennis Courthouse it was an emotional and difficult time, recalling the events that led them to flee their homes in fear.

Robert Maxwell described his neighbour as a hero. The young man told how he was woken up on the morning of September 21, 2009, to the sound of glass smashing and people “roaring up the stairs. It was like a nightmare. It was scary.”

He told how he went downstairs and got the sweeping brush to protect his mother who was being attacked by a man and a woman.

Mr Moloney’s car then came into the estate and the attackers left the house thinking it was the gardaí.

Mr Maxwell told how the assailants continued to abuse his neighbours. “They looked up to my neighbours and said ‘You are next if you are looking out the window.’ It was like a pack of animals. Everyone in the estate was frightened, not just us.”

“All I can say is he [Mr Moloney] is a hero to me. He saved my mother’s life,” he said.

Mary Maxwell, a woman who had suffered a brain tumour and a stroke, struggled to get to the witness box. Describing her age as 50 and a bit, she spoke slowly but determinedly as she battled the affects of ill health.

“I remember all this breaking noise when I was in bed and I came out on to the hallway. I didn’t even bring my walker with me that morning. I thought someone might have fallen down the stairs,” she said.

She said as she looked out into the hall she got a shock as she was hit with a weapon and pinned to the stairs. She told how she was terrified as she was hit in the side with an Shook after already receiving a blow to the head. She received 20 stitches to her face following the attack.

Mr Moloney’s daughter, Ciara (20), struggled to keep the tears at bay as she recalled her fear. She told how she was woken by the sound of breaking glass and after ringing the gardaí, she rang her father who had already left for work.

“I rang my father because the people outside were shouting up at different windows saying you would be next,” she said.

Ms Moloney broke down as she said she was petrified when her father left the estate after the windows in his car were smashed. She called him again and he returned.

“My father was only trying to save people. He has lived there for 25 years,” she said through her tears.

Her father was equally distressed as he watched his daughter give evidence in his trial.

Caroline O’Sullivan, 63 Cappa Lodge, said she was delighted that Mr Moloney had fired his gun, describing the two men and woman attacking the houses as “vicious”.

“He fired a shot which I was delighted for because they retreated back into the house. This had been going on a while. I was terrified to look out the window never mind go outside,” she said.

Lorna McDonald, 35 Cappa Lodge, fought back the tears as she recalled the scene that greeted her in her mother’s – Mary Maxwell – house later that morning. “It was unreal.”

She was visibly emotional as she described how her mother was sitting on the stairs covered in blood. “It was horrible. It was a nightmare.”

Mrs McDonald’s husband Michael McDonald was next to take the stand as a prosecution witness.

“I hadn’t seen anything like that since I was a child. I grew up in west Belfast,” he said of that morning in Cappa Lodge.

“I shot myself and I definitely saw he [Mr Moloney] wasn’t shooting [at] anyone.”

Darragh Devaney, 63 Cappa Lodge, recalled how his father locked all the family into an upstairs room on the fateful morning. Darragh had woken up to the sound of “smashing glass” and two men breaking the windows of the house. There were nine people in the house in total including his father, mother and siblings.

He described how when he went downstairs he saw a slash hook coming through the front door. He was attempting to get his blind brother out of his downstairs bedroom when their father came down and brought them all upstairs.

“He locked us all into an upstairs room,” said Mr Devaney.

Aaron Doherty, 26 Cappa Lodge, known as Dots, was called to check on Mary Maxwell that morning. A gun owner himself, Mr Doherty said there was no question in his mind. He was sure Mr Moloney was not shooting at anyone.

THE State’s chief witness was labelled a liar by counsel for the defence in his closing arguments.

In her evidence to the court Jessica Kelly (23), of Lilac Court, Keyes Park, Limerick, told how on the night of September 21, 2009, she was staying in the house of Barbara Lynch. She was going out with her brother Michael Lynch who was also staying there as was his brother Gerard.

She said that during the night the back window was broken in the house. “The boys got weapons and run out the front door. I looked down [the road] and there was a man with a long gun and I didn’t get to see him clearly. Then I got shot,” she said. “I was standing out by the wall.”

She said she received a wound to her leg and went back into the house and lay down.

Defence Counsel Pat Whyms BL reminded Ms Kelly that she faced four charges following the night in question.

The 23-year-old was charged with aggravated burglary, violent disorder, criminal damage and assault causing harm following the night in question and pleaded guilty to the first three halfway through her trial. She said she did so because her solicitor told her to.

Mr Whyms told the court how, yielding an s hook, Ms Kelly had hit Mary Maxwell. He said her evidence to the court differed from her statement to Gardaí.

“You said a BMW car drove down, hit Ger Lynch and knocked him down,” he said.

He recalled how Ms Kelly told gardaí that she was picking up Gerard Lynch when the car returned and a man jumped out with a gun and directed it at her.

“Which of these two cock and bull stories about this incidents do you want the court to believe today? Was what you told the gardaí true?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Ms Kelly, “I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“No you were not,” said Mr Whyms.

IT TOOK a jury just 36 minutes to acquit a man who shot competitively for Clare, of being reckless to the safety of others when he discharged a semi automatic shotgun during a morning when “the whole community was under siege”.

Dominic Moloney of 38 Cappa Lodge, Sixmilebridge, had admitted discharging the firearm on September 21, 2009, but had pleaded not guilty to “being reckless to anyone being injured or not”.

After a trial that took place over three days at Ennis Circuit Court, Mr Moloney greeted the unanimous not guilty verdict with a mouthed “thank ye, thank ye” to the members of the jury.

The 47-year-old had been charged with discharging a firearm contrary to section 8 of the firearms and offensives weapons act 1990, after he fired three shots – one into the air and two at a wall during an early morning attack on homes in the estate.

Witness for the State Jessica Kelly, who was part of the group of three attacking homes that night, claimed that she had been hit by pellets from one of these shots.

The court heard that on the morning in question a group of “thugs” who were staying at number 57 attacked properties and people, including a disabled woman, using hurleys, bars and slash hooks.

Mr Moloney said he left the housing estate with his wife at 5.50am to go to work in Shannon.

He dropped her to work in Element Six before travelling on to his own job at Fabricated Products also in Shannon.

He was welding for five to ten minutes when his daughter Ciara called him asking him to come home.

He told the court that when he arrived back on the estate there was a van parked in his usual place so he went to the end of the cul-de-sac to turn.

“My intention was just to come back up and go into my house,” he said.

He said he then saw one man come from his left hand side and heard the window of his car break from the right. There were two men carrying bars.

He accelerated, left the estate and returned having driven past the Garda station.

When he arrived back in the estate he said he saw his neighbour Aaron Doherty, better known as Dots.

“Dots came out of his house. He walked down past me and as I came out of the car he said Mary’s windows have been broken and she is bleeding,” he said referring to Mrs Maxwell, who had been attacked and burgled by the gang.

He then saw two men – Gerard and Michael Lynch coming towards him, he said. “They shouted at me ‘We are going to kill you baldy B’.”

Mr Moloney ran inside and got his gun. He put three cartridges suitable for shooting game in it, which had been on the table since the night before. “As I was going out Dots was coming in the door,” he said.

Mr Moloney, who has shot competitively for Clare seven times, told how one of the two men were at his gate and coming in when he fired his gun into the air. The men retreated.

Mr Moloney, his daughter Ciara and Mr Doherty then walked up the road. Mr Moloney told how the men were leaving the garden of number 57 again when he shot at the wall.

He said he fired the third shot because they were going across to Mary Maxwell’s house again “saying they are going to finish the bitch”.

“The girl was inside the house. I fired at the bottom of the wall, again to keep him in, not to hurt anyone,” he said referring to Jessica Kelly.

He said he did not believe he hit her with pellets from the gun.

“Everyone was in fear. I never saw anything like it and I hope I never do. I was in fear of my life,” he said.

Asked by barrister for the prosecution Stephen Coughlan, “Why did you arm yourself. You knew the gardaí were coming. Why not go back into the house and lock the door?”

Mr Moloney said, “They were going to break up the house. I was in fear of my life.

“The only reason I got my gun was because I was in fear of my life and my child’s life.”

“I wanted to keep them inside the wall to keep people safe.”

Mr Coughlan said, “You should have retreated, but you stood your ground. Your ego wouldn’t let you retreat,” to which Mr Moloney replied, “No.”

“They came at me. I didn’t go at them. I had no choice.

“What was I going to do? I was afraid they were going to cut me up,” he said.

Mr Moloney also admitted to cleaning his gun and changing his jumper after the incident.