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A FATHER-OF-TWO, charged with the murder of a woman in North Clare last month, has made his second appearance in court.

Colm Deely (39), of School Road, Ballyvaughan, appeared before Ennistymon District Court, sitting in Kilrush, on Wednesday. He is charged with the murder of Deirdre McCarthy (43), whose body was found on Fanore beach on March 31 last.

She was last seen alive on Sunday, March 27, and was reported missing the following day after she failed to turn up to meet a friend.

Mr Deely was brought before Ennis District Court last Thursday week, charged with murdering Ms McCarthy on March 28 last. He was remanded in custody to reappear in court last Wednesday.

Inspector John Galvin applied to Wednesday’s court to have the accused remanded in custody for a further fortnight. Defence solicitor Gearóid Geraghty did not object. Judge Joseph Mangan granted the application and remanded Mr Deely in custody to appear again in court on April 27.

The court heard previously that when charged, Mr Deely said, “I’m very sorry for what happened”.

The court was told the accused is a part-time Fás worker employed three days a week. Free legal aid was granted at the initial court hearing.

A COURT has heard concern expressed over the “chronic” levels of absenteeism of two children going to schools in the Ennis area.

One of the children was absent for 69 per cent of the current school term while his brother was absent 68 per cent of the term, Ennis District Court heard on Wednesday.

Their parents appeared in court after a case was brought against them by the National Education Welfare Board. If convicted, the couple faced a fine of € 635 or one month in prison.

The court was told that the parents have been separated since 2001 and that the children live with their mother. Mary Kirsty Dallas, education welfare officer, told the court that notices had been served to the father in January 2011 and to the mother in February 2010.

Ms Dallas said that despite repeated attempts to arrange meetings between the parents and teachers, “I rarely had any response.” Ms Dallas said the difficulties associated with trying to make contact with the mother had been a “hallmark of the case”.

Solicitor for the father told the court that his client started work before his sons were up for school. He said the man worked for a small company that had suffered recent job losses.

He added that in recent months his client had made more of an effort to call to his former partner’s house to get the children up for school.

The court heard that the mother often found it difficult to get the children up for school because they stayed up late playing computer games.

The father told the court that he accepted that his children had developed bad habits and that he would make more of an effort to ensure his children were up in time for school.

The mother told the court that her eldest son did not like going to school because his friend had moved away and he found school boring. The mother added that since the couple were ordered to appear in court, her sons are “scared”. She said she was willing to go on a parenting programme.

Judge Timothy Lucey told the court that the basis of the problem is the relationship between the parents. A problem, he said, was compounded by the fact that the father does not want to lose his job.

He adjourned the case for a year and said that if there wasn’t a “substantial improvement” in the children’s attendance record, the parents would be convicted and fined.

THE Doonbeg Drama Group secured a massive seven nominations at this weekend’s All Ireland Drama Finals in Wexford but sadly were unable to bring any awards home to the Banner County.

Their production of the comedy ‘Say Cheese’ attracted 600 people to the Wexford Opera House and was described by the organisers as the audiences’ favourite. To gain seven nomination was a triumph for the group – considering that comedies rarely feature in the All Ireland Final and receive very few nominations and overall awards.

“The crowds loved it – they said that it was the only laugh that they had all week long. We managed to attract 600 people into the Opera House to watch the show which was second highest number for any show throughout the All Ireland,” said John Igoe of the Doonbeg Drama Group.

“We had a lot of nominations, which was a achievement in itself, but unfortunately we didn’t win any overall awards. To get to the final at all was an achievement but then to go down so well with the audience was great – we were definitely the people’s favourite.

“Very few drama groups will take on a comedy and fewer still will get as far as the All Ireland Final with a comedy. There is a feeling out there that adjudicators don’t really vote for comedies – but the audience certainly do love it.

“But it was great to see people laughing down there this week. We got a great response to the show and that is the main thing.”

Nominated from the Doonbeg Drama Group were Mary J Egan for best actress, Ann-Marie Doyle for best supporting actress and the scholarship award, Helena Keane for best supporting actress, Mark May for best actor, Michael McInerney and Peter Smith for best lighting and the backstage team for the best set award.

This achievement comes just weeks after the Doonbeg Drama Festival celebrated its 50th year entertaining the people of Clare.

EFFORTS to reintroduce the Golden Eagle into Ireland will be supported by two days of dedicated fundraising at the Burren Birds of Prey Centre in Ballyvaughan later this week.

The fundraising and awareness campaign will take place at the centre, which is located at the Aillwee Caves, with the organisers hoping to raise more than € 3,500 to help fund the ongoing efforts to reintroduce the spectacular bird into Ireland.

The centre is hoping to raise the money to fund the purchase of a satellite pack, which provides much needed data on the movements of the Golden Eagles which have been reintroduced into Ireland.

All money raised will be donated to the Golden Eagle Trust, who will use the satellite pack to monitor the movements of White Tailed Sea Eagles, which they have just reintroduced into the Kerry National Park.

“We were very privileged last year at the centre to welcome one of the released white tails to join our own resident Sea Eagle, Sika, during her flying display,” said Barbara Faulkner of the Aillwee Cave.

“Albeit a coincidence, this is exactly what the aims of the reintroduction programme are and the satellite packs will enhance these aims even further. It is hoped, by raising awareness about the effectiveness of these satellite packs, that we can reach our target over the coming months.”

The two days of activity will take place from noon to 5pm this Thursday and Friday, April 21 and 22. Activities over the two days will include informative talks given on the Golden Eagle Trust Reintroduction Programme and the Raptor Tracking Efforts, while the Irish Hawking Club will be on hand with information on the history of falconry in Ireland.

There will also be a number of activities for children, including face painting, parrot peg and nest box making. There will be two artisan woodland workers in residence to help and guide visitors through the intricacies of woodwork while flying displays will be at 12 noon, 2pm and 4pm.

AHEAD of a walk aimed at promoting greater awareness of suicide, an Ennis-based businessman has spoken openly of his brother’s death from suicide.

‘Darkness into Light’, a walk organised by Pieta House, will take place in Ennis on May 7. The 5km walk will start at 4.30am and follow a route through a forest trail in Lees Road sports and amenity park.

Pieta House provides therapy and counselling services at five centres around Ireland, including Mungret, Limerick.

Speaking at the walk’s launch in Ennis last Tuesday Joan Freeman CEO of Pieta House, explained, “It starts at half four in Lees Road and just as you are coming over the finish line the dawn is breaking. It’s a really symbolic walk which symbolises what we do at Pieta House which is bringing people from darkness into light.”

Tom McEvoy, a coordinator for Pieta House in Clare, became involved with the organisation after the death of his brother Adrian (28) in 2007. Mr McEvoy, his wife and three children moved to Ennis in 2002.

Tom explained that the family were in the process of building a house in Roslevan when Adrian moved home from Australia.

He said, “He’s a very talented joiner, carpenter. Ultimately I asked him would he mind joining me for the build process. He was delighted to take part in that.”

In July 2007, Tom and his family left Ennis for a diving holiday of Inishbofin, County Mayo. “We left a list for Adrian to work away with it on our new house, which we hadn’t moved into at the time. He ended up wanting to stay there and do the work and we were delighted with that. I texted him a few times during the week and didn’t get a reply which wasn’t really unusual,” he said.

When the family returned home, Tom was still unable to make contact with his brother.

“I went to see a match on the telly with my brother-in-law. The Dubs were playing at the time. I got a call from my wife that she had had a visit from An Garda Síochana to say that they were after finding a person and she wanted me to come home.

“I went and identified him and said how sorry I was that this had happened to him and that ultimately we wanted the best of him.”

Tom said that what happened to his brother is typical of many suicides. “We have numerous experiences like that in our community of young people showing an outward sign that they are okay and everything’s fine but ultimately they are in bits and they are in a very dark place,” he added.

Tom said that until the country learns to face the trauma of suicide, “we’re going to end up in the same boat this time next year and so on and so forth”.

WELL-KNOWN Clare horse trainer Noel Glynn was carrying the hopes of an entire county in Saturday’s Grand National, but at the same time he was the victim of a theft at his home in Spancilhill, Gardai have reported.

Clare Crime Prevention Officer, Sgt Joe Downey, revealed that sometime between10.50am and 11pm on Saturday, when Mr Glynn and his family were in Liverpool for the Grand National, a number of items were stolen from his Durra House home. These included a sum of money, a car, a safe and a shotgun.

It was just one of a number of burglaries in the county over the past week, two of which were aggravated burglaries.

Last Saturday between 10pm and 10.30pm four men with balaclavas burns into a house in Kilferagh, Kilkee. “They intimidated the elderly occupant and demanded money from him,” Sgt Downey revealed. “They occupant was not injured but is very traumatised by this incident,” he added.

Meanwhile, in Ennis on April 4 at 9.15pm, a house on the Clare Road in Ennis was broken into. “He intimidated the elderly occupant to obtain money,” revealed Sgt Joe Downey.

“He searched and ransacked all the rooms in an effort to locate any valuables. A suspect has been ar- rested for this crime and enquiries are ongoing. The occupant was not injured but very traumatised by this incident,” he added.

Meanwhile Kilkishen residents are being asked to co-operate with gardai and keep a close eye on neighbours who live alone following a meeting in the village last week.

A break-in locally and concerns about crime prompted the Kilkishen Development Association to call a public meeting to see what coan be done to make the village a no-go area for burglars and other criminals.

“We had a very active community watch group in Kilkishen some years ago. It had been considered that that could be revived but after a discussion it was decided that asking people to be aware and co-operating with the gardai is a better route forward rather than having local patrols,” said Development Association chairman, Mike Hogan.

The Association is appealing to local people to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity or strangers calling to doors and to report anything untoward to the Gardai in Tulla.

“We would ask people to be concious of looking out for people who live alone locally and particularly elderly people. The break-in shows that we need to be alert. Being concious of what’s going on in the village is a good way to deter crime.” Mike said.

THE voice of Robbie Williams filled the packed halls of St John the Baptist Church in Ballyvaughan last Tuesday morning as the family and friends of Deirdre McCarthy said goodbye to their very own angel.

Deirdre made her short final journey from the small local church that she knew so well to the windswept graveyard at nearby Bishop’s Quarter Cemetery following what was one of the largest and most emotionally draining funerals in recent memory.

Clearly still in a state of shock, the family of the 43-year-old were comforted by the hundreds of friends, locals and well-wishers who packed into the small church. So great was the number that people had no choice but to stand close to the alter in all three isles of the church, while outside special speakers were set up so that those who could not gain access could still take part in the ceremony.

A number of family members, including Deirdre’s younger sister Helen, took part in an emotional service which was led by local priest Fr Richard Flanagan.

Music was also a large part of the Mass, as it had been in Deirdre’s life, with a lone female singer leading the hymns.

Following the service, Deirdre was carried from the church by her brother Tom and her brothers in law to the sounds of her favourite song, ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams.

The wind began to rise as the funeral procession made its way along the coast road from Ballyvaughan to the McCarthy family plot in Bishop’s Quarter.

There were tears at the graveside as Fr Flanagan led the large crowd in a decade of the Rosary before saying a last few words over Deirdre’s final resting place.

Light spatters of rain began to fall, obscuring the tears that so many shed on the long journey home from Bishop’s Quarter.

Deirdre McCarthy is survived by her mother Helen, brother Tom and sisters Helen, Christina, Bernie and Ann, as well as a large extended family in the North Clare area.

THE NEWLY formed Burren Ecotourism Network (BEN) hosted its first conservation event in north Clare over the weekend when a number of local volunteers completed a beach clean-up at Ballyryan, on the coast road between Doolin and Fanore.

The Burren region became Ireland’s second official ecotourism destination earlier this year when it was granted official accreditation last month. This is the first major event undertaken by the group since it received official ecodestination status and hopes are high locally that the new development could mean an increase in the number of ecotourist attracted to visit Clare.

More than 40 geologists from Leeds University volunteered to join the weekend’s clean-up and future conservation events will involve local schools as well as members of the wider community.

With their help, more than a quarter of a tonne of rubbish was collected from the beach and taken for disposal to the Central Waste Management Facility at Ballyduff beg.

“It was great to be involved in preserving the Burren Landscape,” said Dr Jeff Peakell from Leeds University.

“We have been coming to the area for 20 years and witness the increased volumes of tourists and inevitable impacts on the landscape. We ourselves have a ‘leave no trace’ policy and are happy to be part of this new exciting initiative by the Burren Ecotourism Network.”

The Burren Ecotourism Network is made up of a large group of local businesses and other organisations, each of which have an interest in protecting the Burren and creating a sustainable future for people and businesses of north Clare.

Local members who also took part in the clean-up included representatives from the Burren Painting Centre, the Boghill Centre, Kilfenora Hostel, Heart of Burren Walks, Burren Outdoor Education Centre, Burren Fine Wine & Food, Burren Coaches and the Cliffs of Moher.

A NORTH Clare group claims that it will be prevented from celebrating Easter Sunday Dawn Mass at the Killenagh Graveyard this year because of opposition from within the local parish organisation.

Dawn Mass has been celebrated at the graveyard for the past three Easter Sundays, with more than 200 local people turning out for the celebration last year.

In previous years, the Mass has been presided over by a locally born priest, who is currently stationed outside the Diocese of Galway and Kilfenora.

However, according to the Killenagh Graveyard Committee, they are being prevented from celebrat- ing the Mass this Easter, even if they find a willing priest from outside the diocese.

“The group came together to try and fix up the cemetery and, thanks to voluntary labour and a number of FÁS Schemes, we were able to do that.

“We started these Masses as a way of celebrating the work that was done and they have been very successful community events,” said Robert Bennett of the Killenagh Graveyard Committee.

“A priest from outside the diocese has hosted the Mass for the past three years but this year, out of courtesy, we decided to contact the local parish. They said that they would not be in a position to celebrate the Mass and they would not be allowing the Mass to take place at all.” The Clare People attempted to contact local priest Fr Derek Feeney in relation to this but were unable to reach him at the time of going to press.

According to former Ennistymon priest and current PRO for the Diocese of Galway and Killaloe, Fr Sean McHugh, however, there are currently not enough priests to cover existing Masses in the area.

“I remember when I was serving in Ennistymon four years ago, I was asked about a cemetery Mass early on Easter Sunday. I disagreed on the grounds that we, the priests, were very stretched on Easter Sunday.

“Additionally, another Mass would take the congregation away from the later main Easter Sunday celebration in the nearby church,” he said.

“There are a number of other cemeteries in that area that could not all be supplied with Dawn Mass on Easter Sunday if it was requested.

“I wasn’t in favour of a priest from outside the parish coming in to cel ebrate the Mass because, with the shortage of priests, the direction being taken [by the Church] is to rationalise Masses and not to timetable extra Masses.

“In general, parish priests would prefer to celebrate cemetery Masses themselves with their own congregations whom they serve with week in and week out.

“For this reason, it was usual to celebrate mid-week Mass in each of these cemeteries in each of these parishes mid-week during the summer.”

A NORTH Clare woman has set her sights at bringing the coveted Rose of Tralee title back to the Banner County for the first time in the history of the competition.

Rineen woman Claire Keane was last week selected as the Galway Rose for the 2011 edition of the competition. Despite togging out in the colours of her neighbouring county Claire says that she will do her utmost to bring success to Clare and Galway in this year’s competition.

“Obviously you would love to represent where you are from but in a way it is even nicer to have been chosen to represent Galway. The fact that I was chosen to represent Galway, even though I’m not originally from Galway, shows that they really must believe in me. I’m very humbled and very happy to have been chosen,” said Claire, who has been living in Galway for the past eight years.

“Of course I’d love to be representing Clare and in a way a part of me will be representing Clare but I am very happy to be going forward as the Galway Rose. Galway is a great spot and it is joined onto Clare so hopefully I can do well for both counties in the competition.”

Clare was chosen out of a field of 27 girls to become the Galway Rose. Her entry into this year’s competition was sponsored by the Central Park Night Club, who supported her on the night along with her brothers Damien and Brian.

“I grew up watching it but I never dreamed that I would be taking part myself. I always loved watching the competition but I never thought I’d enter and a never thought I’d have a chance of winning,” she continued.

“The competition itself isn’t anything like what people would see on TV. What people see on TV is just the final part of it – before that there is a whole series of interviews with the judges, both individual and in groups. It has been quite a long proc- ess already.”

Claire attended Rineen National School and Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon before completing a business studies degree at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology. She also completed a marketing post graduate at NUI, Galway, and now works for American software company Brightwork and the Central Park Nightclub.