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A JUDGE has refused jurisdiction of a case where it is alleged a man confronted another man with an iron bar on a main street in Ennis last summer. At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Judge Patrick Durcan said it appeared to him that alleged incidents of this nature are becoming “too prevalent in Ennis”.

He was speaking after details of an alleged assault that took place on Carmody Street on July 1, 2013 were outlined in court.

James Galbraith (37), with an address at Lissanisaka, Claureen, Ennis is charged with assault causing harm to Dylan Dinan.

He is further charged with the production of an iron bar while about to commit assault.

Insp Tom Kennedy said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed summary disposal of the charges in the district court on a plea of guilty only.

Defence solicitor John Casey told the court his client would be pleading guilty.

Insp Kennedy said the alleged in- jured party was a passenger in a van when noticed the accused behind him at around 1.30pm on the day in question.

Insp Kennedy said it would be alleged that when the van stopped, Mr Galbraith came towards it with a crowbar and started to assault Mr Dinan.

Judge Durcan refused jurisdiction. “In my mind this type of stuff is becoming too prevalent in Ennis”, he said.

The case was adjourned to April to allow time for preparation of a book of evidence.

THE Clare tourism industry is primed for a bonanza in 2014, with tourist numbers visiting the county projected to grow by more than 10 per cent on last year.

A number of new initiatives – such as increased flights through Shannon Airport, the establishment of a low cost bus service to Dublin and the reopening of the the Spa Wells in Lisdoonvarna – are set to bring tourist numbers to record highs over the next ten months.

This predicted increase comes on the back of a double digit growth in tourism numbers coming to Clare last year – an increase that was driv

CLARE County Council will contribute € 5,000 towards a feasibility study for the development of Doonbeg Pier.

Doonbeg Community Development and the Doonbeg Fisherman’s Association have spend years working on plans to develop the community-owned pier and have come up against issues relating to changes in planning legislation.

Previously the group had been told these planning changes and the inability of the council to pay for a € 40,000 EPA meant their plans of developing tourism and the fishing industry could go no further.

This week there was renewed hope as the council said it would contribute to a feasibility project to see if the project is viable.

Tommy Commerford, PRO of the Doonbeg Fisherman’s Association, said the group is hopeful that the report will be favourable and that Clare County Council will make an application to Europe for the necessary funding to make the pier accessible at high and low tide.

The Doonbeg Pier was constructed in 1995, and was later extended by 35 metres. Hundred thousand euro plans were then drawn up that would ex- tend the capacity of the pier to allow boats to moor at high and low tide.

The Minister for Agriculture provided € 525,000 to the project in 2008 but this cannot be allocated until full planning permission is granted.

The developed pier would create extra jobs by stimulating the promotion of sea angling, leisure trips to view the cliff scenery off Doonbeg and help promote Doonbeg as an angling centre, said Mr Commerford.

He said it would also provide access to the proposed wave energy farm at Killard.

Clare Labour TD Michael McNamara said, “Doonbeg has a small pier which is inadequate and because it is tidal; people can only access the pier at certain tides. The community is doing everything to develop tourism. Doonbeg is on the coast, so sea angling would be a normal extension of its tourism product.

“There is money available from the department to develop piers but only when the project has passed the stages of planning and Environmental Impact statements.

“The decision by Clare County Council to grant aid a feasibility study is evidence of good faith and illustrates a willingness to work with the Doonbeg community in achieving the desired upgrade.”

A BALLYVAUGHAN grandmother, who was given a symphysiotomy without her knowledge or consent while giving birth to her first son in September of 1965, says the “stonewalling” of the Irish state has forced her to take her case before the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

Details of the life and medical history of Ellen Moore were last week presented to the UN court in Vienna and Mrs Moore says the attitude taken by the current government and Minister for Health, James Reilly (FG) have forced this latest action.

After meeting with Mrs Moore and other members of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) group last October, the health minister agreed to lift the statute of limitation involving symphysiotomy and allow sufferers to gain compensation through the courts.

The minister also agreed to release the second half of the Walsh Report, which probed the use of symphysiotomy’s in Irish hospitals, public. Neither of these promises have, to date, been kept.

“They have been stonewalling us and neglecting us. We worked so hard for the statute of limitations to be lifted and now it looks as if that that will not now happen. We were told in a meeting with Minister O’Reilly back in October that that we would receive the second half of the Walsh Report in two weeks – that still hasn’t happened,” said Mrs Moore.

“They [the Government] say one thing in public and they do the complete opposite in private. They are hoping that we will just go away. There are a lot of older women in the group and many of them have already died without receiving compensation.

“This isn’t just for us, this is for the next group of people who have something done to them without their consent. The state is not owning up to anything.”

This symphysiotomy procedure, which involved breaking a woman’s pelvic bone during labour, was carried out on an estimated 1,500 Irish women in the 1960 and ‘70s but fewer than 200 of these women are still alive.

CLARE gardaí will be loosing their hair on the streets of Ennis on Friday but it’s all in aid of a good cause.

Members of the force, including Clare’s most senior Garda, Chief Supt John Kerin, will participate in a ‘Shave or Dye’ event in O’Connell Square, Ennis on Friday, March 21, between 12 noon and 4pm.

A total of 18 members of Ennis Garda Station will take part in the event, which is being held to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society.

The Shave or Dye event is part of a nationwide campaign run by Today FM aimed at raising funds for the Irish Cancer Society.

Ten gardaí are expected to shave their heads on Friday. A further eight have opted to dye their hair purple – in recognition of Ennis’s bid to renew its Purple Flag status.

Last February, Ennis became the first Irish town to receive the Purple Flag. The award aims to broaden the appeal and improve the standard of nighttime destinations.

Over 35 English town and city representatives attended the workshop in Ennis on October 23. The Purple Flag award is seen as the benchmark for good evening and nighttime destinations. At present, over 40 towns and cities in UK and Ireland have been awarded Purple Flag accredita- tion.

Friday’s Shave or Dye event is supported by Roots Hair Salon, The Temple Gate Hotel and the Rowan Tree Café and Hostel.

Students from Rice College secondary school will also be giving their support on the day.

Community Garda and event organiser Deirdre O’Doherty said Gardaí are grateful for the support they have received from the business community.

“A couple of businesses have helped us out and if anymore want to come on board they are more than welcome. We’ll be at the Square up to 4pm. We’re hoping to do the shaving at around 3pm so there should be a good crowd around,” explained Garda O’Doherty.

People can contribute on the day or by logging onto the www.mycharity. ie web page.

Funds raised through the event will go towards the Irish Cancer Society.

PASSENGERS flying in and out of Shannon airport for St Patrick’s Day celebrations sighed with relief on Wednesday when a strike scheduled for Friday was called off, just over 36 hours before it was due to begin.

There was however some disruption to plans as Aer Lingus had cancelled 29 flights at the three airports affected and made changes to more than 40 others on Thursday and Fri- day.

Despite the upheaval however a delegation of council staff along with the mayors or deputy mayors of Clare, Kilrush, Ennis and Shannon made their flights to represent the county at parades, official functions and trade meetings in New York and New Jersey.

The Tulla Pipe Band also boarded a flight from Shannon to New York on Saturday to lead the Clare delegation down Fifth Avenue for the New York St Patrick’s Day parade.

On Wednesday the High Court granted an injunction preventing the union from staging the planned fourhour work stoppage at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports on Wednesday.

The threatened action was part of an ongoing dispute between workers, the Dublin Airport Authority and the Shannon Airport Authority over pensions.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan upheld the injunction sought by the DAA and urged the parties to cooperate with the expert panel to resolve the dispute.

The DAA, Ryanair, Aer Lingus and the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, welcomed the move.

“I have said on a number of occasions that the strike should have been deferred given that the expert panel is currently engaging with all parties involved in the dispute,” said the Minister.

Fianna Fáil’s Transport and Tourism spokesperson Timmy Dooley said, “Around 10,000 passengers have been affected by this action on one of the busiest weekends of the year for the Irish tourism industry. The disruption has the potential to blight the good reputation that Ireland has built up over many years,” he said.

“While every worker has the right to strike to protect their interests, it should only be used a method of last resort, and not a threat issued when negotiations are still ongoing.”

The workers union SIPTU said it would be considering the judgment.

UNTREATED raw sewage is being discharged into rivers and bathing areas at five locations in Clare, including key tourist towns such as Kilkee, Ballyvaughan and Liscannor. A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed that the discharge of raw sewage is still a major problem in Clare, with nearly 20 percent of all offending towns – five of the 28 towns nationally – located in Clare. Five Clare towns, with a popula- tion of more than 500 people, were identified as discharging raw sewage. The report also reveals a lack of progress made in recent years in tackling the problems each of the five Clare towns – Kilrush, Clarecastle, Kilkee, Ballyvaughan and Liscannor – already identified as having on sewage infrastructure by the EPA in their 2006 report.

The Shannon town sewage system was also identified in the report as not reaching mandatory effluent quality and sampling standards. The system, which was identified as the source of a mysterious odour, late last year, will undergo a € 1.02 million upgrade of four pump stations later this year.

It is hoped that this upgrade will bring the system up to the standards set by the EPA and also rectify the ongoing odour issues in Shannon town.

A campaign to construct a sewage treatment system at Kilkee has been underway for more then a decade, with an investment promised by the Government as far back as 2005. The wait looks set to continue for the time being however as the transfer of responsibility for the project from Clare County Council to Irish Water adding an extra layer of uncertainty to the project.

The Kilkee sewage system was included in the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government’s investment programme for 2010 to 2013 but remains a number of steps away from development.

While Clare County Council will be involved in the day to day provision of water and sewage services for a number of years through a Service Level Agreement with Irish Water, all responsibility for funding new schemes now rests with Irish Water.

EVEN on the back of the Gathering and a reinvigoration of the American market.

Early bookings for Clare in 2014 indicate a major growth in visitors from England, mainland Europe, especially Germany, and Irish tourists.

Despite a slow start to 2014, brought about as a result of the storms in January and February, early booking at the Cliffs of Moher put them on target for a sizable increase on 2013, which was the attraction’s best year on record. If these number continue throughout the year, the Cliffs should break the one million visitor mark for the first time ever.

Despite a 12 per cent drop in visitors numbers to the Cliffs of Moher so far this year, manager Katherine Webster is predicting a healthy growth over the 12 months of 2014.

“No less than the rest of coastal County Clare, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience had a challenging enough start to the year with the storm conditions experienced in January and the first half of February. Extreme weather led to the visitor centre clos- ing on a total of seven days in these two months. Prior to 2014, the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre had closed a total of 7 times in 7 years,” she said.

“As a result of the storm closures our visitor numbers for the first two months of the year are down on last year by 12 per cent on the same period in 2013. However, the month of March has started strongly and our advance bookings for the remainder of this month and for the season ahead are ahead of last years levels.”

Ennis hotelier Brian O’Neil yesterday urged Clare businesses to take advantage of the tourism trends and put Clare back on the Irish and inter- national map. He cites the introduction of a regular and inexpensive bus connections between Dublin and Ennis by Dublin Coaches a game changer for the local tourism market.

“There is a sea-change coming for tourism in Ennis and in Clare. The problem for tourism over the last few years has been the day tours coming out of Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher and other venues and spending very little in Clare,” he said.

“They [Dublin Coaches/Quick Tours] are going to make Ennis their mid-west hub. So people can stay in Ennis for a number of days and take day trips to the Ring of Kerry.

AN ENNIS based dentist has said his safety and that of his family’s has been “diminished” since a man threatened to kill him almost two years ago.

The doctor outlined his concerns in a victim impact statement read out by Garda Michelle Holian at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court last week.

Earlier this month, Eoin Hannan (41) was found guilty by a jury of making the threat against the dentist at his practice in Merchant’s Square, Ennis on May 11, 2012.

Mr Hannan, with addresses at Kilrush Road, Ennis and Shear Street, Kilmallock, Ennis was also found guilty of two counts of engaging in threatening, abusive and or insulting behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.

The jury acquitted the accused of making a threat to burn down the dentist’s practice. Mr Hannan had denied all charges, which arose from visits he made to the surgery on May 10 and May 11, 2012.

Mr Hannan denied making the threats to the dentist. He said, “I told him ‘I am a bullet’ and I left as fast a bullet.” He also said: “I told him to take his drills and get off my island.” Mr Hannan appeared before Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday fort sentencing. In the victim impact statement, the dentist said his general well-being and safety has been diminished and compromised since the threat.

He said he has increased security meaures as his dental practice. He said he no longer feels comfortable walking the streets of Ennis on his own because “the threat on my life still stands.” He thanked his family, friends and gardaí for the support he has received.

Defence Counsel Michael Collins told the court his client still “vigorously protests his innocence”.

The court heard Mr Hannan, who suffers from a form of bi-polar disorder, has previous convictions for robbery, public order offences and possession of knives and other articles.

“I am not a criminal. I do not regard myself as insane in any way”, he added. Judge Gerald Keys adjourned finalisation of sentencing to April 24. Mr Hannan was remanded in custody.

WEST Clare has produced not one but seven new millionaires, as the € 8.3 million Lottery Jackpot of March 5 was claimed on Thursday morning last.

Each of the lucky winners will receive almost € 1.2 million as a result of the € 24 prize winning ticket they bought in Miniter’s, Henry Street. Kilrush.

The secretive seven have elected to remain anonymous.

One of the lucky syndicate members spoke of the excitement the group felt since they became millionaires more than a week ago.

“Last Thursday morning I heard that the winning ticket was sold in Kilrush. I logged on to the lottery website and was in total disbelief when I saw we’d won.

“I couldn’t focus on the numbers. I thought that there must have been a mistake,” he said.

“I felt about 90 per cent sure we’d won, so I phoned the rest of the group and said, ‘I think we’ve won the lottery.’

Some of them thought I was messing and one said, ‘we’ve either won or we haven’t – there’s no think about it.’

It’s an amazing feeling. We’re absolutely delighted – it’s made millionaires of us all,” he added.

The lucky syndicate has played Lotto each week for the last two and a half years.

Their winning ticket was a mixed- play ticket and a Quick Pick was the winning line that landed them the massive € 8.3 million win.

The happy winners plan to have a quiet celebration and take some time to let the news settle before making plans.

This is the largest Lotto jackpot winning ticket to be sold in County Clare in Lotto history.

Over € 45 million in Lotto jackpot and Lotto Plus top prizes has been paid out in the Banner county since lotto began in 1988.