Category: News

BOAT owners are being encouraged to install tracking devices after a raft of engine thefts from Clare piers in recent days.

A Mariner 65 HP engine was stolen from a boat at Seafield Pier in the early hours of Sunday morning. Thieves pulled the boat ashore and the engine was forcibly removed. Engines were also stolen from boats at Doonbeg pier overnight between Friday and Saturday and overnight between Wednesday and Thursday.

One of the stolen engines was valued at € 16,000. Sgt Joe Downey, Crime Prevention Officer, said Gardaí have not received many reports of suspicious activity as passers by may think thieves are actually the owners working on a boat.

He is encouraging boat owners to install tracking devices on engines. Similar devices are required by insurance companies for the owners of cars valued at € 50,000 or more.

The owners of JCBs can also use tracking devices to send out text messages to alert when machinery has been moved outside a certain set area.

Sgt Downey explained, “People are going to have to seriously ask themselves is it really necessary to keep engines overnight at piers? And if so have they installed tracking devices. A well installed tracking device can be be very useful.

“For instance tracking devices are very useful in laptops. People should seriously consider installing tracking devices when the value of the item is high.”

Despite a small number of breakins around the county over the AllIreland weekend, Sgt Downey said homeowners and businesses are heeding advice for someone to keep an eye on properties during major events.

“When the whole county is gone to the All-Ireland final, someone has to stay behind to mind the house. A lot of people heeded that advice. We had a couple of break ins in that period (match) and one that happened around the time of the homecoming on Sunday”.

A number of items were stolen from a houses in Newmarket and Corofin between Saturday and Sunday morning. A ladies handbag was stolen from a house in the Drumcliff Road area of Ennis between 6pm and 10pm on Sunday night.

Thieves ransacked house in the Hawthorns estate on the Limerick Road overnight between Sunday and Monday. The rear window was forced open.

A POLISH man who verbally abused children after drinking on the day of the All-Ireland hurling final behaved in a “contemptible” fashion, a court has heard.

Pawel Faldowski (26), an unemployed panel beater, roared abuse at members of the public and gardaí in Ennis town centre on September 8, Ennis District Court heard on Wednesday.

Mr Faldowski, with an address at Barrack Close, Ennis, pleaded guilty to engaging in offensive and abusive conduct having been ordered to desist by gardaí.

He also pleaded guilty to a second public order charge of being intoxicated to such an extent so as to be a danger to himself or to others.

Inspector Michael Gallagher said Mr Faldowski was falling in front of cars and being abusive to the public on Abbey Street on the night of the drawn hurling match between Clare and Cork.

The court heard he has 15 previous convictions.

Defence solicitor Angela Byrne told the court her client had been drinking all day and has very little recollection of events.

She said Mr Faldowski’s previous convictions all relate to drink.

Ms Byrne said he has taken steps to address his alcohol abuse.

Judge Patrick Durcan said he found the accused’s behaviour “contemptible”.

He imposed a fine of € 250. CLARE County Council has been fined € 5000 for breaching a licence by allowing odours escape from its landfill. At Ennis Circuit Court last week, Judge Gerald Keyes imposed the fine on Clare County Council after it pleaded guilty to the offence at its Inagh landfill on August 22, 2007. The council had initially pleaded not guilty to the offence before a jury on Monday with the case due to commence Tuesday and last two weeks. However the Counsel for the Council, Hugh Hartnett SC, told the court on Wednesday that his client would be pleading guilty to one count.

AFTER lying empty for almost a month, the old Ennis National School will re-open on Friday for the upcoming referendum.

The building has traditionally served as polling station for elections and referendums and will swing open its doors once again on October 4.

The site has been practically vacant for the best part of a month since pupils and teachers moved to the new school building at Ashline at the start of September.

The project involved the construction of a new 32-classroom school including ancillary accommodation. The design is of a St Bridget’s Cross layout – a central area with four separate wings of eight classrooms ema- nating from the core.

The school has moved from its former site on the Kilrush Road near Carmody Street where it had been located since 1973.

Ennis Town Football Club, who have been based at the Kilrush Road for a number of years, have retained the use of the pitch and dressing rooms at the old site but the building has been vacant. The Ennis Parish Council were asked about the possibility of opening the builder to cater for voters on referendum day.

Electricity will also be re-connected at the building this week. Polling cards have already been printed bearing the name of the old school. Voters are being asked to decide whether or not to abolish the Seanad and whether or the country needs a new Court of Appeal.

A NORTH Clare poet and writer has just won one of Ireland’s most prestigious short story competition for a story on Ireland in the recession.

Mary O’Donoghue saw off competition from more than 300 writers from all over Ireland to claim the Legends of the Fall short story competition.

He story, which is entitled ‘The Sweet Forbearance in the Streets’, tells the sport of a middle-aged woman whose husband has died and whose son has emigrated to Australia.

“It means a great deal to have been selected by writers whose work I deeply admire, Eilís Ní Dhuibhne, Donal Ryan and Fintan O’Toole. I wrote this story from a distance, so I’m especially honoured to be included in a series of writers responding to my home country’s thoroughgoing hardship and malaise,” she said

Miss O’Donoghue was born in Kilreedy in North Clare in 1975 but emigrated to America in 2001 and now lives in Boston. She teaches creative writing and literature in Babson Col- lege, Massachusetts, but returns to Ireland regularly to visit her family.

Her first book of poetry, ‘Tulle’, was published by Liscannor-based publishing company Salmon Poetry. She has since published a second collection of poetry, ‘entitled Among These Winters’, while her first novel, ‘Before the House Burns’, was pub- lished by Lilliput Press in 2011.

She has also won a number of awards including the Salmon Poetry Prize, a Hennessey New Irish Writing Award and two artist fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

A PRIVATE air tour company based in Mountshannon is bidding to have Davy Fitzgerald flying high this week, as it is proposing to fly the Clare hurling manager all over the county with the Liam McCarty Cup.

Harbour Scenic Tours are propos- ing to give the manager and members of the Clare team a scenic view of the county, covering almost every town and village in an hour and a half.

Operator with the company Darren McNamara said it was hard to get commitment for the venture the morning after the All-Ireland home coming, but he was convinced he already had an orange light for an air trip that would see the Liam McCarthy Cup leave the base in Mount Shannon and circle the county before landing at Shannon airport.

“This would have many benefits. It would get him everywhere in a short space of time, continue the buzz and give the company some promotion,” he said. Last night he was proposing the event for early Wednesday afternoon, so the children could run into the schoolyard and wave on the plane that flies between 300 and 500 feet high. He admitted however that those watching from ground level would not be able to see the Liam McCarthy cup or anyone on board, but maintained it would be a very special and unique event causing a stir around the county.

MEMBERS of Clare’s Nigerian community will gather in Ennis this week for events to celebrate the African country’s Independence Day.

The Association of Nigerian Community in Clare (ANCC) has planned a series of activities in Ennis that include football, a party with dancing, singing, fashion and Nigerian food.

A number of events including a fashion parade and a children’s awards ceremony are planned for Ennis CBS.

It is 53 years since the first Independence Day.

The association has invited the Mayor of Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council, Bishop of Killaloe, Garda Superintendent in Clare and other guests to grace the occasion.

The ANCC was first set up in Clare in 2007. One of the prime objectives of the Association of Nigerian community in Clare is to foster closer working relationships within all communities in Clare and also with the Nigerian embassy in Dublin. It exists as an advocate and to suppor t the welfare needs of Nigerians as well as to progress integration and to be valued, valuable residents of Clare.

“We are delighted to be celebrating Nigerian Independence here in Ennis which is home to many of us now, these events will give us an opportunity to showcase and share our culture and rich heritage from food music, fashion and dance as well as the history of Nigeria,” said ANCC President Francis Okeyebulor.

The father of five who was elected president of the ANCC in August said the association is also planning a number of charity events.

He adds, “As an organisation we want to help Nigerian people who are in Clare. We believe that integration to the Irish way of life is very important. We thing it is integral that people integrate with their local communities. We want to help Nigerian people who maybe in difficulty. The association had been dormant for a few years but we have a good committee in place now. We have resuscitated it and we hope the association can play a role in helping people in Clare.”

THE Irish Kidney Association has paid tribute to the West Clare Kidney Support Group as it has exceeded raising € 200,000 for the organisation during the past decade.

The enormous funding has been used for projects benefiting kidney patients and their families from Clare and throughout Ireland.

In recognition of the West Clare group’s fundraising, chairman of the committee of the West Clare Kidney Support Group, Tom Prendeville, was presented with an award.

The Kilrush man was instrumental in setting up the West Clare group.

Clare IKA board member Peggy Eustace, from Ennis, who accepted a presentation on his behalf, thanked the entire committee for the enormous contribution they have made to the Irish Kidney Association over the years through their annual walk from Kilrush to Corraclare, which takes place every May bank holiday weekend.

Projects which have benefited from the West Clare Kidney Support Group’s fundraising include the Irish Kidney Association’s Renal Support Centre, which has 12 ensuite bedrooms and is located on the grounds of Beaumont Hospital in Dublin; a Holiday Centre in Tramore, Co Waterford, which offers free week-long holidays for kidney patients and their families; and the establishment of a home haemodialysis programme rolled out by Beaumont Hospital benefiting renal patients from around the country including a patient from Clare.

The IKA’s Renal Support Centre, which opened in 2000, is open all year round and provides a dayroom and free overnight accommodation for kidney patients and their families from Clare and other counties.

Many Clare families have benefited from the use of the centre, which has become a home away from home for them when their loved ones are called for a transplant at Beaumont Hospital. Families of Clare transplant recipients from the living donor kidney programme have also benefited from the use of the centre. Also using the facilities are patients who have to travel long distances to various Dublin hospitals for outpatient visits and require overnight stays.

CLARE people seeking to tax thei r cars face long queues at Clare County Council this week, as the deadline for the end of “gapping” looms next Monday.

The local authority has recorded a 50 per cent increase in numbers us ing the tax office since July and are expecting very high volumes over the past seven days.

From September 30, motorists will no longer be able to retrospectively declare their cars “off the road” and will instead be liable for the full cost of their car tax, since it was last taxed.

When this process, which is known as gapping, comes to an end next week, motorists will have to declare their car off the road in advance – or face paying thei r motor tax in full.

“The complexities of the new legislation has caused some confusion amongst members of the public which has led to a significant increase in the numbers of people attending the County’s primary Motor Tax Office on the New Road in Ennis,” said Fiona Mooney of the Motor Tax Department Office.

“The surge in applications has caused waiting times in the Motor Tax Office to increase and has led to a backlog in processing postal applications. Customers can avoid or shorten queues in a number of ways, including opting to renew the tax on thei r vehicles online, a service that is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week at www. motortax.ie.

“Anyone who doesn’t have their PIN number, can click ‘PIN retrieval’ on the website and take it from there. Customers wanting to lodge completed off the road declarations, where they are not taxing the vehicle, can simply drop them into the motor tax post box at the motor tax office at Aras an Contae. They don’t need to wait in the queue.”

The council’s motor tax depar tment advises that anyone wanting to tax a vehicle that has been off the road, to complete a RF100A form and have it signed and stamped at a Garda station.

If members of the public have a car which is is cur rently off the road, and will continue to be off the road after September 30, the must complete both a RF100A and a RF150 form. The RF 150 does not need to be signed and stamped at a Garda station.

More detailed are available at the Motor Tax Office or from www. clarecoco.ie.

FIREARMS, ammunition, balaclavas, explosive components, including detonators and paperwork have been seized following a discovery made in East Clare at the weekend.

Gardaí unearthed the haul from a wooded area in Meelick on Friday evening last. An army bomb disposal team was called to examine the area before it could be declared safe.

The items found were taken away for a forensic and technical examination. Gardaí made no arrests following the seizure and the investigation is ongoing.

The haul, which included a gun, multiple rounds of ammunition, items that could be used in the production of explosive devices and some papers, was accidentally discovered in Glenagross Wood, by a member of the public at around 8pm on Friday night last. The man in question was walking his dog when the cache was found. On being informed of the weapons find, gardaí cordoned off the area in question and an army bomb disposal team was sent to Meelick from Cork.

The unit carried out an initial inspection of the find and the nearby area before it was subsequently declared safe and that part of the wood was reopened to the public a number of hours later, after gardaí had carried out a number of searches in the area.

The firearms and explosives were removed for forensic examination. No arrests have yet been made in the wake of the discovery but it understood the haul is suspected to be related to dissident republican activity, according to Garda sources.

The haul included balaclavas and some CS gas containers as well as a number of ammunition magazines.

Gardaí are also examining the possibility that the discovery could be related to dissident republican and criminal activity in the Limerick City area, the weapons and materials being discovered just inside the Clare border.

Until a full forensic examination is made of the materials and firearm found in the Meelick wood, gardaí will not be able to comment on how long they think the arms cache was hidden in Glenagross Wood.

The wooded area is a popular one with walkers and members of the public are urged to report any suspicious activity they see in the area to their local Garda station.

CLARE could soon be celebrating a once in a thousand year religious occasion as the process has begun to make Liscannor man Thomas Cusack a saint.

The Korean Church has applied to the Holy See to begin the process which could one day lead to the Columban priest being beatified.

If he is successful, Fr Cusack would become Ireland’s fourth saint of the past thousand years; joining Cellach of Armagh, Saint Oliver Plunkett and Charles of Mount Argus.

Fr Cusack was killed by communist forced in Korean in 1950 and the Korean Church are seeking his beatification as a martyr.

The Liscannor man’s 15 years in Korea were marked by intense bravery and hardship. He refused to flee the county during the Japanese invasion in World War II and as a result spend a number of years in a brutal prisoner of war camp.

He again refused to leave the country when the Korean War erupted and was captured in 1950 by communist troops as they retreated north of the border following a battle on July 24, 1950.

Fr Cusack, along with a number of other Catholic priests, were martyred in “the massacre at Taejon Prison” with took place on September 24, 1950.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the Columban in Korea in 1933, the Korean Church has put forward a number of priests martyred during the Korean War for sainthood.

According to Fr Malachy Smyth, who has recently completed a documentary on the Columban Fathers in Korea, Fr Cusack would most likely have been more concerned with the work on the ground than any future accolades.

“The Korean Church has started the process and we will have to wait and see what happens from here. I’m not too sure how long this will take but it could be a large number of years,” he said.

“We [the Columbans] are not the sort who look for sainthood. We are much more interested in the work amongst the grass roots.”

Father Cusack was born in Ballycotton in Liscannor on October 23, 1910. He was educated in Ballycotton National School before going on to St Mary’s College in Galway.

He entered the Columbans in 1928 and was ordained in 1934. The following year he was sent to Korea and at the time of his death he was serving in Columban mission in Mokpo.

At present Ireland boasts a total of 166 saints. The vast majority of these saints were lived during the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries for which Ireland was known as the Island of Saints and Scholars.