Category: News

A CLARE homeless charity has began donating food to hungry Ennis families – who are not homeless but are unable to feed themselves as a result of the recession and government cutbacks.

According to Josie O’Brien of Help the Homeless in Clare, the situation among poor Clare people is as bad as it has ever been. The group are expecting their largest ever turnout at the Christmas Day dinner this year – with more than 100 people likely to attend.

According to Ms O’Brien, the situation is now drastically worse than it was just 12 months ago.

“Besides the homeless, we’ve started helping other people who look for food. We’ve been helping some families around Ennis. Someone will contact me and say that they know of a family who don’t have any food and we provide the food. It’s not just people who are homeless – there are now families out there, living in houses and they don’t have food,” said Josie.

“It’s very sad. We’re talking about families with children – and they are hungry. It’s gotten worse this year a lot worse. It can be very difficult for families out the now. But the other side to that is that people are so generous. All I have to do is put up on facebook that food is needed and without fail someone makes a donation. The people of Ennis and of Clare are so so generous.

The Help the Homeless in Clare Christmas dinner will take place from 3pm to 7pm at Fahy Hall in Roslevan on Christmas Day.

“It’s not just for the homeless. Anyone can come – anyone who is on their own or needs a dinner,” she said.

“I normally cook for around 60 or 70 but I’ll be cooking for 100 or more this year because it looks like it is going to be busier.

“I’ve been doing this for eight years and I’d say that this is going to be the biggest year. So we are preparing lots and lots of food. That said – there will be no shortage of food. People have been very generous so we will have plenty of food.

“People are becoming way more aware of the problems that are out there. It’s not just homeless people anymore. Its a lot of different people. Some people just need food now,” she said.

A large number of Clare people and businesses donated food to Help the Homeless in Clare this year. To find our more search for “Help the Homeless in Clare” on Facebook.

BALLYALLA is in mourning today following the tragic death of fiveyear-old Megan Malone in a New York hospital on Thursday.

Megan, who will be laid to rest in County Cork later today, December 22, defied all the odds last year by recovering from a rare form of cancer. She was diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer called SPNET-Medullablastoma in October of 2010. However, following groundbreak- ing treatment at hospitals in New York and Boston last year, Megan made a miracle recovery and seemed to have put her illness behind her.

Tragedy struck again earlier this year, however, when the cancer returned and, despite emergency treatment in America, the brave five-year- old passed away in New York on Wednesday night.

Megan is survived by her father John Malone from Ballyalla, her mother Sheila, as well as her three brothers and sister. She’s also mourned by her grandparents Michael and Kay Malone from Ballyalla and a large number of relatives and friends from all around Clare.

“Our beautiful little princess, Megan, lost her brave fight for life last night. She battled her terrible disease for over 26 months and it finally got the better of her little body and soul,” said John Malone yesterday.

“We will never ever forget you Megan. We love you so, so much. No more suffering, no more pain. Poor, poor little darling Megan, may you rest in peace.”

Megan’s plight touched hearts in Clare, Ireland and the United States. A number of fundraisers took place across Clare to help fund her groundbreaking treatment in America.

Megan’s aunt, Aine Watts, said the timing of Megan’s death so close to Christmas was particularly cruel.

“We are all devastated by the news. The entire family and extended family are devastated by losing Megan who was so, so brave all through her illness. Megan will be sadly missed and we’ll miss her little face, beautiful smile and personality,” she said.

Megan will will be buried in Ballyvourney Cemetery following a 2pm funeral Mass today, December 22.

A NEW York marketing manager who threatened to headbutt an airline pilot and forced an emergency landing at Shannon Airport was ordered to pay € 3,367 in compensation to British Airways and a sum of € 1,000 to the court poor box at Ennis district Court yesterday (Friday).

Judge Patrick Durkin struck out the charges against Damian Kington with an address at 105 West, 29th Street, NY, 10001 taking into account a number of factors including the affect a new medication combined with alcohol had on the defendant at the time of the incident over the Atlantic.

On Wednesday, Mr Kington, an Australian native, was taken from BA Gunb flight 004 to Ennis District Court and charged with threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour contrary to Section 2A(3) and Section 2A(4) of the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1973 as inserted by Section 65 of the Air Navigation and Transport (Amendment) Act 1998.

He was also charged with engaging in behaviour likely to cause serious offence or annoyance to any person on board the aircraft under the same Air Navigation and Transport act.

Garda Noel O’Rourke told the court he had arrested Mr Kington that morning at 9.15 after the flight from JFK New York to London City airport was diverted to Shannon.

At 7.30am the captain and commander of the flight Niall Jones told air traffic control that he had an unruly passenger on board and requested to land at theCounty Clare airport.

The court heard that when Mr Kington had boarded the 32-seater business class plane he was observed by the cabin crew to be in a sober state.

During the course of the flight, he was served four to five aircraft bottles of wine and in his luggage were found two different types of medication.

Two hours into the flight, the 35year-old got out of his seat and stood over two other male passengers across the isle, in what they said was a “threatening manner”.

He then referred to them as “c@*ts and paedophiles”. He started “F-ing and blinding at staff and other passengers”.

The frequent flyer was served with a verbal warning by the crew and then a written warning. A few minutes later, the captain was called again. As he came down the aisle, the defendant came towards him and pushed him.

“He pushed me and tried to head butt me,” the captain told gardaí in a statement.

As there was no marshal aboard, the crew then struggled to restrain and handcuff the defendant as they considered him “a serious risk to passengers on the flight.”

Later when Gda O’Rourke went on to the flight at Shannon they found the accused to be in a subdued and “dozy state”.

He was extremely pleasant to us,” he said. “There was a strong smell of alcohol and he was unsteady on his feet.”

Mr Kington works in New York as the head of marketing team in a very high profile company and was travelling to England for Christmas.

Solicitor for the Defence Úna Moylan said that her client was in a state of shock after the events aboard the plane.

She told the court that he had an ongoing depression condition and had taken one and a half Xanax and one anti-anxiety tablet coupled with the alcohol. She said he remembered nothing of the incident.

Yesterday (Friday) Mr Kington told the court that he was on a new medication at the time.

“It is fair to say I was and still am mortified by the accounts given by the witnesses. The fact I have no recollection is more frightening.”

He apologised to the airline, passengers, captain and crew and the gardaí. He said he would no longer be taking that form of medication or drinking on an aircraft.

Judge Durkin said that the charges against Mr Kington were very serious but he dismissed them and ordered him to pay € 3,367 to cover the costs of the landing charge in Shannon, the ground handling cost and the fuel cost and ordered him to pay a further € 1,000 to the court poor box.

The judge said he was taking into account that the Damian Kington onboard the flight was not the man reflected in his many references.

He also took into account his early guilty plea, describing the defendant as “a man of impeccable character.”

“I accept your responsibility was seriously diminished,” he said adding that he hoped Mr Kington would visit Ireland again under different circumstances.

A MAN who had to be forcefully removed from his ex-girlfriend’s car by four gardaí had been ordered to pay € 575 in compensation and donations to the court poor box.

Brendan Brosnan, Ballycasey, Shannon pleaded guilty to four charges relating to a night that saw him arrested by gardaí and placed in a cell where he later caused criminal damage.

The 35-year-old refused legal representation at Ennis District Court, the operations manager opting to represent himself.

Prosecuting Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that on Sunday December 15, 2012, Mairead Gavin called Shannon Garda Station and reported that her ex-boyfriend had refused to get out of her car.

She said she had been giving Mr Brosnan a lift home and when they got to his house he told her he was not leaving the car.

Garda Pearce and Sergeant Ryan went to the house but Mr Brosnan refused to get out of the car.

Two more gardaí and a second patrol car were called to scene.

Eventually the four gardaí forced Mr Brosnan from the car.

He then started to hit out at gardaí and told Garda Pearce he would “kick the head off him”.

Inspector Kennedy said Mr Brosnan was taken to a cell at Shannon Garda Station where he then “stuffed a cell blanket into the toilet” causing damage to the blanket.

“Tell me why I should not impose a prison sentence,” asked presiding Judge Patrick Durkan.

“It was totally out of character for me and I do apologise to the gardaí on the night.

I threw the blanket and it ended up in the toilet,” said Mr Brosnan.

“I am very embarrassed and deeply ashamed.”

“I have no excuse,” adding that he was inebriated at the time.

Inspector Kennedy told Judge Durkan that the loss to the state following the damage to the blanket was € 75.

“Your behaviour on the night was appalling,” the judge said to the defendant.

Taking into account his clean record and early plea Judge Durkin ordered Mr Brosnan to pay € 175 in compensation – € 75 towards the cost of the blanket and € 100 for the clean up of the cell.

He remanded him to appear in Ennis District Court on February 16 by which time Mr Brosnan must have paid the compensation and € 400 to the court’s poor box.

If these orders are not met Mr Brosnan was told he will be fined a total of € 950.

A 14 year-old boy and 21-year-old man have been sent forward for trial to Ennis Circuit Criminal Cour t following a violent incident at an Ennis Primar y School. A t Ennis District Cour t on Wednesday Inspector Tom Kennedy told Judge Patrick Durkan that the Director of Public Prosecution had consented to return the trial of 21-year-old Conor Mahon to the next sitting of the circuit cour t on Februar y 12, 2013. Mr Mahon ( 21) , with an address at Ballaghboy Halting Site, Quin Road Ennis, is alleged to have committed violent disorder at the Holy Family School, Station Road, Ennis on March 20. He is also charged with unlawful production of an ar ticle contrar y to the firearms and offensive weapons act at the same date and location. Mr Mahon was remanded on continuing bail and legal aid was granted for defense solicitor Darragh Hassett and one junior counsel. A 14-year-old boy also appeared in cour t charged with offences in connection with the incident.The teenager who cannot be named is charged with a violent disorder at the Holy Family Primar y School on March 20, 2012. He is also charged with the production of a machete contrar y to the firearms and offensive weapons act. The teenager was remanded on continuing bail and legal aid was granted for defense solicitor Darragh Hassett and one junior counsel.

KILRUSH Town Council passed what was described as “a particularly difficult budget” on Thursday evening, a function they undertook for the second last time as the Minister for the Environment plans to abolish all town councils in 2014.

In drawing up the draft budget, which was accepted in full by the members, the council officials had to contend with a cut to its local Government Funding of five per cent – € 24,287.

Town Manager and Director of Service Anne Haugh said, “The Draft Budget provides for expenditure of € 1,348,986 in 2012. Income excluding rates and the Local Government Fund, has been estimated at € 631,133 in 2013 compared to € 625,473 in 2012.”

Kilrush Town Council payroll has also been reduced by € 32,237 from that provided in the 2012 Budget.

“However, notwithstanding this, Kilrush Town Council are proposing to maintain the existing level of services in 2013,” said Ms Haugh.

In an attempt to balance the books and yet reflect the difficulties that local businesses are experiencing in the “current economic climate”, the local authority agreed to maintain the commercial rates at that 2012 level.

Impacting on the 2013 budget is a loan drawn down in 2005 to fund works on Henry Street and at the Vandeleur Walled Garden.

However, loan repayments have been reduced by € 9,023 on loan charges in 2012 due to capital re- payments on the loan and also the reduced interest rate.

There was some good news for those renting their home from the local government as it was agreed there would be no increase in household rent.

The council was not optimistic in receiving a large income for planning applications in 2013.

“It is anticipated that in the current economic climate that the number of planning applications received will again be insignificant, hence a provision of € 750 for planning ap- plications fees has been provided for in 2013,” explained Ms Haugh.

The town council agreed to support numerous community groups and public vents in the coming year.

A total of € 13, 550 was provided for tourism development and promotion, € 5,000 was provided for the Shop Front Initiative and a provision of € 2,000 was included for the Gathering in 2013.

The council provided € 10,000 in hope that it will be named the lead town in Munster for the National Famine Commemoration.

MAURETTE and Barry Crowley were just newlyweds last December when they decided to go to Australia for a least a year.

Maurette, a teacher originally from Tulla, and Barry, an engineer from Knockerra, are now adapting to life down under and enjoying all that it has to offer, although they admit they do miss home at Christmas time.

“We would love to be home for Christmas, but it’s a good experi ence to be here for one Christmas,” said Maurette, explaining that they both intend to be having turkey and Christmas pudding in Clare next year.

The weather in Melbourne does not lend itself to the Christmassy feel. However, one morning last week, as Maurette got the train to work, the temperature dropped for a few minutes and she had to put on her coat as she passed a busker playing ‘Silent Night’ on a trumpet.

For a brief moment, it was Christmas time as she knew it.

The new Christmas experience consists of high temperatures and summer dresses, different foods and blue Christmas decorations.

“The decorations seem strange. They are all blue. There is no green and red like at home,” explained the Tulla native.

The Christmas carols also give the Clare woman pause for thought and a smile. She is currently working as a relief teacher in an Australian pri- mary school and is teaching the children ‘Ozzy Jingle Bells’.

“Instead of singing about the sledge, they sing about putting on the barbie. It is very funny and worth people Youtubing just to hear the difference,” she said, laughing.

Teaching in an Australian school brings home to Maurette how many Irish people of her generation have emigrated there, many with no other choice. There are Irish pupils in each class in the school, some who have recently moved to Australia with their families and others who were born to Irish parents in Australia in the last five years.

There are also a number of Irish teachers teaching in the school so she is not the only Irish accent in the staff room either.

And as the staff all settle in for an Ozzy Christmas, Maurette and her husband Barry are heading to the Goldcoast to celebrate their first married Christmas with her sisters in 35- to 40-degree heat with blue Christmas decorations. “HOW is it being away from home at Christmas?” asks Jason Ryan of himself. “I’m in my shorts; we’re all in our shorts; it’s blistering hot outside and I have the The Clare People here in front of me.” It’s true, like the old Harp ad, the sun tan is for free and unlike back home in Clare, if one wanted to hit the town on Christmas Day, there’d be plenty of pubs with a ‘fáilte isteach’. It’s Phoenix Arizona, where 36year-old Jason Ryan has called home for the last seven years, moving permanently in 2005 after first visiting a year previously. With a wife and four children, ranging from the age of seven down to only a couple of months old, he’s not for moving. Back home or anywhere. Jason has The Clare People and Clare Champion thanks to his parents who landed for a week before Christmas. “There are 5,000 miles between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Phoenix,” he says, “so when they come over, it’s a long 14-hour trek. You won’t do it too often, so when your parents come over before Christmas it’s special and it’s important. You miss the craic of home around Christmas so having them over is great,” he adds. Before emigrating, Jason freely admits that Phoenix was never on his radar but that all changed when he met his now wife in NUIG. “Arizona and Ireland – the first thing I thought was total opposites but, after meeting, we came out and it wasn’t until I got here that I realised there’s such a big Irish community here.” And it’s something that Jason has immersed himself in over the last couple of years, mainly through the GAA. Like his father Christy, who is synonymous with the GAA back home, as are his uncles and first cousin Colin who inspired the Newmarket Blues to a first county hurling title in 31 years this year. “Five thousand miles is a long way,” he says, “but the world is a smaller place and, when you’re away, it’s more tolerable. It’s not just an evening phone call – there’s text messaging, Skype, Facebook, Twitter…

and you keep in touch that way with matches back home and what’s going on.

“With the GAA here, I am manager of the Phoenix Gaels and chairman of the South West Board of the GAA, so that keeps you in touch with home as well. When there are big games, you’d go and meet lads and watch them. Tony McCarthy from Killaloe and Eanna Mulkere from Crusheen would be two that I’d meet to watch matches. My brother Johnny is in Perth and there are eight or 10 more from Newmarket there, so we’d keep in touch through the social media.”

Still though, there’ll be a few home thoughts from abroad, but not for too long because he’s well ensconced in Arizona now and so comfortable with life a world away from Newmarket that he has a slow southern drawl.

“When I’m home, my wife can’t understand me but when I’m here you have to slow down for people to be able to understand you,” he says. “Everything is different, but it’s great. There isn’t the big Christmas dinner and turkey wouldn’t be traditional because of Thanksgiving, you’d just do a ham.

“Then you have movie theatres open on Christmas Day and people go there or to the bars – it’s not like home when everything shuts down. Even some of the stores are open for people to go shopping.”

He’ll hardly shop, because it’s not the done thing back home, catching a movie mightn’t be on his radar either, but a pint and toasting the great year that both the Blues and Newmarket Celtic enjoyed on Christmas Day.

Now, there’s a thought.

WHEN Marie McNamara went to Australia in 2008, it was with a sense of adventure.

At home, she found herself in a job that just wasn’t the right fit for her, she had always wanted to travel and had heard stories from her brother and friends who had spent a year travelling around Asia and Australia.

It was a now-or-never attitude that saw her fill her backpack and travel around Asia for three months before finding herself in Australia.

This was to begin an adventure that would take no longer than a year, then she would be back home in Ballynacally.

Four years on and the reality she left behind in 2008 has changed sig- nificantly.

Now Marie is working full-time in Australia, something she knows would not be possible if she returns home.

She is therefore home for three weeks at Christmas to visit family and friends rather than returning, as she would wish, for good.

“You are really doing the same thing over there as you would be doing here, it’s just that the weather is better. You get into a routine and a way of living,” she said.

“Everyone thinks the grass is greener but we are living away from all our family and friends.”

Marie said that she hopes to come home some day as “home is home” but for now “the country is in a mess and I know if I stayed, there would be no work here. I have to be practical and go back to Australia where the work is. There is nothing for me to come back to now. It would be great to stay home but I have to be practical.”

The Clare native has had a number of various jobs since she arrived Down Under. She worked for six months in an office and then travelled around the country.

As with most backpackers, she then ran out of money but decided she would stay for another year.

To be allowed to stay in the country for a second year, she was obliged to spend it working in rural Australia.

So she ended up weeding, sorting tomatoes and potatoes and doing general agricultural work on a farm.

“It was great craic. There was no pressure and you met a load of people. You experience a different side of Australia that you would not see otherwise,” she said.

After her time on the farm, she came back to Sydney and was sponsored to stay in the country working with the company she had worked with previously.

She is now home for a three-week holiday, her third Christmas trip home in a row.

“The first Christmas in Australia was great craic, having Christmas on the beach and watching the fireworks on Sydney Bridge on New Year’s Eve. By the second Christmas, the novelty has worn off,” she told The Clare People .

“To sit beside an open fire for Christmas – there is nothing like it.”

IN AUGUST this year, Gabrielle Fennessy, 51, her husband Chris Kearns, 51, and youngest son Finn, 16, decided to uproot from Kinvara, in Galway, and take up a job offer in Boston.

They left their home and the security provided by family and friends to see whether the grass really is greener on the other side.

“The job opportunities are a lot better here than Ireland for both of us,” explains Gabrielle, “and the education system is a hell of a lot better!”

Chris says he was happy “to get away from the economic and political environment in Ireland”. From the beginning, Finn noticed how, “much more positive people are here.” The couple agree that it is much easier to save money working in the US than it is to do so here.

Gabrielle had work secured before leaving and was straight into it once she arrived. Chris and Finn took a little longer to settle in. At first, setting up the new family home kept them busy. Unlike their countryside home in Ireland, they moved into a suburban apartment. A car had to be bought, insurance cover arranged, phone and internet access organised. And Finn had to be registered in the local high school. It was all very new and exciting.

Five months later, Chris is working with an international, high-tech firm which specialises in cloud computing. Finn has settled right into the American lifestyle. He has replaced hurling and rugby with American football, which he plays with his high school team. They will not be home for Christmas. “We’re going to have an Irish Christmas here instead,” says Gabrielle. While they will miss their extended family and the traditional Christmas round of visits to friends and neighbours, they are lucky to have some family travelling over for Christmas. Gabrielle reflects that Christmas in Boston is different to Ireland. “It’s seen as a Christian holiday here,” she explains. They live in a predominantly Jewish community. Cribs and baby Jesuses are left out in favour of more secular Christmas decorations such as snowmen and reindeer.

The traditional Irish Christmas dinner of turkey and ham is considered more of a Thanksgiving staple. At Christmas, a wider range of foods are eaten. Many people that they work with are only taking one day off work.

Whether this is just their first of many Christmases state-side remains to be seen. Gabrielle says that while they initially left for the US with the intention of staying one year, “now we’re looking at extending it.”

DAVE ‘Lockie’ O’Loughlin, 27, is peeling off the layers and getting ready to spend his second Christmas in New Zealand.

The carpenter from Ennistymon learned his trade in the early 2000s, during the boom years. However, when the construction industry collapsed, young newly qualified tradespeople like Dave were the first to be let go.

At first, Dave loved his newfound freedom. He got by with an odd job here and there and gigging with different pub bands. It felt like he finally had the chance to participate in the sort of college lifestyle he missed out on during his apprenticeship.

Bur over time, with no jobs on the horizon, the novelty wore off. He decided, like many others before him, to pack his bags and seek his fortune Down Under. He set his sights on Christchurch, New Zealand.

The reports were that the major earthquake which rocked the city in February 2011 and the subsequent aftershocks had left large swathes of the city in rubble. Rebuilding work was underway and qualified builders were in demand.

Dave arrived in November and found work almost immediately. “Here is like what it was back in the boom in Ireland; everyone happy out with a few quid to spend,” he says.

Now a senior man on his site, he is shouldering the responsibilities and perks which come with the role. He drives a company van and gives directions to those working with him.

He also plays with a new band called Smashbox, with whom he has had bigger gigs than ever before.

Dave finds the warm weather at Christmas strange. He shares an anecdote about Santa arriving at a shopping centre, fully geared up in his winter robes, with the sun beating down on him and sweat pouring down his beard.

He finds it hard to get into the Christmas spirit. “Christmas to me is snow, frost, cold, the Christmas swim, home with the family. You need all those ingredients,” he explains. “I can’t see having Christmas again unless I’m back in Ireland.”

Overall, he says, “I think I’m happy. I totally love my job.” But he adds that he misses having a network of family and friends around him, especially at times like Christmas when there are holidays from work.”

When asked about returning home, Dave was skeptical. He admits he couldn’t imagine not working and “wouldn’t risk going back to try find a job”.

Finally he adds, “I can’t see myself, for the next couple of years, ever coming home for a long period of time.”