Category: News

PERMANENT TSB in Ennis is unwittingly in the middle of a tug of love between an American woman and a Kilmaley native over an account in its bank that holds more than € 1.6m, which has now been frozen as a result of court action taken this week.

A 60-year-old American woman has claimed she was defrauded of millions by her younger Irish lover, who she claims had been leading a double life, the High Court heard this week.

The woman also claimed the man, her fiance, a Thomas Queally, de- scribed in court as being a native of Lahaknock, Kilmaley was also engaged to another woman at the same time.

New York-based Elisa Rodino claims Thomas J Queally, who is in his mid forties and who had been engaged to her, has stolen approximately US$4m of her money – a large portion of which was lodged by him into a bank in the Permanent TSB bank in Ennis.

Solicitors acting on her behalf secured a number of temporary freezing orders against Mr Queally.

They prevent him reducing, dissipating or transferring funds below a value of € 1.6m held in a bank ac- count at Permanent TSB in Ennis.

Seeking the orders, Ross Gorman acting for Ms Rodino, said his client was a vulnerable and wealthy woman who had been taken advantage of by Mr Queally.

Last August she agreed to put his name down on one of her bank accounts he said. It was a deposit account that contained US$5m.

Last October Mr Queally was due to meet up with Ms Rodino in Spain, but never showed up. When she arrived back in the US she discovered that money had been transferred to the bank in Ennis and to a US bank account.

Counsel said that his client did not know exactly where Mr Queally is at present and had not seen him for some months.

She has brought a legal action against him in New York as well as in Ireland, and fears that he will dissipate the funds held in the Irish bank account.

Counsel added it has been difficult to track Mr Queally down, but both Ms Rodino’s Irish solicitors Lyons Kenny Solicitors and her US lawyers were taking steps to find him,

The freezing orders were granted on an ex parte (one-side only) basis by Mr Justice Roderick Murphy. The judge made the matter returnable to early January.

THE head of Clare County Council’s Special Policy Committee for housing has recommended that no further money be spent on repairing Traveller accommodation until “underlying situation” concerning these houses are resolved.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that it was a recommendation that she “had not come to easily” but one that she felt was necessary given the cost of repairs to Traveller accommodation in 2012.

According to figures released at last Tuesday’s budget meeting of Clare County Council, repair payments for each house designated as Traveller accommodation was more than 10 times higher than the cost of the nonTraveller housing accommodation.

The average cost of repairs to the council’s 63 Traveller accomodation units was € 6,700 per house in 2012. This compares to a cost of just € 616 per house in the council’s non-Traveller stock over the same time period.

“I would recommend that no further money be made available to Traveller accomodation until the underlying situation can be resolved,” she said.

“The council cannot be expected to repair units only to have them damaged again and again while other people are waiting to get accommodation.”

This sentiment was echoed by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), who is also a member of the Housing SPC who described the money being spent on repairing Traveller accomodation as a “matter of considerable concern”.

The council also heard that € 156,000 was spent in 2012 on security for the Beachpark Traveller Accommodation in Ennis.

A new CCTV facility is put in place on this site, and at a second Traveller accommodation site in the county, at a combined cost of around € 250,000.

Once this system of CCTV is up and running, the € 156,000 security contract for the Beachpark Estate will finish.

The council also incurred legal costs of € 118,000 in defending legal actions in relation to traveller accommodation in 2012.

Director of Service for housing, Bernadette Kinsella, said the costs had been awarded to the council in relation to some of these cases but that these costs had yet to be paid.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) also suggested that the Beachpark Estate be reallocated to the settled community as a result of damage which has been done to the property in recent months.

“We’ve seen this down through the years. It is more than 30 years ago that I said ‘they’ll never settle’. A problem like this will not be fixed by throwing money at it,” he said.

THE small West Clare townland of Kilclogher has strong connections with Newtown in Connecticut, where twenty children and six adult staff members were killed last Friday morning, December 14.

According to sources in America, a large number of Irish emigrants came to live in Newtown in the early 19th century. A large number of these emigrants come from a single parish in West Clare – believed to be Kilc- logher, between Kilbaha and Carrigaholt and the surrounding area.

The Clare emigrants came to Newtown initially to work on the local railroad but settled in the area on tracks of farmland which had been abandoned by previous settlers. Indeed, it is also understood that the majority of the local Clare population settled in the Sandy Hook, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings took place on Friday.

It is not yet clear if any of children of teachers killed in the attack had Clare ancestry. One of the murdered teachers, Anne Marie Murphy, is understood to have strong Irish connections but it is not yet clear if her connections date back to West Clare people who settled in the Sandy Hook area. Ms Murphy’s body was discovered in a shielding position around the bodies of a number of her students.

The Irish-American population of the town went from just 5.6 per cent in 1850 to 41.8 per cent in 1890 and 44 per cent by 1900.

Connecticut genealogist, Harlan Jessup, believes that much of these Irish emigrants came from one small area in West Clare. At one point, according to Jessup’s research, the New York Belting and Packing rubber factory in town employed 200 people – 185 of whom were Irish.

Last Friday a lone gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing twenty children and six adult before turning the gun on himself. The gunman, who has been identified by authorities as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, had first killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their nearby Newtown home.

TEN KILRUSH citizens were recognised for their work in the community and honoured by Kilrush Town Council through the Cissie Roughan Civic Awards.

The awards scheme began in 1993 and honours the memory of the late Cissie Roughan a former member of Kilrush Town Council and the first woman elected to the council.

This year there was a range of nominees for the civic awards, drawn from a variety of areas including community, sporting and cultural.

One of the awards was presented posthumus to young father Flan Carmody.

Mr Carmody who died in September 2012 dedicated his life and energy to working for the community

He established the west Clare kidney support group in 1999 and raised more than € 250,000, having received a transplant himself in 1998.

Again following his young son’s accident he started to fundraise for the burns unit in Crumlin Hospital and as a Clare County Council employee he took great pride each year in winning the Tidy Towns Award.

Kilrush Care of the Aged were recognised for organizing day trips and a Christmas party for the elderly of the town.

Music teacher Peig Martin received acknowledgement for her great knowledge and passion for Irish Music and organizing a Ceol na Nog for students once a month in Teach Cheoil for students.

The council paid tribute to Margaret Purtill and Peggy Cahill who in 2012 decided to renovate the New Shanakyle Graveyard and set about fundraising € 20,000. They then carried out extensive work.

Matthew Kelly dedicated his time to organising training and trips for the youth of Kilrush to Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium

He also works tirelessly organising fundraising for clubs and trains the U16 Moneypoint A.F.C – all of which was recognised when he received his award.

Anne Hayes organised a Kilrush Music Session Group and travelled to Kilrush twice a week for training, while James McMahon was honoured for his involvement with Comhaltas in Kilrush since the 70s.

He joined the new reformed Inis Cathaigh Branch in 2006 and if very influential among young members.

Fionnuala Walsh swam the English Channel – the first Clare person to do so. This was a featthe council could not ignore as they presented the annual awards.

When Martin Cahill was presented his award it was said he deserved it “as he has over the years become the face of Kilrush and is affectionately know to all as granddad, Martin is loved by all that come across him and his infectious ways, good spirit and heart of gold as well as his ability to sing have been wowing the visiting tourist that come to Kilrush for many a year.”

Former Kilrush Town Councillor Jack Fennell was described as a “true Kilrush man that lives and breathes for his town” when he was presented with his award.

Mayor of Kilrush Mairead O’Brien (Ind) said, “The Cissie Roughan nominations are a way to enable ordinary people to acknowledge friends and neighbours for their good works. We have lots of people doing great things and it’s nice for the Town Council to provide the opportunity for public recognition of the valuable works and activities and involvements.

“The thanks and acknowledgement of the community are due to you all.”

POLICING in rural areas of the county affected by the latest raft of Garda station closures can be enhanced thanks to a new partnership approach between Clare Garda headquarters and new community groups.

That’s the message sounded out by Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, in the wake of the controversial Budget 2013 decision to call time of eight rural Garda stations in Clare as part of a nationwide cull of 80 outlets.

Superintendent Kerin told a public meeting in Inagh last week that the key to future policing in the eight locations that will lose their Garda sub-stations lay establishing “community fora” that would liaise with the Clare Garda Division.

I’m sending out that invitation to all communities affected by Garda station closures,” said Chief Superintendent Kerin, “that if they were willing to set up a community forum of five or six people affected by Garda station closures, the Gardaí would be willing to meet with them on a monthly basis. The superintendent in those areas will meet with them on a monthly basis – I would be willing to meet with them on a bi-monthly basis,” he added.

Following on the closure of Carrigaholt Station earlier this year, the latest round of swinging cuts of announced in the Budget means that stations in Quin, Inagh, Lahinch, Broadford, Mountshannon, Doonbeg, Kilmihil and Labasheeda are all facing the axe in the new year.

According to Chief Superintendent Kerin the closures can be the catalyst for a new type of working arrangement to emerge between communities and what will be a Garda Division split into a two-district service of Ennis and Kilrush.

“A lot of those areas affected don’t have joint-policing committees,” said Chief Superintendent Kerin, “and I would hope that they set up these fora that would be representative of all strands of society within the community. If we did that, we would know what issues were happening and we would be able to address them,” he added.

STAFF at the Clare County Council recycling facility on the Gort Road in Ennis have been praised for their calm actions after a live grenade was discovered on site last Thursday morning.

The grenade, which is understood to date back to Civil War times, was discovered on the site on Thursday morning.

The explosive device was found among a stash of recyclable metal on the facility and is understood to have been live and a genuine explosion risk.

The supervisor at the facility alerted both the Gardaí and the Defense Forces to the find and Clare County Council closed the recycling centre for a number of hours of Thursday afternoon, while the grenade was being dealt with.

The Defense Force’s Army Bomb Disposal Unit were tasked to make safe the ordinance and arrived at the Gort Road Industrial Estate around 1.30pm on Thursday afternoon.

A small controlled explosion was carried out and the area was declared to be safe just after 2.15pm on Thursday afternoon. It is as yet unclear where the grenade came from and Gardaí in Ennis are investigating the incident.

Clare Green Party councillor Brian Meaney paid tribute to the calm ac- tions of the staff at the centre while a spokesperson from Clare County Council also apologised for any delays felt my members of the public as a result of the incident.

“We would like to thank the public for their patience during the interruption to services at Ennis Recycling Centre.

“We also want to acknowledge the assistance of An Garda Síochána,” said a spokesperson from Clare County Council.

This is the second time that Army Bomb Disposal Unit have been called to a suspect device in Clare in 2012. In January a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspicious device discovered on the strand at Lahinch Beach.

A four foot long metal canister, which was discover on the north end of the strand beside Lahinch Golf Course, was discovered by a walker on the beach just after 7pm on Saturday evening, January 7.

EUROMILLIONS winners Dolores McNamara could be set to make Killaloe her new home after a deal was concluded for the sale of Tinarana House over the weekend. A deal for the 270 acre property, which was sold for around € 13 million by Dr Paschal Carmody in 2006, was finalised late last week – with Dolores McNamara understood to be one of the bidders in the final shake-up.

The property was sold for around € 3.5 million, almost double the 2012 asking price but still nearly € 10 million less than was paid for it by development consortium Tinarana Ltd in 2006.

Local property agents GVM have remained tight lipped over the identity of the estates buyer. Once the transaction had done through details of the sale will be published on the newly established Property Price Register. The address of the property and the final sale price will be included on the register – but not the name of the buyer.

It is understood that Dolores McNamara has been on the lookout for a rural property to avoid excess media attention. She already owns nearby Lough Derg Hall, which was bought for € 1.7 million and where she has lived on-and-off since 2005.

Tinarana House has attracted a large number of interested bidders since it went on the market earlier in 2012. Bidders from Austria, Holland, Germany and Britain are understood to have been in the shake-up for the property, alongside the Euromillions winner.

Tinarana House itself includes 16 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms and was put on the market on the instructions of receivers PriceWaterhouse Coopers in June of this year.

While the € 3.5 million price tag is considerably less that the € 13 million paid in 2006, it is understood that the historic property needs restoration work which could total as much as € 1 million.

At the height of the property boom in 2006, Tinarana Ltd received planning permission from Clare County Council to construct a major hotel and leisure complex on the site – which also included an 18-hole championship golf course and equestrian holiday village.

An Taisce objected to the development and those objections were upheld by an Bord Pleanála in 2007.

Tinarana House was built by the Purdon family of England in the 1870s as a fishing and hunting lodge. The mansion comprises 14,467 square feet and sits on a small raise overlooking Lough Derg.

A BOYCOTT on all farmed salmon caught off the Irish coast has been called for in protest against plans by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) to license the creation of a large salmon fish farm off the Clare coast.

Environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment called for all of its followers to boycott Irish farmed salmon in the run up to Christmas. The call was made Thursday, hours before the Irish Wildlife Trust came out against the proposed fish farm.

It is as yet unclear what impact, if any, the boycott will have on farmed salmon producers in the run up to Christmas – the busiest time of the year for sales of salmon in Ireland.

According to Friends of the Irish Environment, the planned fish farm should not go ahead until the difficulty with sea lice on Irish fish farms has been resolved.

“The initiative contradicts the moratorium on fish farms agreed under the National Development Plan’s Irish Seafood National Program 2007 to 2013,” said a spokesperson.

“This ruled that no increase in pro- duction would take place until the sea lice issue had been addressed. A recent report from Inland Fisheries Ireland showed that in fact mortalities from wild salmon from farmed salmon sea lice have now reached 39 per cent of the returning wild salmon.”

The proposed fish farm has been hugely controvertial since details of the proposal first emerged more than six weeks ago. It has two State agencies – Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) in direct conflict.

BIM claim that the farm could creat as many as 500 jobs in the locality while the IFI believe that a more realistic jobs target would be less that 50, while it also believes that pollution created by the farm could threaten inland fishery resources in North Clare and South Galway.

Irish Wildlife Trust confirmed on Thursday that they have made a submission to the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG) outlining their opposition to the project. Minister Coveney will decide in the new year if BIM can allow groups to tender for the license to create a fish farm off the Fanore coast.

A MAN of the people, a legend in his own lifetime, one of the greatest ballad singers Ireland has ever produced, a historian, a storyteller, a farmer and a hurler.

All were used to describe the late Robbie McMahon – the King of Spancil Hill responsible for making the song of the same name famous – who passed away last Thursday after a short illness.

The tributes were led by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann chief, Labhrás Ó Murchú, who gave the graveside oration at his funeral and described McMahon as “a giant of traditional Irish culture, whose legacy will live on for future generations in his songs”.

These words were echoed by his many friends – in his native parish of Clooney, around Clare and beyond as huge numbers attended the removal of his remains on Saturday evening last and his funeral on Sunday afternoon.

“His legacy will be the historical events that he has recorded through his own songs,” says Frank Whelan of the Clare branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, who was one of the driving forces behind the 2010 documentary on McMahon’s life entitled ‘Last Night as I was Dreaming’.

“He was much more than a singer, he was a social historian, because all his songs were stories,” added Mr Whelan. “The one thing about Robbie was that King or pauper – they were all equal,” says Mike Duggan, in whose pub in Spancil Hill that McMahon played host to a monthly singing session that became known throughout Ireland and beyond as ‘ Robbie’s First Fr ida y’. “It was his magnetism, it was his wonderful personality,” continues Duggan. “Thousands of people have come to ‘Robbie’s First Fr ida y’ over the years. No dignitary was too big, no person was too small for Robbie.”

THREE thugs broke into a West Clare home late on Sunday night last, terrorising two elderly sisters and demanding money. The trio broke down the door of the rural farmhouse in Kildymo, Bansha near the seaside town of Kilkee be- tween 10.30pm and 11.30pm and entered the premises where the women had lived all of their lives. A frightening ordeal then began for the two ladies in their eighties as the robbers ripped the phone from the wall and demanded money from them. There was very little money in the house and the thugs eventually got away with a small amount of cash from the old age pensioners purses. The three who had targeted two vulnerable older women in their own home covered their faces during the robbery. It is not known how long the frightening ordeal continued for, but the two ladies were left very shocked after the late night experience. They are recovering in a nursing home since. The farmhouse, described as being left in a state after the event, is situated close to Bansha graveyard along a minor but busy rural road. One neighbour told The Clare People that while the sisters lived a very simple life on their family farm, opting to live with out modern comforts such as electricity, central heating and running water, they were very popular and well known locally. “People locally are shocked and many are very frightened after this,” he said. Gardaí in the Kilrush district are leading the investigation into the late night robbery. They have appealed to anyone who may have seen anything on the night of Sunday, December 9, or have any other information to contact the Garda Station in Kilkee or Kilrush.