Category: News

A SHANNON man has received a six-month prison sentence for offences committed while on bail last year. Martin O’Callaghan (23) with an address at 156 Cluain Airne, Shannon, pleaded guilty to charges of criminal damage and theft at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

O’Callaghan was charged with damaging the fly window of a car at Dun na Rí, Shannon on November 1, 2011. O’Callaghan was also charged with taking a wallet, valued at € 55, from the car.

On the same date at Bothar Na Luachra, Shannon, O’Callaghan was found by gardaí to be in possession of a screwdriver with the intention that it could be used in the course of, or, in connection with a theft.

Insp Tom Kennedy told the court that the cost of the damage to the car was € 150. He said that O’Callaghan has 52 previous convictions.

The court heard that the offences were committed while the accused was on bail.

Solicitor Turlough Herbert said that his client had been in the grip of a serious drug addiction at the time.

The court heard that O’Callaghan is currently serving a sentence for his role in an aggravated burglary committed in Sixmilebridge in January 2010. Mr Herbert said that O’Callaghan had not been in contact with drugs since going into prison. He said his client had made admissions to gardaí and had returned with them to the scene of the car break in to help look for the discarded wallet. He said that O’Callaghan, a father of two, wished to apologise to the owner of the car.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy stated that as the offences had been committed while the accused was on bail, then any sentence would have to run consecutive to the current prison term.

In respect of the criminal damage charge, Judge McCarthy imposed a six-month sentence to commence on the lawful termination of the threeyear sentence currently being served by O’Callaghan.

IT TOOK a jury just 36 minutes to acquit a man who shot competitively for Clare, of being reckless to the safety of others when he discharged a semi automatic shotgun during a morning when “the whole community was under siege”.

Dominic Moloney of 38 Cappa Lodge, Sixmilebridge, had admitted discharging the firearm on September 21, 2009, but had pleaded not guilty to “being reckless to anyone being injured or not”.

After a trial that took place over three days at Ennis Circuit Court, Mr Moloney greeted the unanimous not guilty verdict with a mouthed “thank ye, thank ye” to the members of the jury.

The 47-year-old had been charged with discharging a firearm contrary to section 8 of the firearms and offensives weapons act 1990, after he fired three shots – one into the air and two at a wall during an early morning attack on homes in the estate.

Witness for the State Jessica Kelly, who was part of the group of three attacking homes that night, claimed that she had been hit by pellets from one of these shots.

The court heard that on the morning in question a group of “thugs” who were staying at number 57 attacked properties and people, including a disabled woman, using hurleys, bars and slash hooks.

Mr Moloney said he left the housing estate with his wife at 5.50am to go to work in Shannon.

He dropped her to work in Element Six before travelling on to his own job at Fabricated Products also in Shannon.

He was welding for five to ten minutes when his daughter Ciara called him asking him to come home.

He told the court that when he arrived back on the estate there was a van parked in his usual place so he went to the end of the cul-de-sac to turn.

“My intention was just to come back up and go into my house,” he said.

He said he then saw one man come from his left hand side and heard the window of his car break from the right. There were two men carrying bars.

He accelerated, left the estate and returned having driven past the Garda station.

When he arrived back in the estate he said he saw his neighbour Aaron Doherty, better known as Dots.

“Dots came out of his house. He walked down past me and as I came out of the car he said Mary’s windows have been broken and she is bleeding,” he said referring to Mrs Maxwell, who had been attacked and burgled by the gang.

He then saw two men – Gerard and Michael Lynch coming towards him, he said. “They shouted at me ‘We are going to kill you baldy B’.”

Mr Moloney ran inside and got his gun. He put three cartridges suitable for shooting game in it, which had been on the table since the night before. “As I was going out Dots was coming in the door,” he said.

Mr Moloney, who has shot competitively for Clare seven times, told how one of the two men were at his gate and coming in when he fired his gun into the air. The men retreated.

Mr Moloney, his daughter Ciara and Mr Doherty then walked up the road. Mr Moloney told how the men were leaving the garden of number 57 again when he shot at the wall.

He said he fired the third shot because they were going across to Mary Maxwell’s house again “saying they are going to finish the bitch”.

“The girl was inside the house. I fired at the bottom of the wall, again to keep him in, not to hurt anyone,” he said referring to Jessica Kelly.

He said he did not believe he hit her with pellets from the gun.

“Everyone was in fear. I never saw anything like it and I hope I never do. I was in fear of my life,” he said.

Asked by barrister for the prosecution Stephen Coughlan, “Why did you arm yourself. You knew the gardaí were coming. Why not go back into the house and lock the door?”

Mr Moloney said, “They were going to break up the house. I was in fear of my life.

“The only reason I got my gun was because I was in fear of my life and my child’s life.”

“I wanted to keep them inside the wall to keep people safe.”

Mr Coughlan said, “You should have retreated, but you stood your ground. Your ego wouldn’t let you retreat,” to which Mr Moloney replied, “No.”

“They came at me. I didn’t go at them. I had no choice.

“What was I going to do? I was afraid they were going to cut me up,” he said.

Mr Moloney also admitted to cleaning his gun and changing his jumper after the incident.

A FATHER of eight stole a spare wheel after taking a car on a test drive in an incident that “made no sense”, a court has heard.

The incident occurred after the man test-drove a Volkswagen Passat from a garage in Ennis last month. At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, James Sherlock (43), with an address at 16 Childers Road, Ennis, pleaded guilty to stealing a Monte Carlo alloy wheel with a total value of € 420.

Insp Tom Kennedy told the court that Sherlock took a Volkswagen Passat for a test drive from Western Garages, Quin Road, Ennis on Janu- ary 18. The court heard that the accused already owned the same type of car. Insp Kennedy explained that he took the spare wheel from the garage car and replaced it with his own. Solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client had cooperated with Gardai who found the wheel in the front porch of the house. “He cannot explain why he took it” she added.

Ms Godfrey said her client’s wife died in December 2008 leaving him as the sole carer of eight young children. Ms Godfrey told the court that the theft of the wheel was hard to explain given her client already owned a Passat and the family “weren’t short of a bob”. Judge Aeneas McCarthy fined the accused € 400.

THE State’s chief witness was labelled a liar by counsel for the defence in his closing arguments.

In her evidence to the court Jessica Kelly (23), of Lilac Court, Keyes Park, Limerick, told how on the night of September 21, 2009, she was staying in the house of Barbara Lynch. She was going out with her brother Michael Lynch who was also staying there as was his brother Gerard.

She said that during the night the back window was broken in the house. “The boys got weapons and run out the front door. I looked down [the road] and there was a man with a long gun and I didn’t get to see him clearly. Then I got shot,” she said. “I was standing out by the wall.”

She said she received a wound to her leg and went back into the house and lay down.

Defence Counsel Pat Whyms BL reminded Ms Kelly that she faced four charges following the night in question.

The 23-year-old was charged with aggravated burglary, violent disorder, criminal damage and assault causing harm following the night in question and pleaded guilty to the first three halfway through her trial. She said she did so because her solicitor told her to.

Mr Whyms told the court how, yielding an s hook, Ms Kelly had hit Mary Maxwell. He said her evidence to the court differed from her statement to Gardaí.

“You said a BMW car drove down, hit Ger Lynch and knocked him down,” he said.

He recalled how Ms Kelly told gardaí that she was picking up Gerard Lynch when the car returned and a man jumped out with a gun and directed it at her.

“Which of these two cock and bull stories about this incidents do you want the court to believe today? Was what you told the gardaí true?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Ms Kelly, “I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“No you were not,” said Mr Whyms.

SHOPPING in the county town of Ennis is not an experience that is open to everyone.

Wheelchair users in the county are limited in the main to one end of the town, and if they require to visit a premises on the other side they have to either drive for up to 20 minutes through a one-way system to get there, or just take their business elsewhere.

That is according to wheelchair users across the county.

Geraldine Gilligan, who works in the town, has ruled out having lunch out or shopping on her break as impossible.

“Dunnes and Boots is basically a one-stop-shop for me. The thought of going up to Carraig Donn is impossible,” she said.

The hills and cobblestones of Ennis town made it difficult for a wheel- chair user to navigate the streets alone, but the greatest difficulty is the width of the footpaths.

Making O’Connell Street a pedestrian street is the dream, according to Geraldine.

For now going past Boots towards the Daniel O’Connell statue is impossible alone.

Even bracing this main thoroughfare brings its problems.

A wheelchair user has to travel the whole length of one street to cross the road and then travel back down the other side to visit a shop directly across the road from where the shopper originally was.

She was also critical of disabled parking spaces branding some of them a disgrace.

The Corofin/Kilnaboy woman was particularly critical of a space on the corner of Abbey Street and Bank Place.

The space is so tight she explained that she “nearly got chopped off by traffic” while parking there herself.

Shannon native Padraic Hayes said he would visit the town more if it was accessible.

“You have oncoming traffic when you come out of Dunnes on to the street. I go as far as Boots, or I would go up the market or I would go as far as Hillbillies and that is it,” he said.

“Moving past Dunnes is too high up and trying to manage with traffic while you are in a chair is impossible and you have people coming against you too. Some people are okay they will move. Others will just stand there,” he said.

Ms Gilligan said that while there is little that can be done about the topography of the town, pedestrianisation of more streets, ramps and improved footpaths would open more of the town to wheelchair users.

CLARE farmers may be forced to assemble every animal on their farm for all future cattle inspections, should new inspections requirements being put forward by the Department of Agriculture come into force.

The new assembly rules were just one of the main sticking points when a team of senior officials from the Department of Agriculture met officials from the farming organisations in Portlaoise last week.

The other main point of conflict was unannounced inspections, with IFA Deputy President, Eddie Downey, strongly rejected the idea that any spot checks should take place.

“Unannounced inspections are totally unacceptable and IFA is demanding that no inspector arrives on a farm without reasonable prior notice. There need to be better coordination of inspections and the avoidance of duplication as well as increased tolerances, reduced penalties and a strict adherence to prompt payment deadlines. Farmers will not tolerate a repeat of last year, where applicants selected for inspection encountered long payment delays.” he said.

“The assembly of animals involves a major additional workload, creates undue stress, adds considerable costs, and is an additional and unnecessary farm safety risk.”

Downey, who described some of the new proposals as “way over the top” saying that the department inspectors should be able to obtain a reasonable sample of tags without the necessity to bring all animals into the farmers’ yard.

He also called on the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), to intervene to ensure a more farmer friendly inspection regime. Pressure is also being placed on the Minister for Agriculture to ensure that the delays caused by maps and digitisation not be repeated in 2012.

“There is now significant advantages in submitting on-line SFP applications. Apart from the commitment to be processed and paid earlier by the Department, farmers and their agents can make changes to their applications and maps on line,” said Downey.

“Given the importance of direct payments to farm income it was vital that farmers make sure that their SFP application is made correctly and on time.

“This application is necessary for all schemes including the Single Farm Payment, Disadvantaged Areas, REPS 4, AEOS, Sheep Grassland, Suckler Cow Welfare, Dairy and Beef Discussion groups – it is absolutely essential that no mistakes are made.”

MORE than 700 jobs could be fasttracked to Ennis this year with a planned new private hospital set to circumvent the local planning sys- tem and gain planning permission in as little as 26 weeks. Construction work on a new € 60 million private hospital, which is proposed for the former Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital, could begin before the end of the summer should An Bord Pleanála classify the hospital as a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID). The project is being put forward by Ennis-based company Duesbury Ltd, which lists John and Allen Flynn of the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis as its company directors. Allen Flynn purchased the site with builder Martin Fitzgibbon and Paul Talty from Clare County Council for € 5.2 million in October, 2005.

A GROUP of colleagues went to Lisdoonvarna to the matchmaking festival this year for a day out – nothing note worthy in that.

Like so many others they travelled by bus and looked forward to a bite to eat, a few drinks and plenty of music and craic.

After a few beers and orange juices in a local establishment some members of the group needed to use the facilities, but soon discovered they couldn’t.

The facilities were working perfectly and others had been using them all day, but still the members of this group had to leave the public house and go to the other end of the town to use the toilets in a small café.

They went to another pub and once again, when they had to use the facilities they were forced to go outside in the cold September air and travel hundreds of yards to use the toilets in the same café.

The local primary school had agreed to allow the group to use their facilities and a local hotel would also have been available to them except it was closed on that day, but their comfort would have been disrupted in any eventuality.

So their day continued like this and all because they were dependent on wheelchairs for mobility.

This experience is not unique for people who rely on wheelchairs to get around County Clare, nor is it exclusive to the North Clare town.

Despite the change in laws and a growing philosophy of inclusiveness, wheelchair users are continuously penalised for needing mobility assistance.

The freedom to move around, use the facilities their tax euros pay for, and access buildings and social settings remains limited. One group of young wheelchair users who meet regularly on a Friday night, explained how their meeting places are limited, especially in Ennis, as access and space remains an issue. As the group spoke they explained how they have legally enshrined rights to integrate socially with everyone else yet they cannot. Shannon woman Majella Nihill explained how she likes to visit the Shannon shopping centre with the assistance of her mother. She said she can navigate the area quiet well but it is not without it difficulties as pointed out by fellow Shannon citizen Padraic Hayes. He does a lot of his shopping in the new Shannon Town Centre, as toilet facilities is an issue in many shop- ping centres.

“I go to the old one [Shannon Shopping Centre] in the Gort Road. That is the best one for me and my chair to get in and get out. The other one you can manage but there is a bit of struggle. I can get in but it is tight,” he said referring to the “disability toilets”.

“I go to Limerick a lot. O’Connell Street (Limerick) is a dream for me because it is so level even if shop accessibility is not great,” he said.

Connie Commane is a regular face in the county town of Ennis.

A proud wheelchair user she makes her way through town with purpose.

But all of the county town is not accessible to wheelchair users like Connie, and the shopping experience is often limited to lower O’Connell Street and the market.

Gerry Quain told how a coffee shop he use to frequent in the Tesco shopping centre in Ennis has since closed limiting the places he can meet his friends.

Ger Arthur from Shannon enjoys the freedom and space of the Friday night catch-up of young wheelchair users in Hassets pub in Barefield, where he can relax and have his pint without worrying about facilities, access and space. This he cannot do everywhere.

As the dinner was served in the Barefield bar last week and the group settled in to a night out, Padraic remarked “everyone has their own definition of accessibility”.

For this group of young people however the definition in Clare leaves a lot to be desired.

CONCERNS have been expressed at the location and availability of lifesaving defibrillators in the county town. Ennis Town Councillor Paul O’Shea (Lab) believes that the local authority should provide 24-hour access to defibrillators that are placed at convenient locations, in sight of CCTV cameras on the main streets with no less than a three-minute walk from each installation.

Ennis Town Council currently has three defibrillators. One is located in the Customer Service office of Ennis Town Council and two in the council’s Sports and Leisure Facilities – one in Ennis Leisure Complex and one in Lees Road.

Ennis Town Clerk Leonard Cleary said, “Staff have been trained in the use of this equipment. Clare County Council also has a defibrillator, which is located on its property within the town. The local authority does not have a role in relation to other privately-owned or community-owned defibrillators. The council’s CCTV network is available as a resource for the gardaí, with whom Ennis Town works closely.”

Cllr O’Shea raised concerns, however, that the council offices close at five, the leisure centre at 9pm and Lees Road at 10pm. He said that defibrillators should ideally be positioned three minutes from each other, and be available 24 hours a day.

“We probably need a few (defibrillators) but we need a 24-hour one,” he said.

Mr Cleary explained that there are a number of other defibrillators in the town centre owned by voluntary organisations.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said it was an issue of awareness. “I don’t know where they are located,” she said.

The councillor called for all defibrillators to be clearly marked and visible to the public.

Ennis Town Manager Ger Dollard reminded the council that the provision of defibrillators is not a function of the local authority.

“Perhaps the HSE have a better idea of where the defibrillators are located,” he said.

AFTER her star turn on RTÉ radio, singer Siomha Brock is looking forward to a triumphant homecoming concert in Ennis on Saturday.

The 24-year-old embarks on a nationwide tour this week with stops in Galway (Kings Head, Thursday), Cruises Bar, Ennis (Saturday), Limerick (Office Bar, February 21), Cork (Crane Lane, February 24) and Dublin (Sweeneys, Dame Street, February 26).

The former Coláiste Muire student, who has been tipped as one of Ireland’s rising music talents, released her self-titled EP in Ennis last December. Reaction has been positive, with one track ‘Right From The Start’ being added to the RTÉ Radio One playlist.

Siomha and her band also appeared on Pat Kenny’s popular morning show with the veteran broadcaster hailing their performance.

She says, “He really liked it. He’s into that jazz style of music so he seemed really happy with it. He was very nice and we were really well looked after. It was great to go up and play in such a great studio. It was really a good boost. I sent up the CD and, because they liked it so much and because I had the tour coming up, they said they’d bring us on to do a bit of promotion.”

Joining her on tour are Ennis man Eoghan Judge (guitar), who has been writing songs with Siomha for the past year. Bass player Karl Clews has worked with artists such as Jamiro quai, Gary Barlow (Take That) and PJ Harvey. Drummer Pat Corless has worked with artists such as Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club and The Blizzards.

Siomha says, “We’ve a good few new songs for the tour. We’ve just over an hour of new stuff. Eoghan and myself work really well together because we’ve known each other for so long and because we’ve very similar taste in music.” She adds, “The guys are great. They know exactly what we want to do with the song.”

Siomha, who has performed regularly in Cruises and around Ireland, is hugely influenced by jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Holiday, She says, “I stick to a lot of the old jazz stuff because that’s the way I like to sing. I got all my influences from them.”