Category: News

GARDAI in Kilrush are making progress in a disturbing case in which a pig’s head was sent to one of its members.

The severed head was sent by registered post to the garda’s home.

Colleagues of the officer, based in West Clare, are outraged that he was singled out in this manner.

The officer in question is well respected in the local community and highly regarded by those he works with.

It is still not known how the gruesome item was packaged but it did not arouse any suspicion among postal staff.

The registered package had to be signed for when it was delivered to the garda’s address.

Gardaí are now attempting to es- tablish who sent the package to their colleague.

“It was a very personal attack. To have something like this sent to a person’s home address is a despicable act,” said a source.

“It was a full pig’s head that was sent to him in a package. It was sent to his home and an incident like this would cause anyone distress, not least a person who is just trying to do their job and make a living.”

The informed source added that the garda is highly thought of by those who know him and people he has met through the course of his duties.

The garda is heavily involved in community work in the region.

“He is extremely approachable to all living there and is very good at his job.

“He did not deserve this whatsoever,” the source added.

FEARS have been expressed that history will repeat itself in Clare, resulting in beds remaining closed at one of the county’s best known nursing homes.

The HSE revealed this week that between five and 10 beds will close in the county’s public nursing homes when the results of a review of the Long Term Nursing Homes is announced.

A further 19 beds are to close at St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis for refur- bishment, but one Clare representative on the HSE West Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), said he hopes that the word “refurbishment” does not have the same connotations that it has had in recent health history.

“What has to be welcomed is that the HSE is providing the resources to upgrade two large wards in St Joseph’s to comply with HIQA requirements.

“It is a credit to staff at St Joseph’s that they have been able to keep bed reductions to a minimum to allow the ward closures for the upgrade,” he said. “The greatest challenge to all nursing homes in Clare will be trying to keep beds operational as nursing staff are not being replaced. I am concerned that the HSE admission that between five and 10 beds will be lost could be compounded by hard decisions hospital management will have to make to safely manage beds,” he added.

“I request that Deputy Breen and the other TDs continue to make a case for the lifting of the embargo on frontline staff. The reality is beds will close unless nurses can be employed.

“While I understand that TDs have to try to be the first with telling their constituents some good news, I request them to make it clear to the Minister for Finance and Health that the embargo on hiring nurses will cause a reduction in the number of elderly care and acute beds.”

Clare TD Pat Breen (FG) welcomed news that no nursing home in Clare is to close following the review and said he was assured that 11 of St Joseph’s beds will be re-opened after six weeks, with the remaining eight beds re-opening after a further six weeks.

“I understand from the HSE that the situation in the Long Term Nursing Home area will be kept under constant review for the remainder of the year and that hopefully no further bed closures will be necessary but this will be dependent on a number of factors; namely an unanticipated increase in sick leave or further staff departures from the service or other changed circumstances,” Deputy Breen said.

The nursing homes included in the review are Regina House in Kilrush, Raheen Hospital in Tuamgraney, Ennistymon Hospital and St Joseph’s Hospital.

CLARE’S Labour TD Michael McNamara has launched a stinging attack on his Government colleagues, describing them as cowards who “hide behind bureaucracy” instead of making real decisions.

The East Clare TD singled out the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), and the Minister for the Arts, Jimmy Deenihan (FG), for spe- cial criticism while he also accused Clare county councillors of hiding behind the county manager.

Deputy McNamara was speaking about an independent report, commissioned by Clare County Council, on the future of the historic building at Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon. The report, which cost € 15,000 to produce, has been completed for nearly a year but the local authority have so far refused to publish it.

McNamara has contacted Clare County Council as well as Minister Hogan and Minister Deenihan in an effort to force the publication of the report. “I am very disappointed with the minister’s response. Is it too much to expect that in our democracy that a survey commissioned at taxpayers’ expense should be made available to the tax payers?,” he said to The Clare People yesterday.

“I have now raised this matter with the Minister for Environment and Local Government, Phil Hogan, who referred me to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, who has now referred me back to Clare County Council.

“I’m beginning to understand why the public is so skeptical about the need for elected representatives in Ireland when the IMF/EU Troika determines the headline budget figures and ministers, with few exceptions, will not exercise the little power they have but instead hide behind bureaucracy like county councillors who hide behind the county manager.”

Fine Gael councillor, Joe Arkins, who was the only North Clare councillor in favour of publishing the report, said the matter should never have gone to ministerial level.

“It would not have been necessary for anyone to contact any ministers about this report if the councillors in North Clare had agreed to allow the report to be published. We bought it, we paid for it, and if it’s fit for purpose, we should be allowed to see it,” he said. “Any report that has been paid for with tax-payers’ money should be made available to the public – not just this report.”

The future of the 19th-century protected structure at Blake’s Corner remains in doubt, with plans to demolish and rebuild the building to make way for a new road junction on hold.

Clare County Council last month decided to delay the planning process on the site to allow an Environmental Impact Statement to be carried out. This will delay the project for a further year and cost in the region of € 100,000. The Clare People contacted Clare County Council in relation to this but no response was received at the time of going to press.

ONE East Clare school faces the prospect of having its teaching numbers halved next year, if the Minister for Education continues with his proposed cuts to staffing levels in primary schools.

The Killaloe Boys National School, which currently has a staff of 14 – nine mainstream and remedial teachers and five special needs assistants (SNA) – could be starting next September with just 7.5 – 6.5 teachers and one SNA if the cuts are implemented.

School principal David McCormack explained that it will not only be the teachers that will struggle to cope with the increased class numbers.

“Our school building will not facilitate an increase in class sizes as three of our classrooms are part of the old building and will not sustain extra furniture to accommodate 30 children. We have statistics from our school engineer to confirm this,” he said.

The school was given special status in 2002 entitled Giving Children an Even Break which allowed for an extra class teacher and a reduced pupil teacher ratio.

This school has now been notified that this teaching post will also be cut.

Concerned parents attended a meeting at the Killaloe school on Thurs- day last to hear what Clare INTO Executive Sean McMahon described as “social injustice”.

“A new buzz word has entered the Irish dictionary and the Irish psyche – austerity,” he told parents.

“Austerity in primary schools like Killaloe Boys translates to staff cuts be they teacher, SNA or ancillary personnel. It translates into larger classes, multigrade classes, lower school budgets, and less learning support for weaker pupils.

“This will undoubtedly lead to a under achievement and a denial of the rights of pupils to reach their full potential. Obviously these impacts will be most severe among our disadvantaged and marginalised pupils,” he added.

Hundred of parents and teachers from Clare also travelled to Dublin last week to protest at the proposed cuts to staffing levels in smaller rural schools.

The majority travelled from east and west Clare to the Dáil protest on Wednesday.

Meanwhile plans are being put in place for a public meeting involving INTO members, parents, boards of management, patron representatives and school communities at the West County Hotel on Monday night, February 20, to address these issues.

“All Oireachtas members in Clare are to be invited to listen to our collective concerns,” said Mr McMahon.

A 17-YEAR-OLD boy has been sentenced to nine months in a young offenders institute after pleading guilty to burglary in Shannon last year.

At Ennis District Court last Wednesday, the boy also pleaded guilty to charges of the unauthorised taking of a vehicle and handling stolen property. The offences arose out of an incident in Ros Min, Shannon, last December. The court heard that the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has 55 previous convictions.

A Detective Gwarda told the court that the boy entered the house, taking a set of car keys, house keys and a quantity of cash. A car was also taken in the incident.

The court heard that the house was occupied at the time of the burglary. The boy gained access through the front door, which was closed but unsecured, the court heard.

The accused was subsequently arrested in Tipperary where he admitted his involvement to gardaí. The car was recovered undamaged.

Solicitor Eileen Whelan told the court that her client had entered an early guilty plea so as to spare civil- ian witnesses the “trauma” of re-living the burglary in court.

She said her client, who was accompanied in court by his parents, had “certainly been mixing with the wrong people”. Ms Whelan said her client intended finishing his Leaving Certificate and had enroled in a mechanics programme. “He’s having a real eye opener. He’s here to take his medicine”, she added.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy noted that the boy had “umpteen previous convictions”, adding, “He hasn’t got a good record”. Taking into the account the accused’s plea of guilty and other mitigating circumstances, Judge McCarthy imposed a ninemonth sentence for the burglary charge. A three-month concurrent sentence was imposed for the unauthorised taking of a vehicle.

DETAILS of the latest auction of distressed Irish properties by Britishbased firm Allsop Space have been announced, with just one Clare prop erty set to go under the hammer and another from Gort at the sale which will take place in the Shelbourne Hotel on March 1 next.

The Clare property is a farm 10km west of Ennis comprising of 48 acres and a derelict farmhouse and outbuildings, with a reserve price of € 120,000 place on the property. The property is being sold by Allsop Space on the instructions of the receiver, KPMG. There was an expectation that more Clare properties would be included in the 100-lot sale, following on last November’s auction when the lowest price nationally for any property was recorded in Ennis.

In that sale, one of four that was organised by Allsop in 2011 attracted an attendance of 1,600 and saw a site with planning permission for a retail unit and two apartments up until 2015 was sold for just € 11,000,

Meanwhile, a three-story derelict building on the Mill Road in Ennis that had full planning permission for a five-story hotel was sold for € 55,000. In the March 1 sale, a property from Gort will also go under the hammer – a mid-terrace town house situated in Market Square that has a reserve asking price of just € 90,000. The property that comprises of three stories and a basement and is 2,250 square feet in size, while it also comes with a 3,304 square feet site at the rear of the building, with the two properties being sold in one lot.

A KILRUSH-BORN garda is being hailed as a hero after a dramatic gun attack in the Newport area of Tipperary on Monday of last week.

Garda Gerry Brassil, who is stationed in the area, has been praised for his “quick-thinking” that one resident who witnessed the incident on the Thurles Road out of Newport said helped save the life of fellow garda, Sergeant Deborah Marsh.

Anthony McMahon was stopped on suspicion of drunk driving on Monday night at 7.30pm, with a source close to the investigation saying he was seen driving “in an erratic manner” moments earlier.

However, when Mr McMahon (44), originally from Janesboro in Limerick, was approached by Gda Brassil and Sgt Marsh, he fired a number of shots from one gun and then, after a struggle, turned another gun on himself and died.

“I saw the whole thing,” said local resident Shane O’Brien. “I could see the lady garda at the front of the car. I could hear another male voice – I presume the male garda – and he was saying: ‘Don’t go for the gun, don’t go for the gun’.”

Gda Brassil wrestled with McMahon for control of the shotgun while Sgt Marsh pepper-sprayed him, before racing to Mr O’Brien’s house to raise the alarm. “They wouldn’t be alive only for each other. They were brilliant in fairness,” said Mr O’Brien.

After the initial struggle as the two gardaí ran for cover, Mr McMahon is believed to have fired another four or five shots from a rifle, before turning the gun on himself.

An investigation into the incident is being led by officers from the Office of the Garda Ombudsman, while a local Limerick politician, Cllr John ‘Rocky’ McGrath, has said the immense courage of Sgt Marsh and Gda Gerry Brassil should be recognised.

“Definitely they should receive medals for bravery. What they did was unbelievable and thank God they weren’t injured,” he said

“Only for the grace of God and their heroic actions, we would be marching behind a hearse,” one garda told The Clare People .

CLARE could have its own university campus in the next five years if ambitious plans to create a Munster Technological University are given the green light by the Government.

The planned university would be made up of an amalgamation of the Limerick Institute of Technology, IT Tralee and the Cork institute and, with 25,000 students, would be the largest university in Munster. Be sides the main campuses in Limerick, Cork and Kerry, the university would have a presence in every Munster county except for Waterford – with Waterford IT already in amalgamations talks with Carlow IT.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny (FG) will meet with the presidents of all three institutes on February 22 and The Clare People understands that an official announcement on Munster Technological University will be made then.

Speaking to The Clare People yesterday, the President of IT Tralee, Dr Oliver Murphy, said that video conferencing and other new technologies could be used to build a Clare campus both quickly and cheaply.

“Video conferencing has become a very important resource for thirdlevel education.

“It is a great way of delivering lectures across a spread-out area and it is also very cost-effective,” said Dr Murphy.

“I would envisage a situation where we would begin delivering lectures to somewhere in Clare – in Ennis, let’s say – using video conferencing to begin with and then building it up from there.

“Once we have the technology in place, there is no reason why we can’t begin delivering lectures the other way around soon after, with someone based in Clare lecturing to students there as well as people taking part in these lectures in Limerick, Cork, Tipperary and Kerry.”

With 24,000 students and in excess of 2,000 staff members, it is envisioned that the Munster Technological University would be more effective in attracting both research funding and foreign, fee-paying stu- dents.

Involving all parts of Munster in the new university has been identified as a key part in its success.

“The Munster region quite naturally sticks together as a region and it also is a brand name that is clearly very strong,” said Maria Hinfelaar, president of LIT.

Former Mayor of Clare, Flan Garvey, has been the chairman of IT Tralee for the past 10 years and believes that this new project will provide exciting opportunities for the people of Clare.

“This just makes sense. If you have the numbers and you have university status then your chances of getting funding is greatly improved,” he said.

A MAN has received a three-year prison sentence for an incident in which a 10-month-old baby suffered “horrific injuries”.

At Clare Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Larry Connors (19) with an address at Cronan Lawn, Shannon, was convicted on a charge of child cruelty and neglect.

The charge arose out of an incident in the Shannon area in December (2010) during which a 10-month-old boy suffered a broken leg, arms, a dislocated right elbow, multiple bruising, marks and significant bleeding to the brain. The court heard that the mother found Connors in a room holding the child, who had blood on his face, on the night in question.

Garda David Laing told the court that the injuries included a bite mark to the face and injuries consistent with burning. In her victim impact statement, the child’s mother said, “He used to slap, punch, and throw my child around the place like a toy.” She said at the height of the abuse, Connors became “psychotic”, locking himself into the room with the baby and screaming at him.

She said her son is now “fine and running around” but will require further treatment for a dislocated elbow and a tear in his mouth. The court heard that the baby was brought to hospital last January following the incident.

The court heard that a doctor reported the injuries to Gardaí through a social worker. The incident gave rise to a Garda investigation. The court heard that Connors and the child’s mother moved in together in December (2010).

In a statement to Gardaí, the boy’s mother said that it was at this point that Connors became abusive to the baby. One day when the baby was crying, the court heard, Connors pushed him into his high chair with his foot and tightened the straps causing the child to be out of breath.

The court heard that the child was subsequently placed in care for six months. The baby is now back living with his mother.

Barrister Brian McInerney said his client came from an “extremely dysfunctional family”. He said he had received no education and his father was a very strict disciplinarian.

He said Connors was “ill prepared, ill trained and ill conditioned to the stresses that come with minding a small baby”. He said the accused was “deeply remorseful” for his actions.

Imposing a three-year sentence, Judge Carroll Moran acknowledged Connors’ guilty plea. He added that Connors would suffer additional opprobrium from other prisoners because of the nature of his crime.

Judge Moran said, “The injuries were pretty horrific on a defenceless baby.” Judge Moran imposed reporting restrictions.

A GROUP of students will present plans to make Ennis the age friendly capital of Ireland to members of the Government tomorrow.

It is anticipated that the Taoiseach Enda Kenny will be among the audience in Leinster House when transition year students from Colaiste Muire present a comprehensive report on positive ageing.

The research project has been undertaken by six students – Muireann O’Shea, Aoife Sheehan, Roisin Curran, Jenny Hansbury, Orla Bredin and Sarah O’Reilly.

They have proposed a number of safety measures to promote Ennis as an ‘Age Friendly Town’.

A survey conducted among elderly people about road safety found that 100 per cent would like to see new signs around Ennis to warn drivers about the elderly.

The research, which is ongoing, also found that 85 per cent of elderly people feel unsafe crossing the road in Ennis, while 85 per cent believe that Ennis does not have adequate signage to warn motorists to slow down.

The project identifies six “hotspots” where extra signs could be added in Ennis, cautioning motorists to be aware of elderly pedestrians

The students have now been invited to present in Leinster House on Wednesday, February 8, by Minister Kathleen Lynch, Minister of State at the Department of Health and the Department of Justice, Equality & Defence with special responsibility for Disability, Older People, Equality and Mental Health. Senator Mary White will also be in attendance as she has a special interest in this area.

Teacher Finola Howard explained, “Senator White has written a number of publications on ageing and ageism. She is also a patron of the All Ireland Inspirational Life Award, which is a celebration of older people who exemplify an active inspirational life. All Clare Oireachtas members will be in attendance for the presentation and it is hoped that the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, will be in a position to view their presentation. The students have also been invited to participate in a question and answer session with Sinead Shanon, Research Manager for Ageing Well Network on Wednesday afternoon.”

In addition the students are attending a launch in Dublin Castle by invitation on Thursday, February 9. President Michael D Higgins is launching the 2012 Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. Ms Pa- tricia Goan, Regional Programme Manager Age Friendly Counties at The Ageing Well Network facilitated this lauch at Dublin Castle.

Ms Howard added, “This is a huge honour for the students as they will be one of the youngest to attend the launch.” This initiative is part of the Young Social Innovators Programme. YSI is Ireland’s largest social awareness and active citizenship and education programme for 15- to 18-year-old teens. Colaiste Muire have been involved with YSI over the past six years achieving the overall prize in 2008, placed second in 2004 and were overall category winners in 2010.