Category: News

TWO Clare men, who killed 26year-old school teacher Brian Casey after an unprovoked attack on St Stephen’s night two years, ago are facing further time in prison following a successful appeal by the State.

Harry Dinan (31), of Waterpark Heights, Ennis, and his nephew Kevin Dinan (24), of Clarehill, Clarecastle, were jailed for five and four years respectively having pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Brian Casey on O’Connell Square, Ennis, on December 26, 2009.

Following an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday [Monday] determined that the sentences imposed by Judge Carroll Moran at Ennis Circuit Court 13 months ago were unduly lenient.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Liam McKechnie said that the appeal court wished to extend its deep sympathy to the family of Mr Casey, who was a “totally and utterly innocent” bystander attacked in a “cowardly and reprehensible” manner.

However, the three-judge court deferred imposing new sentences so as to allow each of the accused men time to collate evidence on their conduct in prison.

Ennis Circuit Court heard last year that Harry Dinan, who has 64 previous convictions, was on temporary release from prison at the time of the unlawful killing, while Kevin Dinan, who has 17 previous convictions, was on bail and awaiting sentence having pleaded guilty to a burglary charge.

Mr Casey was looking on at a scuffle with his hands in his pockets when he was caught off guard by a single severe “haymaker” punch inflicted by Harry Dinan at about midnight on St Stephen’s night on O’Connell Square.

The blow from Harry Dinan broke Mr Casey’s jaw in two places and the Lissycasey man hit the ground with the back of his head. He never regained consciousness and died two days later.

Mr Casey fractured his skull on impact with the ground and the court heard that Kevin Dinan then punched Mr Casey repeatedly to the face and head while he lay prostrate on the ground.

Counsel for the State, Deirdre Murphy SC, told the Court of Criminal Appeal that Judge Moran had erred in principle by placing excessive weight on the contention that the attack perpetrated by Harry Dinan was essentially a “one punch case”.

She said that this was not a classic “one punch case”, where a victim dies following some event after the infliction of a single punch or blow, but rather an unprovoked attack on an innocent bystander who was entirely unprotected.

Ms Murphy said that, having regard to concept of a one punch case, Judge Moran correctly identified an appropriate sentence of 10 years for each man, but then proceeded to err and effect a “double counting” exercise by further reducing the sentences imposed on account of this factor.

She said that Judge Moran also erred in law by failing to give his reasons for the differentiation in sentence imposed on each of the ac- cused.

Counsel for Harry Dinan, Isobel Kennedy SC, said that the case was indeed a classic manslaughter case involving one blow, as the medical evidence before the court was that Mr Casey was struck in the face, fell backwards, struck the back of his head and sustained a serious head injury.

She said that rather than beginning with a 10-year sentence, Judge Moran identified a sentence of seven years as an appropriate starting point and was perfectly entitled to reduce this down by a further two years having regard to additional mitigating factors in her client’s favour.

David Sutton SC, for Kevin Dinan, adopted Ms Kennedy’s submission and added that Judge Moran correctly identified his client’s lack of violent history and his youth as differentiating factors between the two accused men when imposing sentence.

Mr Justice McKechnie said the court found that the State’s assertion was correct and that Judge Moran must have considered the concept of a “one punch case” to be a “vital ingredient” when deciding that the appropriate starting point for sentence was 10 years.

He said that, having already considered this factor, it was therefore not permissible to further reduce the sentence from this point and to do so was an exercise of “double counting”.

THE REDUCTION in child benefit for the third and fourth child, allied to cuts in the cold weather allowance, will create huge problems for families in Clare.

Those measures, announced in yesterday’s budget, will spell trouble for those already under pressure, according to St Vincent de Paul in Clare.

Demand for support from the voluntary organisation has surged in the run-up to Christmas as families struggle to make ends meet.

The President of St Vincent de Paul in Clare, Cathal Oakes, said, “The reduction in the childrens’ allowance (child benefit) for the third and fourth child is going to hit families. We would be dealing with quite a few families where there are a number of children. It will put further pressure on them especially coming up to Christmas,” he said.

Mr Oakes said that cuts to the cold weather allowance will affect several elderly people across Clare.

“People who are on State benefit who don’t have specific outgoings are fine but there are a lot of elderly people with a lot of outgoings. They are dependent on small allowances,” said Mr Oakes.

“In rural parts the elderly rely on public transport like taxis. Any cuts will have a huge effect on them,” he added.

THE will left by acclaimed Clare poet and author John O’Donohue, that’s valued at over € 2m, has been declared void by the High Court because of a confusion over its “exact meaning”.

This judgment was handed down by Mr Justice Paul Gilligan on Thursday last after proceedings were taken by Mr O’Donohue’s mother, Josephine O’Donohue, seeking clarification of several issues arising from the will that was made in 2001.

The decision to declare the will void means that Mr O’Donohue’s entire € 2m estate passes to his mother, Josie O’Donohue.

In making this ruling, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan said the poet had “un- fortunately provided an illustration of exactly how a person should not make a will”.

Mr Justice Gilligan concluded he was “unable to decipher the exact meaning” of the will.

He said that while Mr O’Donohue was “a man of considerable learning”, the fact he did not benefit from legal advice or assistance was evident from the will. He said the will was deficient due to lack of clarity and said Mr O’Donohue had also unwittingly made “the classic error” of having two intended beneficiaries as witnesses.

Mr O’Donohue’s mother Josie and brother Patrick witnessed the will, but this meant they could not benefit from it as a witness to a will cannot be a beneficiary.

The judge said it was with regret that he concluded that the terms of the will rendered it void “for uncertainty”.

The former priest made a will in February 2001, just before leaving Ireland for a tour of Australia. That will was made without the benefit of legal advice and was later admitted to probate.

That one-page document was signed by him and witnessed by his mother Josephine and brother Peter but issues have arisen as to what was meant by its terms.

In the will, he stated he was leaving all his worldly possessions to his mother Josephine to be divided equally and fairly among his family with “special care and extra help” to be given to his sister Mary.

He also stipulated gifts of money were to be given to a number of oth- er persons.

O’Donohue’s best known work was Ana m Ca r a , published on the same day that Princess Diana died in 1997, it had 13 reprints within 12 months. His other published works include Eter na l Echoes , Divine Bea ut y , Echoes of Memor y , Cona ma r a Blues and Benedictus .

O’Donoghue, who lived in Connemara, died suddenly in January 2008 after collapsing while holidaying in France. He is survived by his mother Josie, brothers Patrick and Peter, sister Mary, two nieces and two nephews.

After his death, new president of Ireland, who was a close friend of Mr O’Donoghue called him “an inspirational figure”, who was “a person of immense courage who gave witness to truth”.

RURAL Clare jobs will be lost as a result of the € 30 million cut in the Disadvantaged Area Scheme announced in yesterday budget. That is according to O’Callaghan’s Mills farmer and Clare head of the ICMSA Martin McMahon, who said that yesterday’s announcement will dampen down any potential for growth in the sector.

The East Clare farmers also accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny (FG) and Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney (FG) of misleading Clare farmers at the recent ICMSA national congress in Limerick when they indicated that there would be few cuts in the agriculture sector.

All of Clare is classified as a disadvantaged area – meaning that every farmer in the county receives a payment each year to help with the cost of improving the land.

Payments under the Disadvantaged Area Scheme are usually spent on buying fertisiler or paying for the first cut of silage to be done – meaning that the vast majority of the money allocated is spent by farmers in the local economy.

“When we met with Enda Kenny at the ICMSA AGM they gave us the impression that agriculture, as one of the remaining growth areas in the economy, would not be hit very badly in this budget,” he said.

“These cuts are going to hit productivity and that means that jobs will be effected. A cut in productivity will inevitably mean a cut in exports. But it will also have knock-on effect for the local community as virtually every penny received under the Disadvantaged Area Payment goes back into the local economy.

“The Disadvantaged Area Scheme is the most important payment for farmers in Clare and in the west of Ireland. It is the first payment that is made and usually goes to cover the cost of fertiliser or having silage cut.

“I think the name of the scheme says it all – people receive this payment because they are already in a disadvantaged area. We should be trying to encourage farming in these areas not undermining it with cuts like this.”

The € 30 million cut in the Disadvantaged Area Scheme is part of a € 105 million cut in expenditure announced for the Department of Agriculture, Marine and Food. A further € 19 million will be cuts from the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) which will also effect many Clare farmers.

It is as yet unclear where the remaining € 56 million in cuts will be made.

ITS official – Christy Healy has been confirmed as a Guinness world record holder.

In October the Kilmaley man became the first person to successfully complete a 10km underwater dive. Christy completed the swim in Lough Derg in a time of 6 hours, 21 minutes.

All records and evidence from the mammoth undertaking were then turned over to Guinness for rigorous inspection. And Christy and his support team passed with flying colours. Christy was presented with his official certificate from Guinness at the Children of Courage awards for the Share a Dream foundation in Limerick last weekend.

Diving instructor Christy took on the challenge to raise money for the Share A Dream foundation. He was inspired to do after his family was affected by cancer.

In March 2010 Christy and wife Trish’s son Stephen, then aged 17, was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – a cancer of the lymphoid tissue.

Thankfully, after six months of chemotherapy and a kidney operation, Stephen has been given the all clear.

In total, Christy’s world recordbreaking dive raised € 14,500 for Share a Dream.

“We finally got it. There was a lot of toing and froing. But it’s in there now and we’ll find out if we’re going to make it into the book next year. It’s worth it. A lot of effort went into from a lot of different people,” said Christy last week.

While Christy was fairly certain his lung-busting efforts had secured him a place in the world famous publication, the timing of the official confirmation came as a bit of a surprise.

He explained, “I thought it would be this week or next week or the week after it. I was kind of surprised in Limerick but I knew we would get it. It was just a matter of getting all the information and documents into Guinness.”

Having witnessed the courage of children affected by serious illness and disability, Christy said he would be keen to undertake another recordbreaking effort to raise money for Share a Dream next year.

“What we did was handy when you compare it to what these young people and their parents go through,” he added.

A team in excess of 20 people including snorkelers, rescue divers, paramedics, navigators, observers and support personnel assisted Christy on the day of underwater dive.

CUTS IN education amount to “incredibly bad news” for rural schools, according to the INTO in Clare.

Arising out of yesterday’s budget, cuts in one, two, three and four teacher schools (primary) are likely as the pupil teacher ratio is to increase.

It means that schools with fewer than 20 pupils will struggle to survive, including Scropul; Boston; Tubber; Doonaha; Clonigulane, Kilmihil; Ballyvaughan; Baltard and Broadford.

Seán McMahon, who is the central executive representative for INTO in Clare, said, “It’s incredibly bad news for rural Ireland. The issue of the pupil teacher ratio is incredibly problematic for one, two, three and four-teacher schools but is not problematic for schools up the line.”

“Over the next number of years, I anticipate the closure of a large number of schools including in county Clare,” he said.

Currently schools with 49 pupils are entitled to three teachers. This is due to increase to 51; will rise further to 54 next year and 56 in two years’ time. It means that a school falling just under this number will lose a teacher.

“Effectively that will mean if a school doesn’t make the magic figure of 56 in three years, the school will be reduced to two teachers,” said Mr McMahon.

“In my opinion it would be hugely problematic for the cohesion of rural society. It will take from the fabric of rural society,” he said.

He said that schools with fewer than 20 pupils will be most “at risk over the next two years”.

Meanwhile, a Shannon teacher said last night that cuts to guidance services is worrying. The president of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), Bernie Ruane – who is a teacher at St Patrick’s Comprehensive School in Shannon – said, “Guidance will be part of the teaching team. One to one counselling sessions that guidance provided will be done away with.

“That will inevitably lead to job losses in Clare as schools will be over the quota and part-time teachers will be let go. Part-time teachers have no protection,” she said.

“Some schools might not be able to afford to dedicate any specific time to guidance.

“You really need to interview students individually to take their ability into account,” she added.

She said she was “quite pleased” that the pupil teacher ratio has not been changed for most schools. It is to increase for fee paying schools, but not for the remainder of secondlevel schools. It will decrease slightly from 19 to 18.25 in disadvantaged schools.

NEARLY 55 years to the day after Shannon first played host to refugees fleeing from Hungary, the airport was back in the international limelight on Sunday when a group of Libyans arrived for special medical treatment in Ireland.

The 14 casualties from the bitter civil war that finally brought an end to Muammar Gadafi’s regime arrived in the airport to a rousing welcome from over 80 members of the Libyan community in Ireland.

“These men are the freedom fighters who freed our country,” said the director of the Libyan Health Office in Ireland, Dr Amina Gsel, who is a Galway-based consultant.

“They are mostly young professionals, including doctors and engineers, and we are delighted we can do something for them. The Irish Government has been fantastic.

“I consider Libya and Ireland my countries and today is a very important day for Libyans in Ireland and the rest of Libyan society that we are doing this for our freedom fighters,” he added.

The Libyan Health Office in Ireland was set up in recent months to organise treatment and care for people in the wake of the civil war.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS in Clare believe they have discovered Ireland’s earliest surviving example of a timber framed house.

Dendrochronological analysis is expected to conclude that the timber structure at Chapel Lane, Parnell Street, Ennis, dates back to the late 16th century.

Ms Irene Clune’s house, known as McParland’s is long understood to have been the oldest inhabited house in the Clare County capital. The building’s triple diamond stone Jacobean chimney has been an icon of medieval Ennis for centuries.

The house was first inspected in 2008 by Clare County Council’s conservation officer, who recommended that the property undergo structural repair work. Following detailed technical analyses by the National Monuments Service, officials from Ennis Town Council and consulting conservation engineers, it was concluded that the structure was unstable and represented a danger to the general public.

Ennis Town Council, using its statutory powers to deal with dangerous buildings, commenced a € 170,000 project to make the building safe and to protect and restore the historic fabric of the structure. A grant of € 85,000 was procured under the Structures at Risk Scheme from the Department of the Environment towards the restoration project.

During October 2011, the gable and chimney were carefully recorded, taken down and stored. At present the historic gable is being re-built using the original stones bedded in an authentic hydraulic-lime mortar, the floor of the house having been archaeologically excavated prior to this.

In recent weeks, archaeologists have discovered an oak frame structure which they have described as “potentially one of the most exciting urban archaeological discoveries in Ireland in recent years”.

Frank Coyne, Consultant Archaeologist from Aegis Archaeology Ltd. explained that the limited archaeological excavation has revealed a wealth of information.

“The existence of a foundation cut in the interior of the house, indicates an earlier structure on the site, which is also borne out by the presence of large oak beams in the walls of the house. It is hugely significant that these beams are oak, which will enable us to use tree ring dating. If these prove to be of medieval date, which we believe is the case, then this means that this house is the only structure of its type in the country,” explained Mr Coyne.

Mayor of Ennis Councillor Michael Guilfoyle stated, “The works to McParland’s, when completed, will yield invaluable information on the traditional skills and construction techniques of Late Medieval Ennis. This work makes the building safe and protects a major piece of the history and character of Ennis.

Conservation officer Dick Cronin noted that the present discoveries at McParland’s further enhance Ennis’ status as the most intact medieval town in Ireland.

He continued, “Evidence appears to come to light regularly showing that the whole town centre from The Abbey, to the Old Ground, to Lower Parnell Street contains a large amount of Late Medieval masonry, most of which is hidden behind Georgian and Victorian facades.”

TRIBUTES have been paid to the late Stephen Kenny who passed away last week.

Mr Kenny (90), who lived in the Cornmarket area of the town, was from a well-known Ennis family. He worked for CIE for over 40 years. A keen sportsman, Mr Kenny was a member of Ennis Golf Club.

His funeral in Ennis last week heard that Mr Kenny loved his family, sport and local community. He also looked forward to games of cards with his family. Local councillors yesterday paid tribute to Mr Kenny’s life.

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) described Mr Kenny as a great native of Ennis. He said to lose people of Mr Kenny’s vintage is “very sad for any town”. Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) also offered his sympathy to the Kenny family.

MANY tributes have been paid to the father of Labour and trade union politics in Clare, Peadar McNamara, who passed away at home in Magowna, Inch, last Wednesday night after a long illness.

These tributes have been led by longtime friend and political ally, Cllr Patricia McCarthy, who described the former chairman of the Clare Council of Trade Unions and Ennis Hospital Development Committee as a man “with a burning passion for the causes he believed in”.

“I have known Peadar McNamara for a long number of years and he was a man who was very committed to whatever cause he was involved in,” said the former Mayor of Clare.

“He was a noted historian that will stand to the benefit of the county in the records that he has left behind. He was one of the most unselfish people in the giving of his time and his energy to whatever purpose people asked of him.

“He wasn’t just involved in any cause – he was involved in a cause if he believed in it. Once he believed in a cause it became a passion with him. As a man who was involved with Labour politics for a long number of years, he was delighted with Michael McNamara’s election to the Dáil this year, but he was really thrilled with Michael D Higgins’ elevation to the presidency. They would have soldiered together for a long number of years. His connections go back with Michael D go back a long long way,” Cllr McCarthy added.

At the monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Mary Howard described Mr McNamara as “a great friend of Ennis and great campaigner for hospital,” while Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said “Peadar was an inspirational figure and he wasn’t afraid to get stuck in and tackle social injustice.” Labour party TD Michael McNamara also hailed Mr McNamara’s contribution to his General Election campaign. “He encouraged me to run and I greatly appreciated his guidance during the campaign,” revealed Deputy McNamara. “The grace with which he faced his final illness was inspiring. The huge cross section of society – which included artists, clerics from both the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland communities, trade unionists and singers – who were present at his tribute evening at Cois na hAbhna a few weeks ago will never forget it. “He was a man with a broad range of interests, including music, painting and history. An unapologetic man of the left, he brought passion and commitment to his community and political activism, as we know from his staunch defence of Ennis hospital. He could also throw his considerable energies into disparate projects which included seeking recognition for long forgotten soldiers in World War I and the history of the McNamara clan,” added Deputy McNamara. Indeed, in the weeks prior to his death, an exhibition honoured Clare people who died in World War I was staged at Clare Museum. The exhibition was based on information compiled by local historian Peadar McNamara in 1988 from The Cla re Jour na l , The Cla re Cha mpion , The Sa turda y Recor d and personal communications. It opened on Remembrance Day, November 11 and closed on November 30, the day Mr McNamara died.