Category: News

A COUNTY Clare lawyer was one of the highest paid barristers in Ireland, under the criminal free legal aid scheme last year.

Mark Nicholas, who is a junior counsel practising in Clare and Limerick, earned € 267,006 under the scheme last year. He was the eighth highest paid out of more than 600 barristers on the scheme last year. His income under this scheme increased by almost € 40,000 on the previous year.

Several other barristers who practice in Clare also featured prominently on the list, published by the Department of Justice.

Brian McInerney was top of the list, with an income of € 413,860. Michael Collins earned more than € 135,000 under the scheme; Pat Whyms earned more than € 80,000; Senior Counsel David Sutton earned almost € 80,000; Lorcan Connolly, BL, received close to € 60,000; Senior Counsel Brendan Nix earned more than € 30,000, while Elaine Houlihan, BL, earned more than € 22,000.

More than € 20 million was paid to barristers nationally, under the criminal legal aid scheme, in 2010.

During the past few years, there have been calls for the scheme to be curbed. Among those calling for this has been Fine Gael Councillor Tony Mulcahy.

Mr Mulcahy, who is a candidate in the forthcoming general election, this week repeated his calls for a revamp of the system and said that repeat offenders should not receive unlimited free legal aid.

“There should be an attachment of earnings. If someone breaks a window, the cost of that should be taken into account. Make him pay for that. Whether he is working or not working, it should go through his PPS.

“There would be no need to impose fines any more. That way he won’t be breaking too many windows the following Saturday night. That would deal with 80 per cent of the middle of the road crime.

He said the current system is “ridiculous. The system trudges along”.

“If you are on your 75th criminal charge, you have to ask yourself, where do we stop this representation? It is incredible. You look at the repeat offenders. They are getting free legal aid and free legal aid and free legal aid. That has to stop,” he said.

He said that people should be given no more than a few chances before exhausting all of their options under the free legal aid scheme. “Three chances to avail of free legal aid and you are out,” he said.

THERE was celebrations in Liscannor over the weekend as Dennis Vaughan was crowned Irish Seafood Chef of the Year. Vaughan, who runs Vaughan’s Anchor Inn Bar and Seafood Restaurant in the village, was officially presented with the prestigious accolade by the Minister of State with responsibility for Fisheries, Sean Connick, last week.

“We are very happy to get the award. We have always aimed to produce the highest quality of seafood in the restaurant. It’s what we have always done, we were brought up on it with all the fishing so even from a very young age we have aimed to produce top quality seafood,” he told The Clare People yesterday.

“In the restaurant the focus was always primarily on fish. The total focus of the restaurant is on local fish and shell fish. We are one of the few restaurants in the country who proc ess all their own stuff – from crabs to prawns to fish – everything that we use comes in either on the bone or in the shell and we work with it from there. Everything is as it comes out of the sea.

“I think that the public do recognise a product. You could be in a restaurant beating yourself up and going down the road of putting cheaper products on the menu but I think you will lose the loyalty of people who come to you looking for that grade of product. It’s is about giving people what they want and not cutting any corners.

“We give it as good as we can give it, with a premium product that peo- ple seem to like and so far it is working out well for us.”

While a number of restaurants around the county have closed for the winter months or have installed limited opening hours, Vaughan’s Anchor Inn Bar and Seafood Restaurant has been able to remain open all year round, seven days a week.

Meanwhile, it was also being confirmed over the weekend that 13 Clare eateries have been named as part of the BIM Seafood Circle – with the majority of the chosen restaurants located in the north and west of the county.

There are currently 200 members of the Seafood Circle nationwide. It was set up to champion retail and hospitality outlets that offer the best quality seafood and service to customers.

THREE Clare solicitors, between them, earned more than € 400,000 in criminal legal aid last year.

Ennis-based solicitor Tara Godfrey was the highest earner in the county, with € 163,699. Kilrush-based solicitor Eugene O’Kelly received € 135,746, while Daragh Hassett earned € 110,128.

Ms Godfrey’s earnings leave her just outside the top 50 earners in the country under this scheme.

Although her earnings reduced from more than € 180,000 in 2009, she slipped just two places, from 52nd to 54th nationally.

Mr Hassett, who runs an office in Ennis, earned just € 4,000 less last year in criminal free legal aid than in the previous year.

However, Mr O’Kelly increased his earnings in free legal aid by more than € 30,000 last year and is now the 71st highest earner in the country under this particular scheme.

A number of other solicitors who practice in Clare also featured in the figures obtained by The Clare People. Anthony O’Malley, who is based in

Killaloe, received almost € 80,000; Shannon-based solicitor Jenny Fitzgibbon earned more than € 42,000; William Cahir received almost € 40,000, while John Casey earned in excess of € 35,000 in free legal aid in 2010.

A number of Limerick solicitors, who represent several Clare people also featured prominently in the list.

Ted McCarthy was number 16 on the list, with more than € 380,000; John Devane slipped from 16th on the 2009 list to 21st on last year’s list, but still earned more than € 280,000. John Herbert received more than € 270,000; Chris Lynch earned more than € 180,000, while Darach McCarthy earned more than € 120,000 under the scheme.

According to a statement from the Department of Justice:

“In relation to the 2010 lists of payments to individual solicitors, it should be noted that many solicitors are running practices with associated employment and overhead costs.”

Overall, more than € 33 million was paid out under the scheme, a decrease on € 37 million last year.

In the wake of last year’s figures being published, the then Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said he was “extremely concerned at the accelerated costs of criminal legal aid” and said that a Bill was being drafted with a view to carrying out a review of the scheme.

Several judges across the country have become more strict in dealing with applications for free legal aid.

The district judge in Clare, Joseph Mangan has, on several occasions, refused free legal aid if he is informed that a particular individual is not in jeopardy of going to prison.

In one case last year, the judge refused an application to grant free legal aid to cover a barrister for each of two brothers accused of violent disorder in Ennis and told the defence solicitor that his decision could be appealed in the circuit court.

At Ennis District Court last Friday, the judge refused an application for free legal aid after an applicant admitted he had not read the form he had signed, requesting that his legal fees be covered.

THE West County Hotel, which forms part of the Clare-based Lynch group, will remain under Lynch management, the group’s managing director has confirmed.

The Clare Inn Hotel became the second hotel in the Lynch Hotel group to enter receivership along with the Breaffy House in Castlebar on Friday. Around 150 people are employed at the Clare Inn and Breaffy House.

Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton was appointed receiver last Friday. Pat McCann, founder of Maldron Hotels has been appointed to oversee the management of the Clare Inn and Breaffy House. Michael B Lynch told The Clare People on Monday that “The West County will remain under Lynch management and its business as usual.”

Mr Lynch added that the recent weeks “had been very difficult time” for everyone associated with the business.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr McAteer confirmed that, “Michael McAteer was appointed receiver of the Clare Inn Hotel in County Clare and at Breaffy House Resort in Castlebar in County Mayo on Friday, 28 January, 2011.

“As the appointed receiver, it is Mr McAteer’s duty to realise the maximum value from the assets over which he is charged, and discharge any receipts in accordance with the priorities as set out in the Companies Acts.”

In a statement last week, Mr Lynch said he will work with the receivers and the banks to ensure that the jobs are protected and that the affected hotels remain open.

He said, “We had a duty to move to protect the 500 employees’ jobs in our seven properties and do right by their families in these harsh economic times. It is with great regret that we have had to make this decision but I am happy that in our discussions with the bank and receiver we have secured a position where the properties will remain open and continue to trade.”

Mr Lynch said the decision of Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to withdraw from this market “had a serious impact” on its “ability to source working capital over the winter months”. The Lynch Hotel group successfully emerged from examinership in 2009.

AS POLITICAL parties encourage people to exercise their democratic right to vote, one Shannon group is controversially calling on the electorate to do the opposite.

Led by former chairperson of Shannon Town Commissioners Peter Flannigan, a group of so called “former political activists” have urged the Clare electorate to abstain from voting in the upcoming 2011 General Election.

The group have now begun a shortterm campaign “to urge the electorate in Clare to show its total rejection of the economic mess created by an Irish ruling political elite” by not voting.

“The group had met because as individuals they held a view that each political party contesting the General Election in Clare has stated that it will be behind imposing financial hardship. This has been clearly demonstrated. As all the larger political parties have been prepared to support a Finance Bill of unbearable and unjust proportions with those parties who are seeking to offer an alternative to the present coalition, being prepared to withdraw their no confidence vote in the current Government, thus proving that they only seek power irrespective of the cost,” said Mr Flannigan.

“The former political activists who attended Sunday’s meeting feel there is a requirement to show real opposition in the county to the despicable political actions which have brought misery to people. The actions of those former TDs deserting the sink- ing Irish economic ship akin to rats, creaming their large severance handouts of tax payer’s money after creating a Universal Tax Levy on workers to pay for their unscrupulous pay off has to be challenged by way of protest,” he added.

The group, who has organised itself to encourage people not to vote, will not be entering a candidate in the election.

THE opening of the West County Inn Hotel over 40 years ago was the foundation stone of the Lynch Hotel Group that in recent years that became one of the flagship hotel chains around the country under the direction of Michael B Lynch.

The West County Inn was developed by Michael Lynch Snr and when officially opened in April 1968 by the then Minister for Labour and future President of Ireland, Dr Patrick Hillery, it was labelled “a very substantial addition to Clare tourism”.

And, while both the Clare Inn Hotel and Breaffy House Hotel went into receivership last Thursday, the West County still remains one of the industry leaders in the county and beyond, having been developed as one of the flagship hotel in the midwest region in terms of numbers of visitors over its 43-year history.

In 2009, the group, which employed over 500 in seven hotels in the west of Ireland, gained court protection from its creditors as it endeavoured to re-organise its finances. Judge Mary Finlay Geoghegan appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as interim examiner of Ireland’s largest family-run hotel group.

The judge made the appointment after being told that an independent accountant’s report showed that the group has a reasonable prospect of survival as a going concern. The examinership gave the company 100 days to reorganise its finances. The court heard that the group owed € 22.85m and was unable to pay its debts.

After being established in 1968 the group expanded further in Clare by and into Mayo, Limerick and Galway. In 2008, the group opened a luxurious family-friendly spa at the Breaffy House Hotel in Castlebar, while other hotels in the group included the George Boutique Hotel in Limerick City and Haydens Gateway Hotel in Ballinasloe.

The hotel group pulled out of Dublin a couple of years ago, selling the 270-bedroom Green Isle hotel at a € 10m loss for € 40m. It also sold the South Court Hotel in Limerick for an estimated € 15m and then leased the 127-bedroom building back.

Mr Lynch, remains a director but the company is now run by his son, Michael B Lynch, a former finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

“We are professional hoteliers with a fundamentally sound business and at this time are planning to restructure our financial position,” Michael B Lynch said in 2009.

“We are confident that our 40 years of experience in the hotel business, our customer and staff loyalty and recognised innovation practices will see the company through this process,” he added.

A NEW blueprint to revitalise Ireland’s tourism product has been hailed as the way forward for the industry in the county, the hotel industry in the county has told The Clare People this week.

The chairman of the Shannon branch of the Irish Hotel Federation, Michael Vaughan, has backed the broadband coalition that includes the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC), the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), IBEC, Chambers Ireland and the IFA to turn Irish tourism around over the next four years.

He made his comments on the back of the launch of a major report – Tourism Opportunity: driving economic renewal – that identifies the urgent action required to reverse the collapse in overseas demand over the past two years.

And, according to Vaughan the new plan also sets out how tourism can play a significant role in economic recovery as one of Ireland’s top indigenous industries. The report was prepared by Tourism and Transport Consult International and Jim Power Economics, working with a group of industry practitioners.

“This industry-led plan proposes a bold series of actions, which if followed, can by 2015 sustain 180,000 jobs and create over 20,000 new jobs whilst generating some € 6.2 billion revenue for the economy,” said Vaughan.

“But we must be bold and set targets that are well beyond the consensus growth rates forecast for tourism within Europe over the coming years. Like the rest of the country, Clare has experienced a dramatic decline in visitor numbers in recent years and there are few signs that market conditions will improve in the absence of radical intervention.

“By implementing the actions outlined today, tourism can play its role as a substantial driver of recovery in the local economy backed up by more creative and targeted marketing in our key markets such as Britain, Europe and North America,” Mr Vaughan added.

A LOCAL music education partnership has been established by Clare Vocational Education Committee to harness U2-aided funding.

This follows the announcement that a national body, Music Education Network, under the aegis of the Department of Education & Skills, will be administering funding for music education provided by U2. The programme, enabled by a € 5 million donation from U2, with a further € 2 million being raised by the Ireland Funds, gives children and young people across the country access to music education in their own communities.

The chief executive officer, George O’Callaghan, explains that the Clare committee set up the local network to involve a number of agencies including the committee itself which is already involved in supporting Maoin Cheoil an Chláir in Ennis through provision of co-operation hours.

The national music education net work is expected to shortly begin seeking applications to the new fund. They have to be made through the vocational education committee as lead agency and Maoin Cheoil an Chláir as the administrative and employment body for the purposes of the fund, he explained to committee members at their monthly meeting.

On the proposal of the chairman, Cllr Tommy Brennan, seconded by Cllr Pat McMahon, committee member Kathleen Tuohy, music teacher in Ennis Community College and Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, was elected a member of the local partnership.

Funding for up to 12 Music Education Partnerships will be awarded on a phased basis from 2011-2015, most likely in three locations at a time. Music Education Partnerships are eligible to apply for 50 per cent funding, up to a maximum of € 200,000 per annum over three years. The closing date for Round 1 applications is Thursday, March 31.

Music Generation will provide three-year seed funding to establish local services, which will be sustained by Music Education Partnerships on a long-term basis. The music education partnership model, developed by Music Network, has been successfully piloted in Donegal and Dublin.

ONE of the county’s best known policemen is to take up a new post in which he will move from one side of the county to the other.

Detective Garda Michael McDonagh is to leave Kilrush Garda Station next week and take up a post in the Immigration Unit at Shannon Garda Station.

The Miltown Malbay native has worked in west Clare for most of his career in An Garda Síochána, where he has been stationed since 1985. During the past 25 years, he has been involved in several serious investigations in Kilrush and the west Clare area.

Mr McDonagh is a well-known personality across the county, not least through his association with the GAA. He was the chairman of the Clare County Board between 2003 and 2007.

He is one of three gardaí to take up posts in immigration at Shannon airport. He will be joined by gardaí Adrian Mullowney and Barry Walsh. Mr Mullowney has been stationed in the district office at Killaloe Garda Station for a number of years, having previously worked in the Clare Divisional Traffic Corps. Mr Walsh has been based at Quin Garda Station for several years.

They will replace three members of the immigration unit who have recently retired – John Talty, Brian Brennan and Larry Donnellan.

The Immigration Unit is attached to Shannon Garda Station. Two de- tective sergeants and 12 detective gardaí operate the immigration unit, which ensures immigration laws are implemented. Gardaí attached to this unit have responsibility for checking visas and passports and ensure legislation is adhered to.

Inspector Tom Kennedy, who is in charge of policing in Shannon, said the immigration unit plays a key role in policing at the airport.

“It is a valuable unit. It assists with security at the airport in that it provides a back-up. Its members implements all the regulations and laws regarding people coming into the country in terms of visas and passports and the length of time they can stay,” he said.

WHILE flu activity in the mid-west has reportedly now peaked and is declining, all major local hospitals are maintaining a visiting ban until this year’s flu breakout subsides further.

The number of people presenting with flu-like-illness (ILI) to GPs has dropped to a rate of 110 per 100,000, down from 171.4 per 100,000 last week. The drop has occurred in all age groups except for those aged 5 to 14 years. This fall has also been seen in the number of flu related calls to GP out of hours on call services.

A spokesperson for the HSE reminded the public however that visiting restrictions remain in place at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle.

“Unfortunately some members of the public continue to visit the hospital and this puts the health and welfare of patients at risk,” she said.

Visitors are asked not to visit the hospital unless it is absolutely essential and visiting is restricted to critically ill patients only, one visitor per critically ill patient and confined to visiting times only.

Visitors who may be unwell or have flu like symptoms should not visit the hospital.

The elderly, children, pregnant women or young adults, those with chronic illnesses or vulnerable others are also advised not to visit

While attendance at the Accident and Emergency Department should only take place if absolutely necessary, outpatient, day care services and routine hospital admissions are not affected.

“We once again ask the public to cooperate fully with the hospital instruction, to protect the health of their family members and others and not visit the hospital,” the spokesperson said.

“All appropriate infection control measures are being taken to deal with this situation. These visiting restrictions will remain in place until the situation has been resolved.”

So far this season, 749 cases have been hospitalised with flu. Of these, 72 per cent have been due to the H1N1 (2009) influenza strain.

Over the past couple of weeks, the proportion of all hospitalised cases that have been due to influenza B has risen and now stands at 17 per cent.

The HSE explained that the rise in influenza B highlights the importance of getting seasonal vaccine for those in the at risk groups.

“It’s still not too late to get the vaccine from your GP.

“Although intensity is declining, influenza is still circulating in the community, and seasonal vaccination provides good protection against all types of flu,” the spokesperson said.