Category: News

THE Garda file into the death of a man outside a pub in Kildysart three months ago has been completed and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Vincent Hehir (32), a father of five, was attacked as he socialised in the village of Kildysart on Sunday night, September 6. He sustained serious injuries.

He remained critically ill in hospital, where his family remained by his bedside. He lost his battle for life three days later.

Gardai say they believe he was subjected to a number of blows, before falling to the ground and hitting the back of his head in the impact. They say they understand he was kicked a number of times to the body, whilst on the ground.

A major garda investigation was launched and more than 100 statements have been made, by people who were in Kildysart on the night Mr Hehir sustained his injuries.

Three local men, aged 21, 23 and 33, were later arrested and questioned at Kilrush Garda Station, before being released without charge.

A post mortem examination was carried out on Mr Hehir’s remains at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, which showed that he died as a result of head injuries. At the request of one of the men questioned in connection with the death, an independent autopsy was carried out by Belfast Pathologist Dr Carson.

The Clare People has now learned that the substantial file has now been completed and has just been sent to the DPP’s office for direction. The DPP will decide what charges, if any, are to be brought in the case. This direction is expected to be delivered to Kilrush gardaí within weeks. According to garda sources, a decision may not be made by the DPP until after Christmas.

Mr Hehir had grown up at Glencanane, Kildysart and moved to London some years ago, where he managed a bar in Ilford. He had been home visiting his family for the weekend when the incident occurred.

Meanwhile, the community of Kildysart is continuing to rally around the heartbroken Hehir family.

The local pastoral council have set up a benefit fund for Vincent’s wife Mairead and their five children, Katie (9), Sinead (7), Patricia (6), Molly (3) and baby Margaret, who was baptised in a private ceremony at Vincent’s bedside at Ennis General Hospital. The council hopes to give the money raised to the family in the run-up to Christmas.

SHANNON Town Centre operations company, SkyCourt is not opposed to the expansion of a local filling station and shop but is unable to give approval for the scale of the development envisaged.

SkyCourt Manager, Pat Kelly issued a statement on Monday evening in response to claims that the company had refused consent to local businessman Darragh O’Connor for the upgrading of the Texaco service station which he operates in the town centre. Mr O’Connor wants to renovate the service station and expand the 600 sq. ft shop into a 1,450 sq.ft. supermarket.

In his statement, Mr Kelly said that SkyCourt was not refusing consent to upgrade the premises but was restricted in granting permission for the scale of the supermarket proposed.

“SkyCourt generally welcomes the development of new units and the expansion of existing outlets at our Shopping Centre in Shannon. However we have a legal responsibility to act in accordance with our obligations to all tenants and in this instance we were obliged to refuse consent to one element only of the proposed re-development on this basis”, Mr Kelly explained.

“On January 14, 2004 and again on the January 30, 2004, the Manager of the Texaco Service Station was informed by letter that no development on foot of the planning permission they had received could take place until they received the necessary consent from SkyCourt under the terms of their lease.

“Any suggestion that Texaco were unaware or surprised by the requirement for consent is simply untrue.

“Indeed, SkyCourt is still waiting to receive up to date detailed plans of the works to be carried out”, Mr Kelly concluded.

GARDAÍ are investigating a weekend break-in to Doonbeg post office in which up to €40,000 was stolen.

The raid – the fourth post office robbery in the county over the past 12 months – is being linked to a break-in to a Carrigaholt business premises and the theft of a cattle trailer in Doonbeg, at various stages over the weekend.

Entry to the post office was gained via a back window and the thieves made away with the safe containing the cash. The incident occurred between Saturday evening and Monday morning.

An aluminium cattle trailer was taken from the Kilrush Road in Doonbeg, while equipment, including a trolley jack, angle grinder and sledge hammer, along with a small sum of cash, was taken from a business in Carrigaholt.

According to gardaí, the possibility that the equipment from the Carrigaholt business was used to lift the post office safe into the stolen trailer is being investigated.

“We are not ruling out the possibility that the three crimes might be linked. We are very anxious to locate the cattle trailer. It is a double axle trailer, with a white top, and has ‘Doonbeg Limousines’ written on top,” said a Garda source.

This was the fourth post office raid since November 2005, in a worrying trend which has concerned gardaí and postmasters across the county.

Some €37,000 was stolen from Broadford post office on November 8, 2005. The robbery is believed to have involved several “travelling criminals”.

A large safe, containing the cash, was stolen from the premises. It was later found in an old disused school near Flagmount. Gardaí believe a cattlebox stolen from a farmyard near Cutteen Cross, Tulla, may have been used to transport the safe. A post office in Clarina, Limerick, was also raided around the same time.

Whitegate post office was targeted on January 25 last, when a woman in her forties was tied up and locked in the bathroom of her home, adjacent to the post office.

Three intruders, wearing balaclavas and carrying a baseball bat, broke into her home before tying her up, at around 3.20am. She remained tied up until another family member arrived on the premises shortly after 8am.

The men fled with what gardaí are describing as “a very small sum” of cash, after they failed to gain entry to the safe.

Some €37,000 was stolen in a raid on Liscannor post office, on Thursday, August 10 last. A horse box that was used was later found in Kilaneena. No-one has been charged in relation to any of the robberies.

“All post office safes have time locks and it is important to use them,” said a Garda spokesman.

ADVERTISEMENTS are to be placed in the national media in Lithuania in an effort to contact the family of a man who was found dead at a house in Ennis 10 months ago.

Romuald Vyrvic (37) was found dead in the bedroom of his rented accommodation by his landlord on February 18 last. He was buried in Ennis six weeks later, after efforts to contact his family proved unsuccessful.

At Ennis Coroner’s Court last week, Mr Vyrvic’s landlord, Kevin Collins, said in a deposition that he went to the house at Linnane’s Terrace, Kilrush Road, Ennis, to collect rent.

The rent was not in the kitchen. He went to the door of the bedroom, pushed it in and saw Mr Vyrvic’s body. He was fully clothed.

It appeared as though he had been kneeling beside the bed and had fallen, he said.

He last saw his tenant on February 3, when he collected rent. He collected the rent on February 10, but did not see the tenant on that occasion.

The inquest was told Mr Vyrvic had been a porter at a hotel in Ennis and had lived alone at the rented accommodation for up to five months prior to his death.

Dr Peter Fawl carried out an autopsy on the body of the deceased at Limerick Regional Hospital on February 20. He said there were no external signs of injury. He said blood analysis showed an alcohol reading of 319mg per cent, which he said was very high, almost four times the limit.

Death, he said, was due to acute respiratory failure, in association with the level of alcohol in blood.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea said gardaí had made huge efforts to contact the family of the deceased, but to no avail. She extended sympathy to Mr Collins, “on what must have been shocking.”

Gardaí liaised with the Lithuanian Embassy and Interpol, in an effort to get in contact with his family, and their attempts will continue.

Superintendent Joe McKeown said, “We have made every effort (to contact the family). It is on the Interpol and Europol systems as an alert. The Lithuanian Embassy will place a notice in the national press in Lithuania so that the family hopefully can get in touch.”

Mr Vryvil was buried at Drumcliffe cemetery in Ennis in April, in a ceremony co-ordinated by Ennis gardaí, Clare County Council and the HSE.

AN ENNIS Community College student who was picked as part of an elite maths and science team has been sponsered on his trip after an appeal in The Clare People .

Victor Akujobi left this week to go first to Dublin and then to Brazil to represent Ireland in an international science competition.

One of seven children, Victor had travel and accommodation costs taken care of but needed a helping hand with the myriad of other costs involved in going as far as Brazil.

Fifteen-year-old Victor came second out of 150 hand-picked students who sat a series of tests in DCU last month, which challenged them in physics, chemistry and biology.

He qualified as one of a team of six who will head away this Thursday for the Damovo Junior Science Olympiad in San Paulo and stay there until December 12.

After The Clare People ran a piece about Victor’s trip last week, several sponsors stepped up to the mark.

The Community College sponsored their talented young student, as did the staff of ClareCare. Fitgerald McMahon auctioneers also came on board, as did family friends, Stanley and Blessing Njekwe.

Victor’s mother, Doris, said that the family were “delighted. People have been so good and we want to say a big thank you to them.”

Although shy to ask for any more good fortune after her son had been chosen to go, Doris admitted after a colleague contacted The Clare People that there were a lot of extra expenses.

“We are very proud of him and we hope that the team does well over there but it was a great achievement that he was chosen to go,” said Doris.

A YOUNG man who was killed when his car hit a wall in a west Clare village was not wearing a seat belt, an inquest has heard.

Stephen Corry (21) was killed when his black Honda Civic hit a wall in Kildysart, in the early hours of June 12 last. He was on his way to his home at Moyfadda, Labasheeda, when the single vehicle accident occurred.

Mr Corry’s girlfriend, Helen Nagle, in her deposition, recalled sitting out on the steps at the Square, Kildysart, in the early hours of the morning.

Stephen had dropped a friend home to Coolmeen and then came back. There was a bit of a sing-song going on. After about five minutes, Stephen said goodnight and he went home at 1.50am. Helen was to meet him the following day. However, it was not to be, as moments later she heard the sound of the brakes of her boyfriend’s car.

“All I heard was screeches of brakes. Then I heard a bang. A few minutes later, I saw Stevie lying on the ground,” she recalled.

Garda Michael Ryan, who attended the accident, said the accident happened on the western side of Kildysart Community Centre. Mr Corry was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dr Peter Fawl carried out an autopsy on the body of Mr Corry at Limerick Regional Hospital later on the day of the accident.

He said death was due to shock, secondary to multiple injuries, including a skull fracture, which was consistent with having been involved in a road traffic accident.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea said Mr Corry “wasn’t wearing a seatbelt at the time, which was unfortunate.” She suggested a verdict of accidental death and the jury agreed.

FEARS were expressed yesterday that Clare County Council could be facing massive compensation claims from developers, if a forthcoming study rules out development on commercial-zoned land on the fringes of Ennis.

According to the council, the flood management study, “will have a significant influence as regards what is appropriate and feasible from a development point of view of the lands in the vicinity of the Lower River Fergus”.

The council continues that the flood study’s “conclusions and recommendations may have implications for large areas of land on both sides of the River Fergus”.

The study is expected to be published in the early months of 2007 and, already, three planned multimillion euro developments on the southern fringes of Ennis have been put on hold – in part due to floodingrelated concerns.

In relation to plans by Michael Lynch Ltd to open up lands for development at Clonroadmore, the council, seeking additional information, states, “Whether or not the entire site would be available to facilitate such development is questionable, given that the flood management study which is presently ongoing has not yet reached its conclusions.”

Last year, a 48-acre site zoned commercial was purchased for over €18 million from Clarecastle man, JJ McCabe. Plans have been lodged for a retail park on the site at Skehanagh, Clarecastle. However, the council has put the plan on hold, requesting a flood risk assessment for the entire area.

The council has also put on hold a separate €50 million plan by Ennis businessmen, Sean Lyne and Noel Connellan, stating that the construction of a of a large development in an area that is susceptible to flooding is not in keeping with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. The council has requested a comprehensive flood risk assessment of the area.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said yesterday, “If the flooding study rules out development in areas zoned for development, the council could be facing massive compensation claims from developers.”

The council’s senior planner, Liam Conneally said, “The purpose of the study is to determine the most appropriate way to minimise the area required to facilitate flood storage requirements. The study will provide necessary supporting data with potential flood relief options, which should have the effect of maximising the extent of low-lying lands in the area which could be safely developed.”

AN INQUEST has heard that an elderly farmer died after he fell from his tractor in west Clare during the summer.

Peter ‘Peadar’ Moloney (81), of Tournavolla, Killimer, Kilrush, died in the accident on his farm, on July 18 last.

His son, Paul, recalled the morning in question. They were putting cows into a field, at Tonovoher, Knockerra, and his father went home – in his tractor – to get a sweeping brush.

Some time later, Paul saw the tractor running on a mound and wondered why his father had parked it there. He called him but his father did not answer.

“I called him. He didn’t answer. He was lying on the ground,” recalled his son.

A doctor later pronounced Mr Moloney dead.

Sergeant Deborah Marsh said she was called to the scene of Mr Moloney’s death at lunchtime on July 18. She said it appeared that Mr Moloney had fallen from his Massey Ferguson tractor and he had been found by his son.

She pointed out that he had sustained a cut to the side of the head.

A PSV inspector noted that the tractor was in a very poor condition, and was without brakes.

A health and safety inspector was notified but is not taking any further action, the inquest heard.

Dr Peter Fawl carried out an autopsy on the body of Mr Moloney. He said death was due to shock, secondary to multiple shock injuries, consistent with being involved in an accident with a tractor.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea suggested that a verdict of accidental death be returned and the jury returned this verdict. Ms O’Dea, Kilrush Superintendent Joe McKeown and the foreman of the jury extended sympathies with the family of Mr Moloney on their tragic loss.

ANNA Prior is the complete antithesis to the majority of our national politicians. She is young, female and softlyspoken with a list of ideologies, the strongest of which is republicanism and her hopes for a united Ireland.

The 22-year-old Ennis woman is hoping that her differences will make her an attractive candidate in the next General Election, as does Sinn Fein who announced the NUI Galway graduate as their candidate in Clare.

Born in England to republican-minded parents Ann and Brian, the family returned home to Ann’s home county when Anna was just nine.

The former student of history, politics and law explains that, while she was always interested in politics, she did not sign up for Sinn Fein until she was in college. Listing her heroes as Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, the young woman plans to do a masters in human rights but, for the short term, the general election is to become her life.

As former mayor of Belfast, Alex Maskey, pointed out, “she is engaged to her boyfriend but married to the party” – although, as a member of Sinn Fein himself, fiancé Immanuel is hardly going to mind.

A member of Sinn Fein’s leading Ard Comhairle body, Anna believes that she is ready for the challenge ahead.

She told The Clare People that the party is using a selection of platforms to bring its policies and ideas to Clare.

“This is a long-term project and, in reality, change does not come overnight and especially the change we are looking for – radical progressive change on the ground,” she added.

She outlined health, Shannon Airport and republicanism and human rights issues as some of the issues on which she will build her campaign.

Launching her campaign, Councillor Maskey MLA said the party was conscious of gender balance in the party.

Pointing to Clare’s republican history and Pearce Doherty’s showing in the European election, he was optimistic about the party’s future in the county.

“We have a challenge ahead in Clare, no doubt about that, but politics in this part of the island is evolving as much as anywhere else and we think that there is a clear place in Irish society in Clare as there is anywhere else for us to build an alternative to the more conservative politics of the past,” he said.

“Anna’s strength will be working at grass roots level. She’s a highly intelligent person with a lot of experience for one so young,” he added.

“SHE was lovely – innocent. My child got a death she never deserved and we will never be the same again.”

Those were the words of a mother in torment as she spoke of how the murder last year of her daughter, Ann Walsh, had demolished her world.

“This is something we can never forget, ever. It’s with us every minute of every day. I can never forget that knock on the door at 1.30am on August 24. There are still questions to be answered. When she went out that day, I thought she was coming home. Now I’ll never see her again.”

Ann Walsh senior was addressing a hushed gathering at the council offices in Drumbiggle, for a ceremony to commemorate the 125 women who had been murdered in the last ten years.

She didn’t need words to communicate how her life had been laid waste by the loss of her lovely daughter.

It was evident from her haunted look, her strained face and her eyes, full of pleading for some understanding of how such horror could be.

The family of another murder victim, Geraldine Kissane, were also on hand for the moving ceremony.

Clare Haven Service workers spelled out the figure with 125 candles, each one representing a life that had been cruelly snuffed out.

When the service was being planned, only 124 candles were needed. But by Tuesday, another light had to be added, after Baiba Saulite was gunned down on her own doorstep.

“Every year, we organise this ceremony and we go out to buy a number of candles” said Clare Haven founder, Madeline McAleer. “And every year, by the time the day comes round, we have to add more candles. “

The ceremony was organised as part of the 16 days of action against violence against women.

McAleer told the gathering that the services also acknowledged that men could be victims of domestic violence.

To the strains of Mozart’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ the names of the 125 women were read out.

The scroll of the dead brought heartbreak home as the names of Clare women, Lorraine O’Connor, Ann Walsh, Marguerite O’Dwyer and Geraldine Kissane were read out.

The later murder list was dotted with names of women who had come to these shores from other countries to build new lives. Instead, they found their deaths.

The inclusion of the names of foreign and non-nationals made it clear why women’s services in Clare had chosen to launch their new information leaflets, printed in nine different languages.

There are leaflets in English, Polish, French, Russian, Romanian, Lingala, Arabic, Slovak and Czech.

The information sheets are the work of the Clare Women’s Network, the Refugee Council and Ennis CDP. They were funded by the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform.

The leaflets are available from refugee services, social workers and are currently being distributed to outlets around Clare. And they all say the same thing. No matter what her nationality, if a woman is speaking the language of the beaten, bullied and terrorised, there is help at hand.

Clare Haven Services can be reached at their 24-hour emergency helpline at 065 6822435 or at their daytime office number, 065 6891764.