Category: News

CAMPAIGNERS are likely to seek an injunction preventing the ESB from pressing ahead with the construction of a controversial phone mast in Ennis.

The injunction was one course of action discussed at a public meeting held in the Eire Óg clubhouse last night. The meeting was organised by a group opposed to the siting of an 80 foot telecommunications mast at an ESB substation in Clonroadmore.

It now also seems likely that campaigners will have to compensate the ESB as a result of seeking a judicial review of An Bord Pleannala’s controversial decision to grant planning permission to the ESB.

According to campaigner Noel Mulhaire, the ESB had sought an agreement from residents that they would be compensated if the planning decision was found to be valid. The case is not expected to be heard before the High Court for another six months and the cost of pursuing the action is likely to cost residents upwards of €100,000

Last Wednesday the ESB served a seven day notice of its intention to commence construction work on the mast saying that concerns over the timescale of the legal action had forced them to move.

Speaking before last night’s meeting Mr Mulhaire said; “After what happened last week we’re going to up the ante”

THE dominance of Kilrush crime during the recent sittings of the Circuit Court in Clare does not reflect reality, according to a solicitor based in the town.

The overwhelming majority of cases heard over the past month dealt with crime in Kilrush and surrounding areas.

The trend, according to a senior Garda source, underlines the fact that west Clare is “the crime capital of the county.”

During the sittings, two young men were jailed for three years each for arson – one incident occurred near Kilkee and the other in Kilrush – another was jailed for four years for damaging cars in Kilrush. A young man was handed down a three-year sentence for dangerous driving causing the death of two Kilkee girls, at Carrigaholt.

Another man was given a suspended sentence for throwing a block through a neighbour’s home in Kilrush, as part of a dispute.

Two trials that took place during the Circuit Court sittings resulted in acquittals for Kilrush accused.

Superintendent Joe McKeown said the jail sentences handed down at the Circuit Court should remind people that crime will not be tolerated in Kilrush.

“I think it sends out a message to people that if they commit crime and are caught, they will be facing hefty sentences,” he said.

However, Kilrush-based solicitor Eugene O’Kelly pointed out that the trend during these Circuit Court sittings didn’t necessarily reflect reality.

“The recent court list included quite a number of cases from the Kilrush area that for one reason or other got backed up over a long period of time.

“The fact that the cases have come together is more coincidental than proof that Kilrush has a monopoly on anti-social behaviour.

“I accept there are problems, but we should not just look at the court statistics, but at the underlying factors of deprivation, unemployment and social exclusion,” said Mr O’Kelly.

“The gardaí, the social services and Éirí Corca Baiscinn are all working now in a very co-ordinated way to tackle these issues and that is positive.

“Great work has been done in the John Paul Estate in rejuvenating community spirit,” he said.

“I do think matters are improving. There is a decrease in the number of public order matters in the District Court,” he said.

ALTHOUGH the famous west Clare railway has been defunct for over 40 years, it is at the centre of Clare County Council’s refusal of planning permission for a holiday home development on the outskirts of Lahinch.

Two years ago, Tom O’Keeffe of Roslevan, Ennis lodged plans with the council to construct 20 holiday homes at Creg, Lahinch. This was later reduced to twelve.

However, the council has refused planning permission on three grounds , one of which is the number of the homes that would be built over the line of the west Clare railway. That would be in conflict with the North Clare Area Plan 2005.

The plan states that developments should only be allowed on or adjacent to the west Clare railway, which will not conflict with or restrict the recreational potential of the line.

However, developer, Tom O’Keeffe through his planning consultants, Corey Stevens and Associates has expressed incredulity at his plan being turned down due to the presence of the old west Clare railway line.

An appeal to An Bord Pleanala states: “It is hard to reason how this can occur as the railway line no longer exists from the bridge abutments at the subject into Lahinch.”

The appeal goes on: “ We also contend that it is meaningless to exclude the area of the railway line from the proposed development as the land cannot serve any other purpose.

Mr O’Keeffe has told the board that he is willing to forgo the development on one home that is located on the defunct railway line, if he is granted permission for the remainder of the development.

Folklorist and author of ‘Walking in the Tracks of the West Clare Railway’, Eddie Lenihan said: “A lot of damage has been done to the west Clare railway so why have anymore. It would be a disgrace to do so.

“I’m sure that ways will be found to overcome problems that seem insurmountable now in getting parts of the west Clare up and running again.

Mr Lenihan however expressed that the policy in the North Clare Area Plan to protect the west Clare has come too late. He said: “An awful lot of the line is gone already.”

The 27 mile line from Ennis to Miltown Malbay was closed in 1961, when it was making losses of £23,000 per annum.

A decision on the appeal is due next year.

THE need for multi-lingual warning signs and more information for the non-national community about the dangers of fishing off the west Clare coast was highlighted again this weekend following the tragic death of a young father off Doonbeg.

The 27-year-old Latvian man was swept into the sea by a large swell at Blue Pool, leaving his distraught wife and eight-year-old son to look on in terror.

The young family, who have lived in Athlone for two years, were fishing on the ledge when the tragedy occurred.

Clare County Council had destroyed an access route to the area more than 10 years ago, as up to nine people had lost their lives there during the previous two decades.

According to Manuel di Lucia of the Kilkee Marine Rescue Service none of those who died in the Blue Pool had been local, and all had been visitors to the area.

“Non-nationals and visitors to the area who plan to go fishing off the Loop Head peninsula or anywhere along the west Clare coast should seek local advice as to safety,” he said.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn said, “It is imperative that multi-lingual signs are urgently erected in areas dangerous for fishing.”

Sunday’s tragedy followed the drowning of father-of-four Piotr Bedzlowitz the previous week off Tullig near Cross.

The Kilkee Marine Rescue, Kilkee and Burren Sub-aqua Club, the Doolin and Kilkee Coastguards, the Civil Defence and the Garda underwater unit were completing the morning search for the 35-year-old’s body, when at 1.30 pm they were called to the scene of the Doonbeg tragedy. Just 15 minutes later the Kilkee Marine Rescue lifeboat under coxman Kieran Deloughry found the Latvian man’s body. His remains were brought to the Kilkee Marine Rescue Centre where local priest Fr Donagh O’Meara administered the last rites The man’s distraught wife then identified the body before it was removed to the Mid Western Regional Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, the Ennis Lions Club will fly the wife and brother of Tullig drowning victim Piotr Bedzlowitz to Ireland this week.The bereaved family are to visit the site where 35-year-old Piotr was swept into the sea, and meet with the local rescue groups that tried to recover the father of four. The club are also planning a fund raiser to help the two families that lost their loved ones.

MEMBERS of Clare County Council have expressed concern at the authority’s creation of a new job to accommodate a highly paid senior official returning early from a yearlong leave of absence.

In January of this year, County Manager, Alec Fleming signed an order allowing the council’s Director for Housing, David Timlin to take a year of unpaid leave, which is a frequent occurrence in local authorities.

However, the council has circulated councillors with a statement to state that Mr Timlin has now returned to the council and “has been assigned to a number of projects, cross-cutting in nature, which require special focus at a senior level over the next few months”.

Once he took the the year off, senior official, Josephine Cotter Coughlan was put in charge of housing. She will remain in place until early in the New Year when Mr Timlin will reassume responsibility for that area.

In the meantime, Mr Timlin’s responsibilities are to include “technical issues” relating to the council’s new €27 million HQ that is currently being constructed by Michael McNamara & Co. Mr Timlin will also be responsible for “the development and roll-out of risk management systems and processes as required by the council’s Insurers, IPBMI Ltd”.

However, senior council member, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said yesterday: “The council is supposed to have five Directors of Service. Does it now have six Directors arising from Mr Timlin coming back early?”

The salary scale for Directors of Service range from €84,465 to €99,823.

On Mr Timlin being employed to oversee “technical issues” in relation to the council HQ, Cllr McCarthy said: “If the council did not have the capacity to deal with these projects at the outset, they shouldn’t have taken them on.

“Why was this appointment made at the start of the new civic offices building, rather than in the middle of it. This is very unusual.”

“Is there provision for allowing employees return early from a yearlong leave of absence and if so, is this a one off or will everyone be catered for? I would be worried about the precedent that this appointment will set.”

Cllr Brian Meaney (Green) said: “I would be concerned that it appears that a job has been created for Mr Timlin before his year is up. Where will the funding for this come from and will it impact on other areas as the council is finding it difficult to even partly meet requests for funding?”

A DAILY service between Shannon and New York is being planned as part of a number of new routes announced this week by Aer Lingus.

The airline will be taking delivery of two new Airbus A330 long range jets next year and it is planning to expand capacity on existing routes to the US and the Middle East with the aircraft. From next summer, the airline’s long haul flights will number 120, an increase of 26.

The Dublin-New York service will operate twice daily and the DublinBoston route will increase from 11 flights per week to two per day with one non-stop service from Dublin and another from Dublin via Shannon.

The Dublin-Los Angeles service will also increase from five flights a week to a daily flight and the Dublin-Dubai service will increase from three flights per week to four.

Making the announcement, Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion said that taking delivery of the new aircraft would mark the first phase of the company’s long haul expansion plans.

He said it gave the airline “the opportunity to develop our presence in the US market and we look forward to a timely decision on the bilateral agreement, which will allow us to take full advantage of open skies.”

Meanwhile, Shannon-based charter, Eirjet, has failed to attract new investment as is to be wound up with multi-million euro debts.

In the last three weeks, management have been trying to get fresh finance for the company, which ran into difficulty earlier this year when an Indonesian leasing deal collapsed.

The deal would have been worth €20 million over three years to the airline. A liquidator is expected to be appointed early this week.

Eirjet was established in 2004 and operated charter services out of Shannon, Dublin, Belfast and Cork.

Their clients included Ryanair and Aer Lingus, but the main business was providing charter services for travel agencies such as Abbey Travel, Falcon, Stein Travel, JWT and Topflight.

The company contacted the Commission for Aviation Regulation in the middle of last month to say that it was unable to fulfil its obligations to the tour operators due to financial difficulties.

The company could not be contacted for comment. But their Website is advising that alternative travel arrangements have been put in place with all tour operators and customers should contact their travel agency for details.

THE Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport has confirmed that it is investigating an incident last Wednesday in which an Aer Arann flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon after a fire broke out in one of the plane’s two engines.

The ATR turboprop aircraft was travelling from Farranfore Airport in Kerry to Dublin with 37 passengers and crew when a warning light indicated a fire in the port side engine, forcing the captain to declare an emergency and seek permission to land at Shannon.

The plane touched down safely but was quickly escorted by a fleet of emergency vehicles off the main runway to a taxiway and evacuated. Passengers were taken by bus to the terminal building as fire crews and engineers inspected the aircraft.

Units of the fire brigade from Shannon Town were also mobilised as back up to the airport fire and rescue service, while two crews from Ennis stood by at Dromoland. Two ambulances from Ennis and Limerick were also deployed. Airport operations were not affected during the emergency.

An Aer Arann spokesman was unable to confirm whether there was a fire in the engine, as the airline was awaiting a report from their engineers who had carried out a detailed examination of the aircraft.

It is understood however that an internal automatic fire extinguisher was deployed and the fire was fully out by the time the plane landed.

Aer Arann said all passengers were transferred to Dublin by coach and the aircraft remained grounded as engineers continued their examination of the aircraft.

A spokesperson for the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport confirmed they were notified of the incident on Wednesday evening and initiated their own investigation.

This is the fifth official investigation by the AAIU of incidents involving Aer Arann aircraft in recent years.

THE Kilrush businessman charged with the murder of Limerick bouncer Brian Fitzgerald is to go to the Supreme Court, in an effort to obtain bail, The Clare People can reveal.

Anthony Kelly (49), of Cragg House, Kilrush, is accused of murdering Brian Fitzgerald, at his home in Corbally, on November 29, 2002.

Mr Kelly was arrested in Ennis on October 16 last and later charged with murder. He is currently in custody in Limerick prison, awaiting the preparation of the book of evidence and is due before Limerick District Court again in a fortnight.

His bail application before the High Court last Tuesday was refused, after strong objections from gardaí. Mr Kelly’s solicitor Eugene O’Kelly confirmed to The Clare People that his client would appeal this refusal to the Supreme Court.

He said allegations made in the High Court were without basis and were “wild.”

“The High Court relied unduly on unfounded hearsay allegations,” said Mr O’Kelly.

Gardaí expressed fears for the safety of two main witnesses, if Mr Kelly was granted bail.

“I believe there is a substantial and real risk witnesses will be murdered, even within the confines of prison,” Detective Sergeant Seamus Nolan told the High Court.

The court heard that gardaí believed Mr Kelly and an associate recruited James Martin Cahill (30) and another man to carry out the killing of Mr Fitzgerald. Cahill, who has strong west Clare connections, is serving life in jail for the murder of the security boss and has indicated he will give evidence against Mr Kelly.

Mr Kelly’s sister had offered to pay an independent surety of €75,000 for his release, but gardaí said they would not be satisfied with a surety of €75 million.

Det Sgt Nolan said he feared if Mr Kelly was granted bail, he would take steps to ensure Mr Cahill and another witness Philip Deane, would not give evidence against him.

He said Cahill was terrified he was going to be shot, because of what he had told gardaí and had a minimum of three prison officers with him at all times.

Det Sgt Nolan said Mr Kelly had substantial assets overseas and a car, worth more than €100,000.

He rejected suggestions from Anthony Sammon, SC, representing Kelly, that his client was involved in the furniture business.

‘‘I believe that Mr Kelly’s principal business is the importation of drugs into this jurisdiction, not the furniture business. That is merely a cover for his other businesses. He is regarded as being one of the main drug importers into this jurisdiction,’’ he said.

The court heard Mr Kelly has six previous convictions over a 24-year period, including two for larceny and one for living off immoral earnings.

Mr Justice Paul Butler said he was not entirely concerned about the risk of Mr Kelly fleeing, but he accepted there might be a risk to the lives of witnesses if he was granted bail.

AER Arann has defended its safety record following the fire alert at Shannon Airport last week involving one of its commuter planes.

The emergency is the latest in a series of incidents involving the airline in recent years, four of which resulted in probes by the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport. This latest incident is also being investigated by the AAIU.

In February 2001, an Aer Arann plane carrying thirty passengers and three crew careered off the runway at Sheffield Airport after one of its tyres burst on landing. No one was injured in that incident.

Aircraft operated by the regional airline were involved in two further incidents that year. In May 2001, while approaching Cork Airport, the crew of an Aer Arann plane experienced severe airframe vibrations after a large panel at the fuselage/wing joint became detached along its trailing edge. No one was injured in the incident.

The following December, two passengers and a crew member on board a flight from Dublin to Donegal were slightly injured when the plane experienced difficulties a short distance from the airport. Bad weather conditions and severe turbulence were blamed for the incident.

On July 17, 2003, An Aer Arann fight from Dublin to Sligo was forced to divert and make an emergency landing at Shannon and the plane, which was carrying thirty one passengers and a crew of three, touched down safely with one engine functioning.

In August 2003, another Aer Arann plane flying from London to Galway with 51 passengers and crew on board was forced to land at Shannon on one of its two engines. The findings of an Air Accident Investigation Unit concluded that the engine shut down because the fuel tank feeding it was empty.

The investigation established that a faulty fuel gauge gave trouble on all flights during the day and investigators expressed concern the problem was not recorded in the aircraft’s technical log. When previous flight crews were contacted, investigators found the fuel gauge problems could have been going on for more than five weeks without being recorded.

The investigation also noted that “the crew was faced with considerable operational pressures and a lack of resources, including the simple non-availability of a set of steps to check the drip-stick indicators. These circumstances contributed to inadequate fuel management.”

In December 2004, an Aer Arann plane left the runway and became embedded in soft ground at Galway Airport. There were no injuries or damage to the aircraft reported.

Defending the company’s safety record, Managing Director Garry Cullen said they were fully compliant with all regulatory requirements and standards set by the Irish Aviation Authority.

“We operate in one of the most highly regulated and safety conscious industries in the world. Safety is afforded the highest priority over any operational or commercial considerations in our company.”

“Aer Arann operates over 600 flights a week and has won numerous awards over the years. This recognition coupled with our millions of satisfied customers is testament to the professionalism and level of service that Aer Arann offers”, he said.

FINE Gael TD, Pat Breen yesterday failed to respond to a call from the primary victim of sex offender, Joseph Nugent to apologise for tabling a Dáil question inquiring into the possibility of the rapist’s early release.

Nugent, a 74 year old bachelor farmer, from Dromellihy, Cree, was jailed in 2002 for six years on each of 23 counts of buggery of his neighbour, then aged eight. The abuse continued until the boy was 14.

The victim, now aged 47, spoke publicly yesterday for the first time about the hurt caused by Deputy Breen’s tabling of the question.

“I really think Mr Breen should apologise if has any decency in him at all. Not alone to me and my family, but apologise to all the victims out there that have been hurt by this. It takes a man to apologise.”

Yesterday morning, Deputy Breen was emailed the text of the victim’s comments, but failed to return phone calls made during the day.

The victim confirmed that he was admitted to Ennis General Hospital as a result of the stress brought on by the publicity surrounding Deputy Breen tabling the question.

Now released from hospital care, he said: “This has set me back a year in my recovery. We’re reliving the attacks.”

Mr Nugent is due for release in February 2008. In response to Deputy Breen’s question when Nugent would be eligible for early release, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell said that in view of the very serious nature of the offences, he was not prepared to authorise any form of early release.

The victim last week phoned the offices of The Clare People to make public his views on the matter.

He said yesterday: “I just felt bad and hurtful about the things in the paper. I didn’t think it was a question he should have asked.

“I wouldn’t be that educated, but I know if I was asking when someone was coming out, I would have the common sense to ask the gardaí or the prison service, which I think would have been the right thing to do in that case.

He added: “I was very offended. I just can’t see why that question came forward in the first place. It would be completely up to the prison authorities or the Minister for Justice when he should come out. That is how I feel.

“He should have known more being a deputy. I think he should have been a lot cleverer being a deputy. God almighty, no one in their right mind would go and ask a question like that. I’m gobsmacked that he even attempted to ask it in the first place.

The man said that Deputy Breen tabling the question had left him, “very angry and very hurt”.

He said: “He shouldn’t have asked it. In the papers, it said that it was last week’s news, it might be last week’s news for them. It is not last week’s news for the victims. It is every day for the victim.

“I would like Deputy Breen to explain to me, to say anything at all. If he didn’t understand about placing the question, grand we’ll accept that. Say something that we can grasp onto and try to live another day.”

Imposing a sentence of six years in November 2002, Judge Brian McMahon said that Nugent had acted in a premeditated and predatory nature for his own self-gratification and beastly pleasure and that the abuse on a neighbour involved the use of physical violence by an adult on a young child.