Category: News

CLARE people living in America are being urged to return home and help fuel the local economy. The Western Development Commission (WDC) is hosting a conference in New York later this week where they are hoping to attract hundreds of ex-pats to return to the Banner.

The conference, which takes place this Friday and Saturday, is organised jointly by the WDC and FÁS Jobs Ireland and is aimed specifically at Clare people and people from the western region in general, who have immigrated to the US and may be thinking of a return.

“We are asking that people throughout Clare who have friends and families in the US, tell them about the event where we can inform them about the opportunities available,” said Gillian Buckley, CEO of the WDC.

“Many of those Irish living in the States may not realise that the West of Ireland has changed dramatically in recent years. Over 40,000 people have moved into the seven western county region over the past four years.”

One of the main aspects of the conference will be the American launch of the www. lookwest.ie which has had received more than 100,000 hits in the short time since its creation.

“LookWest can show them how much more towns like Ennis has to offer,” continued Ms Buckley.

The FÁS Jobs Ireland event will takes place on October 20 and 21 at the Affinia Manhattan Hotel in New York.

AS the last of the evacuated Crowe Street families returned to their homes over the weekend, life in Gort slowly began to approach something close to normal.

The majority of the 50 displaced households returned home on Wednesday evening but, due to an extended forensic examination, the six houses closest to number 67 Crowe Street were forced to wait until the weekend.

“Most of the people moved back AT this stage, we don’t know what lessons from Abbeylara, the Garda implemented in the closing stages of the Gort siege.

That’s because there was no independent verification of what caused members of the Garda’s Emergency Response Unit (ERU) to open fire on Anthony Burke. All we have is the Garda’s version of events. All we know for sure is that Mr Burke was shot in the chest and badly injured.

But while there is a dearth of hard facts, there are numerous questions.

One of the most significant of these is why the ERU’s less-than-lethal beanbag rounds apparently failed to incapacitate Mr Burke. into their houses during the week but I know one family who lived very close and only went back last night (Saturday),” said one Crowe Street resident.

“It was hard for them to go back – it was just outside of their wall that the man fell. It’s a big shock for all of us.

His wife and children were evacu ated over their back wall.”

The HSE’s Critical Incident Response team arrived in Gort on Thursday. They are continuing to offer counseling services to anyone Was it a technical glitch? If so, why were the ERU equipped with beanbags at-all? After all, the Patten Commission on policing in Northern Ireland found such “impact devices” to be “tremendously” unreliable.

Equally, was it to do with the ERU’s weapons training? According to Fine Gael’s Justice Spokesman, Jim O’ Keefe, the ERU has had to use Defence Forces’ firing ranges since the Garda’s “tactics town” in Templemore was demolished and the firing range in Dublin was closed down.

Was the decision to close these facilities taken at the highest levels of the force? If so, is it credible to expect the chief superintendent headeffected by the siege.

“It will be tough for the people living close by. The police were not going to do anything about the broken windows and doors, but they have decided to replace them, so it won’t be so much of a reminder,” continued the Crowe Street resident. “People are gob-smacked that this would happen with him. He was a very quiet fellow. He had a few drinks, maybe sometimes he had a few too many, but he was a lovely quite man. There were never any ing the internal enquiry to objectively criticise his own superiors, in a rigidly hierarchical organisation like the Garda?

Other questions surrounding the Gort siege derive out of what has been independently established about what happened at Abbeylara. The Barr Tribunal heard that when ERU members killed John Carthy, they were following their training and instructions to open fire on the central body mass or torso of the target. They did so in the belief that there was a clear danger to the lives of other gardaí – a clear requirement of Garda regulations in the use of firearms. rows or any police cars arriving up at the house.”

As the dust begins to settle, locals are now beginning to focus on how the siege was handled by gardaí and how the reputation of Gort will be affected by the media attention.

“People have been talking about Abbeylara and talking about Gort but you have to be in close proximity to it to really know what was going on. There was no other way of doing it. The police were very open and transparent and let us know what was hapMr Justice Barr subsequently found that the positioning of gardaí at wrong locations exacerbated any threat that existed to the life of gardaí.

At Gort, did scene commanders position their personnel in the safest feasible locations?

The Barr report also found, on the basis of evidence from international policing experts, that had the ERU been equipped with two specially trained firearms support dogs to attack John Carthy as he left his home, it was “likely” that he would be alive today.

These dogs, known as “non-compliant” dogs would be “of great value” in a future “Abbeylara type situpening every step of the way,” continued the resident. “We had a man here from The Sun offering money to anyone who had a photograph of him. We have had enough of that kind of scum.”

“This is not a small incident, it is very serious but this is a strong community and we will take it in our stride,” said Niamh Clune of GRACE.

Gort locals wishing to speak to a HSE councillor should contact 0949372882. ation”, the report concluded. So, how near is the ERU to receiving “noncompliant” dog support?

Finally, two of the ERU’s dark navy Isuzu Trooper jeeps drove at great speed along the Gort Road in Ennis, in the direction of Gort, at approximately 9.30 a.m. on the morning of the siege.

Were these jeeps carrying the first ERU teams to the scene? If so, were the people of Gort at greater risk in the ten hours it took the ERU to arrive?

And was the reported movement by gardaí, of journalists to a position well out of sight of the siege, at 9.50 a.m., linked to the ERU’s arrival?

CLARE County Council is to examine the costs associated with introducing a waste waiver scheme for old age pensioners and low income families in Clare.

A report on the cost of introducing such a scheme will be presented at the next meeting of Clare County Council as a compromise after calls had been made to put the issue to a vote.

In proposing the motion Councillor Joe Carey (FG) said Clare should adopt a scheme similar to one currently being operated by Limerick City Council estimated to cost €750,000.

“Pensioners have been forgotten about by Clare County Council since waste collection was privatised. The Old Age Pension allowance may have increased over the last number of years but costs such as bin collection are eating into the limited disposable income that OAP’s have.”

But councillors were warned there could be a significant cost in introducing a waiver system and this would also have major budgetary implications.

After Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) had labelled the Council’s response “a load of baloney”, County Manager Alec Flemming stated there was a strong case for not pursuing the waiver scheme.

“There is no reason we should do everything that Limerick does. If we do that then why don’t we supply electricity as well. I would look at this as a basic welfare issue. Limerick City Council found they couldn’t do it legally so they hired a contractor to do it. I haven’t a definite answer on the cost but it is thought to be close to €750,000 a year. My firm recommendation is that we do not do it”

There was support for the motion from Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF).

“I know several low-income families who are struggling with the cost of waste disposal and who are storing rubbish which will burned in bonfires. The Council’s litter wardens will then have to clean up the mess afterwards”

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) warned that the role of councillors was being eroded.

Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind) also supported the extension of the waiver scheme but advised the proposal be fully costed before any decisions are taken. The North Clare councillor also proposed that Clare County Council write to other local authorities requesting support for the introduction of a national waiver scheme.

Opposition to the scheme was voiced by Cllr Michael Kelly (FF).

‘It would be nice to think that we could get involved with everything but I don’t think it is possible in this instance for us to do it.”

THE suicide rate among women in Clare is almost 27 per cent higher than the national average, while male suicides are 8.4 per cent less.

However, according to the first annual report of the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) published this week, men in Clare are three times more likely to commit suicide than women.

Clare Psychiatrist Dr Moosajee Bhamjee told The Clare People that the majority of these men were young, a very different picture to two decades ago.

“Twenty years ago, it was older males that were committing suicide. Now it seems to have changed. The pattern suggests that females attempt suicide or self-harm and do it by softer means. Men are more drastic or severe.”

The figures support the outspoken psychiatrist’s analysis. According to the NOSP report, an average of 12.4 people take their own lives in this county every year. The earliest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that just two people of Clare residence died by their own hand in 1980. In 1985, this number had multiplied by more than five, bringing the total number of deaths to 11. In 2005, 15 people died from suicide in Clare.

Dr Bhamjee has attributed the rise in these tragic deaths to a number of social and community issues. He said that younger people are more likely to commit suicide at the weekends as alcohol and drugs reduce inhibitions.

He pointed to excessive alcohol, community and family changes, stress, bullying in the workplace and depression as some of the reasons behind the increase. He said that death by suicide also increased in spring and autumn as the change of seasons were internationally linked with depression.

“We need more counsellors and easy access to the counsellors. We need more psychologists if we are to provide a speedier service,” he said.

He said people should also go for help earlier.

“If the person has a social problem and it is solved or if the depression is treated, they don’t make another attempt.”

AFTER making the single biggest tax settlement in the history of the State, Clareman Dylan Creaven will this week be allowed to return to his €800,000 home in Ennis.

The Newmarket-on-Fergus businessman has managed to hold onto his Woodstock mansion, despite having to pay more than €26 million to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) in Ireland and the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) in Britain.

In addition to the cash settlement, Creaven (32), was also forced to sign over a villa in Marbella and four race horses, including last year’s Galway Hurdle winner Latino Magic. Indeed Latino Magic’s victory in the €79,000 McDonagh Handicap came while the horse was being leased from Garda control by trainer Robbie Osbourne.

An agreement was reached in the High Court to split all winnings received from the horses between trainer Osbourne and the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The other horses seized by the Garda were Moon at Midnight, Lafayette and La Mandrigola.

Along with the Ennis property, Creaven had also managed to hold on to property in the Knightsbridge District of London, worth in excess of €2 million and several million Euro in cash.

The former owner of Silicon Technologies in Shannon was acquitted of a £14 million VAT fraud by a London court last year. He has been the subject of a number of investigations on both sides of the Irish Sea in the last four years and spent more than a year Wandsworth Prison awaiting trial.

Creaven was initially accused of defrauding the British taxpayer to the tune of £162 million but was eventually charged and acquitted on charges relating to just £14 million.

He was accused of operating a ‘carousel’ scheme, by repeatedly charging VAT to high value customers but not declaring this to British revenue. This investigation was part of a much longer but failed £2 billion revenue investigation in Britain involving hundreds of business people.

It is believed that Creaven’s legal cost could run to as much as €6 million in total.

Both the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Assets Recovery Agency had sought a full prosecution of Creaven on a number of occasions but the record breaking deal was struck after successive attempts failed to bring a verdict.

A 62-YEAR-OLD Welsh national suspected of committing sex crimes in the UK was arrested in Lisdoonvarna last Wednesday evening, The Clare People can reveal.

Roger Michael Batt, who used the alias name ‘Gardener’, was arrested at a house in Ballycanoe, on foot of a European Extradition Warrant. He is accused of three counts of rape, four of sexual assault and three of arson, in Fulham.

The arrest was made as part of an operation involving gardaí based in the Extradition Section of Garda Headquarters, and local gardaí. Batt was arrested at 7pm and taken to Ennistymon Garda Station, before being brought to Dublin, where he appeared in court. The case was adjourned until today (Tuesday), when he will re-appear in the High Court.

A warrant had been issued at the Magistrate’s Court in York, on August 18 last.

According to Gardaí, Batt had been living in rented accommodation, with a woman from the UK.

“We do not know how long he had been living there. He had not come to Garda attention,” said a Garda source.

This is the second time in seven months that a man in his 60s, wanted on foot of a European Arrest Warrant, has been arrested in the Ennistymon Garda District.

Cedric Harry Ludlam (61), from Yorkshire in the UK, was arrested in Miltown Malbay on March 29 last. He was wanted for questioning in the UK for alleged rape and sexual offences, involving adults and children.

SHANNON Development has said that tenants who rent space from them can “conduct their business as they see fit” despite the involvement of two of its former client companies in separate multi-million Euro fraud probes in recent years.

Last week, Clare businessman Dylan Creaven, who ran his company from a Shannon Development subsidised unit in Ennis, paid over €26 million to the Criminal Assets Bureau and the British Asset’s Recovery Agency.

Another company, Smyth Aerospace Ltd, which was raided by gardaí and FBI agents in 2000, also operated its business from a unit owned by Shannon Development.

Shannon Development has declined to comment specifically on the activities of Creaven’s Silicon Technologies or Smyth Aerospace Ltd while they were tenants of the development agency and would only say: “If a client complies with the conditions of tenancy then we must observe their rights as tenants to conduct their business as they see fit.”

While Silicon Technologies Europe Ltd, operated sales offices in Europe, the US and in Asia, its headquarters were based at the Clare Business Centre at Francis Street in Ennis, where Creaven rented two units from Shannon Development.

Silicon Technologies did not however receive any grant funding from the development agency during that time.

Silicon Technologies’ reported turnover for the year 2000/2001 was €416 million in respect of its Irish operation.

Creaven was paying less than £80 a week for the units in Ennis where he employed six people.

Company founder Creaven was arrested on November 19 2002 following a joint British-Irish investigation codenamed “Operation Chipstick”.

Creaven faced two charges of conspiracy to defraud the public revenue of stg£14m.

He spent eleven and half months on remand at Wandsworth Prison but was acquitted on all charges against him in May 2005.

In October 2000, gardaí assisted the FBI when they raided a premises in Shannon also owned by Shannon Development, as part of an investigation into a multi million Euro aircraft parts fraud.

The US authorities had alleged that Joseph Patrick Smyth Jnr was the leader of a criminal enterprise.

The US authorities had sought his extradition from Ireland last year. However Smyth has since fled to France.

Smith’s sons, Joseph Patrick Smyth (III), aged 43, and Thomas Edward Smyth, 39, both of whom lived in Ennis for several years, have already been sentenced to five years probation each in a U.S. court for their part in the fraud.

A US-based company employed by Clare County Council to aid the search for funding for the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre has told the council that its fundraising expectations are unrealistic.

New York-based CWB Marketing Group submitted a report to council last May, as part of the drive to raise the shortfall of €3 million for the €31.5 million visitor centre.

Clare’s mayor, Councillor Flan Garvey (FF), and the centre’s Project Leader, Ger Dollard, are due to embark on a tour of US cities later this month in a bid to raise funds.

Mr Dollard confirmed yesterday that the council had not utilised CWB Marketing since last June.

The May status report by CWB to council released to The Clare People through the Freedom of Information Act, states, “While the need for financial support for the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre is great, expectations as to how this need can be met through fundraising in the US are currently not realistic.

“CWB is certain that support exists in the US for such a project but that the time, effort and methodology required have not been realistically assessed by the council.

“It is often the case that those who are close and very familiar with a project feel the reasons for supporting it should be obvious to all and that a simple declaration of the need will result in an avalanche of support.

“However, those who are not familiar with a project do need significant reasoning and explanation before they come round to financially supporting it.

“Moving forward, should the council continue to raise funds in the US, it is recommended that a more robust direct mail programme be used to reach out to a more basic donor . . .

“It is also recommended that more realistic expectations be set for the progress and timing of results, as it is only natural that it would take many more months, even years, for an appeal as new as this to start making any headway in this sophisticated market.”

Commenting on the report, Mr Dollard said, “I think the context is that the project can gain support but, in CWB’s view, our expectations in terms of timescale are not realistic.

“It was never the council’s intention to launch a wide-ranging fundraising drive for this project but rather offer parties who may wish to support such a project the opportunity of so doing.”

Asked if there is a ‘plan B’ if the fundraising initiative didn’t raise the anticipated amounts, Mr Dollard said, “As previously outlined, the council is working on a number of avenues – and will continue to do so – to address the funding issue.”

THE Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) has generated over €30 million in revenues from the 250,000 US troops that have passed through the airport in the first nine months of this year.

However, the figures for the third quarter of 2006 show that there has been a drop of 49 per cent in troops numbers on the corresponding period for 2005.

This follows the withdrawal of the main carrier of troops, World Airways at the end of June. The airline decided to transfer its operations to Leipzig, Germany.

The SAA yesterday confirmed that 250,220 have passed through Shannon to the end of September. Last year was a record one for Shannon, with 340,688 troops using the airport’s facilities.

It is estimated that the 250,220 troops have produced revenues of €30.8 million for the SAA this year.

However, figures for the third quarter of this year show that 41,146 troops used Shannon, compared to 81,371 troops for the corresponding period in 2005.

The figures show that 11,670 troops passed through Shannon in July; 16,770 in August and 12,706 in September.

Meanwhile, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) confirmed that it is to meet with unions in Limerick next Wednesday (11th oct) under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commissions (LRC) in a renewed bid to kick-start talks on the future of Shannon Airport.

THE Irish Tour Operators Association (ITOA) has warned Clare County Council that “budget-conscious ITOA members will have no choice but to remove the Cliffs of Moher from future itineraries”.

Last month, the council and the ITOA commenced talks on reaching a compromise on the council’s plans to charge €60 for large coaches using the attraction’s car-park next year.

The council published a compromise deal involving discounts of up to 35 per cent for coach operators that deliver over 3,000 visitors to the Cliffs each quarter and a sliding scale of discounts based on the volume of visitors each operator can deliver.

Correspondence released through the Freedom of Information Act shows that the ITOA was seeking a charge of €39 for coaches with 40 passengers or more and a sliding scale downwards with smaller coaches.

In a letter to the council’s Project Leader for the €31.5 million centre, Ger Dollard, ITOA President, Brian Murray has expressed the ITOA’s “deep disappointment” at the outcome.

”We have not been presented with any evidence to justify the level of charges and in the absence of transparency we have to assume that, in the longer term, Clare County Council intends to recover costs and make a profit on the site.

“If this is the intention, the ITOA does not accept that publicly-funded tourist facilities should be sold on this basis. We are also concerned about inevitable increases in the prices into the future and we have been given no assurances regarding this matter.”

Mr Dollard told The Clare People , “Clare County Council has engaged in a lengthy process of consultation and discussion with tour operators . . .

“The proposed charge structure has been revised on two occasions to address issues raised by tour operators. The second and final alteration to this structure represents a very fair and balanced approach to addressing the concerns of operators while at the same time funding the resources necessary to provide a first-class experience for all visitors to Cliffs of Moher.

”It is not Clare County Council’s intention to generate profit from operations at the site. All monies will go towards operating the attraction and further improving tourism infrastructure at the location.

“The council is disappointed that the Irish Tour Operators Association (ITOA) does not accept the very significant concessions on charges made by Clare County Council . . . ,” he said.