Category: News

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.

THE Health Service Executive in the mid west has denied that it has refused to replace “obsolete cardiac equipment”, but has confirmed that it has some defibrillators which cannot be upgraded to meet the recent changes to international resuscitation guidelines.

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in the mid west have claimed that defibrillators on board ambulances across the mid west are up to ten years old and are not in line with the recently introduced codes from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR).

“All these defibrillators need to be replaced because the software in the older machines cannot be upgraded to meet the new guidelines. As it is, if we are shocking a patient, we have to switch off the defibrillator in the middle of the treatment and start it up again. It is a disgrace,” one EMT has claimed.

We know that our colleagues in Cork, Dublin and the south east all have the most up to date defibrillators, but with the machines we have, we can’t provide optimal care to the patient,” another medic said.

Staff accept that the money is not available in the mid west but say it must be provided from somewhere.

“We accept that this is not the fault of our own service. The money is just not being provided to the ambulance service in the mid west. Money has to be made available from the department or somewhere, so that we can also have the proper equipment we require to adequately care for the public,” a technician said.

EMT’s claim they are operating machines which used to be serviced only once a year. Now though, because they are so old, equipment needs to be serviced four or five times annually.

The HSE (Mid-West) has confirmed, “The ambulance service has not informed staff that cardiac defibrillators would not be replaced. We currently have some equipment which unfortunately cannot be upgraded with new software to meet the recent changes to the ILCOR guidelines.

However, we have been advised by our suppliers that the current equipment can be configured to facilitate the two minute interval between defibrillations as recommended by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR).”

CLARE novelist, Edna O’Brien said this week that it was “hell” to write her controversial book centred on the triple murder by Brendan O’Donnell 12 years ago.

Ms O’Brien’s novel on the tragedy, ‘In the Forest’, was published four years ago. But promoting her new novel this week, the Tuamgraney native said that she didn’t write “’In the Forest’ to get into trouble or to offend”.

The 2002 novel centred on O’Donnell murdering Imelda Riney, her son, Liam and Fr Joe Walshe in 1994. The book was dedicated to their memories.

The east Clare woman – who first became engulfed in controversy with the publication of her first novel, ‘The Country Girls’ – said that ‘In The Forest’ “was a story as much about Ireland and Ireland’s psychology and pathology and secrecy and hypocrisy and tragedy and I could pick about seven more words, but they are not necessary, as well as about those four protagonists, Imelda Riney, little boy Liam, Fr Joe and Brendan O’Donnell”.

O’Brien said, “I was accused of badgering people and knocking on doors. I couldn’t knock on doors because I’ll tell you why. I had to go into the forest myself because the four people who died were dead.

“It was hell to write and the outbursts and the very unfair and vicious outbursts were do to with fear, the fear and the shame and the annoyance of unearthing something that people would rather leave a closed book, in fact not a book, a closed everything.”

She added, “What I felt was that ‘In The Forest’ was a forest near to where I come from and, as I said at that time, if the forest was in Leitrim, Armagh or in Kerry, I could not have written that story.”

Living in London for a number of years, Ms O’Brien said, “A little distance whets the obsession. I come to Ireland a lot. I am very lucky. I am a voluntary exile.

“I am not banished and I am made feel welcome and very lucky when I go home now and (meet) my nephew Michael Blake. Everyone is fine to me.”

Ms O’Brien said, in an RTÉ interview, that County Clare “is my landscape”.

She said, “It is so important to me. Hedgerows, gateways, sound of wind, sound of rain, cows, everything is as much character in my books as the characters themselves.”

HEALTH professionals and volunteers around Clare are busy preparing for a week of workshops, seminars and classes in aid of Mental Health Week.

The theme of the this year’s Mental Health Week according to Catriona Burke, a PR volunteer for the Kilrush Mental Health Association is mindfulness and the aim of the events being held around Clare is to promote the link between physical and mental health.

“Mindfulness is about teaching us how to pay attention to our experiences in life in the present moment. Whether we’re sitting in a car, struggling to meet some deadline, or facing some difficult challenge in our lives, mindfulness teaches us a way of being present to wherever we are and and to deal with it,” said Catriona.

Activities are taking place in venues around Limerick City, Tipperary and Clare where some high profile people are giving classes, seminars and workshops.

In Ennis, a series of laughter workshop and laughter yoga parties will be held at the Templegate Hotel from Monday, October 9.

Elsewhere in the county, a walk has been organised in the Burren with Dr Pat Wallace; a music workshop will be run by Archie Simpson and the Lismorahaun Singers at the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon and in Lisdoonvarna, an evening of poetry and reflection will take place at The Spa Wells.

In Kilrush, a series of workshops are being held throughout the week in Kilrush Library and an exhibition of art by local artists and people who have benefited from the services of Kilrush Mental Health Association will be on display at the library from October 9 to 13.

“The week has been designed to allow people to experience the wonder of mindfulness for themselves in a gentle and non-threatening way. We are trying to breakdown the barriers on what people think of mental health. Mental health is a wealth if we mind it,” she added.

We are constantly looking for volunteers to help us push forward the connection between the community and mental health. We will welcome anyone who would like to help the service.”

A PRIEST with strong Clare connections has been accused of stealing millions of dollars in offerings and gifts from a parish in the US.

Monsignor John Skehan (79) from Kilkenny – who owns a cottage near the Cliffs of Moher – is one of two Catholic priests in Florida, accused of stealing $8.6 million (€7 million) from parishioners over a 42-year period.

It is alleged that Fr Skehan, along with Fr Francis Guinan from Offaly, spent the money on luxuries, including holiday homes, travel and gambling.

The alleged irregularities first became apparent when Fr Guinan took over from his friend in 2003 and the church conducted a routine audit.

Two years later, a parishioner wrote an anonymous letter to the district attorney, urging him to get involved in the case.

Fr Skehan was arrested last Wednesday night as he flew into Palm Beach airport, from Ireland. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of his longtime friend, Fr Guinan.

Police carrying out the investigation say the two men acted as “professional money launderers” who took money from the collection plate and set up a network of slush-fund bank accounts to which only they had access.

They say that Fr Skehan used laundered money to buy a cottage close to the Cliffs of Moher, along with a pub in his native Kilkenny.

The allegations have shocked Fr Skehan’s parishioners, where he has been highly regarded.