Category: News

THE 19-year-old Limerick man who was shot to death last Wednesday night, at Blackwater near Ardnacrusha, was facing a Circuit Court trial in Ennis later this year after he allegedly stole €10,000 worth of property from houses in the county in 2005.

Aidan Kelly of College Avenue, Moyross in Limerick, died in hospital soon after he was discovered lying in a laneway with several gunshot wounds to his body. Gardaí have confirmed that he was known to them but that he would not have been considered to be a “serious criminal.”

While the dead man had several previous convictions, it is thought that they were mainly for road traffic offences.

He appeared at Tulla District Court on Thursday, May 4, just six days before his death, where he faced two charges of burglary. However, after hearing evidence in the case, Judge Joseph Mangan refused jurisdiction in the matter and ruled that the case should be dealt with in the Circuit Court.

Property including building equipment, tools and jewellery amounting to €10,000 were stolen during burglaries at two houses in the Tulla area of east Clare in August 2005.

The accused was arrested at his home in Limerick some weeks later and was taken to Killaloe garda station for questioning. Some of that property was later recovered.

Kelly was released on bail and had been due to appear again at Tulla District Court in July 6, for service of the book of evidence.

STUDENTS who don’t mind getting down and dirty will be able to clean up this summer, with 700 temporary jobs on offer. Tipperary-based Ryan’s Cleaning Event Specialists, one of Ireland’s largest cleaning company’s are set to employ a staggering 700 temporary staff, mostly students during for the peak season from May to October.

Ryan’s hold the waste management responsibility for Ireland’s largest events, including music festivals and concerts, sporting events, exhibitions and private functions. The Oxegen Festival, Galway Races, Slane Castle and Electric Picnic are on their clean-up list this summer.

With the rise in concern for waste management in Ireland bringing business rolling in, Ryan’s Cleaning Event Specialists have also secured events in the UK, including the V Festival.

MD, Pat Ryan, said, “The summer period is our peak season. We expect to exceed our previous year’s employment levels this year. Our work suits students in Clare as it coincides with their college break.”

Ryan’s are responsible for the maintenance of each particular venue before, during and after each event.

Call 0504 51083 or email ryanscleanup@eircom.net for further information.

INTRODUCING safety and health education into schools could make the single biggest difference to keeping the next generation safe at work.

That’s according to Minister for Labour Affairs, Tony Killeen, who yesterday presented three Clare schools with awards for their work on the subject.

And the Health and Safety Authority has commissioned the National Council for Curriculum Assessment to look at ways of introducing risk education into the classroom right through from primary school to postprimary.

The project involved teaching students key safety concepts, risk assessment, work experience and preparation for the world of work, manual handling and ergonomics and understanding chemical safety.

Minister Killeen presented certificates to post-Junior Cert students and teachers in 15 post-primary schools, across counties Clare, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon for their participation in the training and roll-out of a safety and health module.

The three Clare schools taking part are Ennis Community College, Scoil Mhuire, Ennistymon and St.Josephs Secondary School, Tulla.

The minister said that there are more than 300,000 workers aged 15 to 24 in the Irish workforce, according to CSO figures and European research shows that young workers, between 18 and 24 are 50% more likely to have an accident at work than their older counterparts.

“We need to bring the safety message into every level of education so that it’s the first thing we think of no matter what activity we are about to undertake.

“Whether it’s driving a car, serving food in a restaurant or operating a machine – the principles are the same.

“If we have the skills to identify hazards, assess the risk and do something about it, then we’re significantly reducing our chances of having an accident,” Minister Kileen said.

Minister Killeen paid special tribute to all the students who took part in the pilot project, adding that he hoped it would be the first step to the introduction of safety education into classrooms across the country.

Chairman of the Authority, Jim Lyons said, the initiative “is about taking the workplace safety message to the younger generation so that we can begin to foster that all-important safety first-mindset.

“With up to 70% of post-primary students in part-time jobs, the need to equip young people with the right skills to keep themselves and their co-workers safe is more important than ever.”

A MAJOR search of the Cratloe Woods was carried out on Sunday evening, after an eight-year-old boy went missing while out walking with his family.

The boy, from Limerick city, was out walking with his mother and brother, when he became separated from them at around 6pm.

The alarm was immediately raised by the boy’s distraught mother and gardaí were called in from Shannon, Sixmilebridge and Ennis, while the Garda Dog Unit was deployed from Henry Street in Limerick.

The Shannon-based Irish Coastguard helicopter was brought to the scene and the searched continued for over two-and-a-half hours. There was huge relief when the boy went to a house some distance from where he disappeared, after he managed to make his way out of the woods.

The householder had seen the helicopter in the distance and telephoned gardaí. The boy was then reunited with his family, shortly before 9pm.

Dozens of local people assisted in the search, along with 20 gardai from the various stations.

Shannon gardaí co-ordinated the operation. Sergeant Dermot O’Connor said everyone was relieved it turned out to be a success.

“Thankfully it was a success story and the boy was located uninjured. When we became aware that he had been separated from his family, we immediately commenced a search of the woods. We consulted with the last people who had seen the boy,” said Sgt O’Connor.

“We became concerned due to the terrain in the area and as darkness loomed, we deemed it necessary to call in the assistance of the Garda Dog Unit and the Air Support helicopter,” he added.

He paid tribute to the assistance provided by the Coastguard helicopter and the local people who offered assistance in the search.

“The main thing was to get in the support services,” he said.

CLARE County Council has expressed “serious reservations” at plans to transform the Ballymaley Business Park in Ennis into a retail park.

Developers Galvin Construction, Ennis Industrial Properties and Gainsbridge Properties Ltd are seeking to change previously granted planning to three large retail warehouse units.

Instead, they want to develop seven large retail outlets, claiming they would generate some €20 million in retail revenues each year, on the back of a local market for “bulky goods”, estimated at €101 million. They also want to build two light industrial units on the 23 acre site.

The council has requested the developers to submit revised plans, stating it has “serious reservations”.

The reservations are based on the County Clare Retail Strategy, which identifies the Quin Road area as the only location close to the town centre with potential for a retail warehouse park.

“Furthermore, the loss of light industrial units having specific regard to the limited amount of industrial zoned land within Ennis town is of concern,” the council states.

There is also concern that the development “may result in a serious traffic hazard, as it represents a significant deviation from the existing use of the site and the traffic generated as a result of a development of this scale is substantial in terms of servicing these units and customers.”

The council emphasised the lack of pedestrian links into Ennis.

The developers must provide a pedestrian link between the proposed development, the nearby Tom Hogan Motors and the Ballymaley halting site.

The existing access road is described as “substandard” and unable to accommodate a development of this scale. In addition, the proposed junction arrangement has been deemed unacceptable, because of its impact on existing accesses onto the N18.

It would “adversely affect any access to the lands zoned for development on the opposite side of the road”.

The developers have been asked, when submitting their revised proposals, to significantly address concerned outlined, and to explain the various figures contained in its Retail Impact Statement submitted.

A decision is due on the application later this year.

ALMOST eight per cent of doctors practising in the West of Ireland are carrying the MRSA super bug, according to research released last week.

A study of 120 general practitioners in the HSE western region revealed that 7.7 per cent of those tested carried the MRSA in their nasal passages.

The research was carried out by the Department of Bacteriology at NUI Galway and the doctors from the GP training programme in the HSE western region and involved carrying out nasal swabs on each of the GP’s.

The results of the survey were described as “significant” by officials at the annual meeting of the Irish College of General Practitioners which took place in Galway last week. Many people, including healthcare professionals, can be carriers of the MRSA bug without showing any ill effects themselves.

The virus is normally only serious when it is transmitted through an immunocompromised procedure such as surgery. The authors said that their findings emphasise the need for high standards of infection control in primary care to prevent transmission of the bug from doctors to patients.

Meanwhile, the uptake of the Government’s new GP visit cards in Clare is significantly lower than the rest of the country, it was revealed last week. Only 710 of the new cards have been issued to date in Clare, Tipperary and Limerick, making it the lowest regional uptake in the country.

Only 12,860 of the cards have been issued nationally to date, which falls well below the Government’s target of 200,000.

The highest number of recipients were in the Cork and Kerry region where 2,633 cards have been issued. The cards allow for free GP visits for people on low incomes.

These low figures are despite attempts by Health Minister Mary Harney to relax eligibility guidelines last October.

A KILMIHIL publican who sexually assaulted a woman in her twenties in the toilets of his pub has been jailed for two years.

John Carey (52), a separated father-of-four, of Church Street, Kilmihil, was found guilty by a jury at the end of a two-day trial, at Ennis Circuit Court last week. He had denied two charges of sexual assault, one in March or April, 2001, and the other in May of that year.

The injured party said she went into the bathroom of the pub at around 1am. The accused entered the toilet, put his hand down her top and started feeling her breasts.

She returned to the pub in May 2001 to attend a birthday party. Asked why she went back there after what had happened previously, she said, “I didn’t think he would do it a second time.”

On that occasion she said he followed her into the toilet again, and “started feeling” her.

She said the accused threatened her not to open her mouth. However defence Counsel Micheál Ó Sé said, “This is the first we have heard of that.”

Mr Ó Sé asked the jury why the woman would return to the pub, if something had happened on the first occasion. He said there were “severe gaps and significant inconsistencies” to the allegations.

Sergeant John Ryan told the court the accused was a well-known publican in Kilmihil for a number of years.

He said he no longer runs the pub – which is now closed – and worked as a machine driver on the Ennis bypass.

The court heard details of the victim impact statement. It stated that the victim had spoken about committing suicide and had lost confidence in herself, as a result of Carey’s actions.

She said that Carey was a “powerful man” in his area and she was afraid, while the incidents made her feel sick and would always remain with her.

She said she felt that the accused was “laughing and sniggering” at her, while she gave evidence in the trial. Mr Ó Sé responded by saying, “That is not the impression I had from him.”

The barrister said his client would be known as “a drinking man” who was a “very good customer of his own premises.”

Judge Con Murphy said the accused was “very invasive to this lady.”

He said the offences were committed in the ladies toilets, which was a sanctum for ladies.

“This man was a man of substance in Kilmihil, looking after his children, but now his life and reputation are effectively ruined,” he said.

He jailed him for two years and placed Carey on the sex offenders register for five years.

THE number of pupils at Clare’s newest Steiner school is expected to double next September.

The founding teacher at Mol an Óige school in Ennistymon, Una Ní Ghairbhith, made the prediction on the basis of expressions of interest to date.

However, the school continues to await Department of Education recognition, its application having failed due to a “technical hitch” last month.

The school is to re-apply later this year, in time for the 2007-08 academic year.

“Currently, we have 13 on the roll and already have confirmation for a further eight for September, and based on expressions of interest, we should have double the number of pupils in the school for next September,” said Ms Ní Ghairbhith.

Two full-time and one part-time teachers are to be employed next term in response to the demand.

To date, the pupils have been educated by one full-time teacher and one-part time teacher, while others have also contributed.

The school is to hold talks tonight and next Tuesday on “Education for the Whole Child”, with Nell Smyth and Johnathan Angus as speakers.

Ms Ní Ghairbhith said that Steiner education revolved around the “head, heart and hand” of the pupil.

“One of the most rewarding things is that the pupils are so alive to the art of learning,” she said.

“We would never say that this is the way to educate your child. It is another way and people can come along and find out what we are doing here.”

Ms Ni Ghairbhith said that the teacher-pupil ratio at the school “offers a very individualised education”.

She added that it would have been a bonus to secure departmental recognition this year.

“It is disappointing that we failed because of a technical hitch, but there is great belief here in what we are doing.”

With no recognition, continuing fundraising and parents contributions are to fund the school.

Ms Ní Ghairbhith said that parents contributed €35 per week per child, and there was a scale of payments thereafter.

For two pupils it costs €45 per week and for three, it costs €50.

“The school supplies everything such as books, pens and music instruments,” she said.

There are talks tonight and next Tuesday on Steiner education at 7.30pm at the Ennistymon library.

For further information, contact 065 6836939.

THE relatives of three members of Clare County Council could profit from rezonings proposed by the Council in the South-East Clare Economic Corridor Plan.

At its May meeting, the council adopted the proposed rezonings in the absence of Councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind), Cllr John Crowe (FG) and Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) as the proposals affected lands owned by their relations.

Two of the rezonings that may benefit relations of Cllr McCarthy and Cllr Crowe relate to plans by the council to rezone lands at Sixmilebridge to facilitate the re-opening of the railway station and to provide zoning for car-parking associated with the railway.

The third rezoning related to lands at Ballymurtagh that belong to Cllr Pat McMahon’s first cousin’s son.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy explained that her father lives in the Station House that forms part of the rezoning.

She said, “I have followed everything to the letter and ensured that I was not present for any of the discussions on the rezoning.”

Cllr McMahon said, “I have been consistent on this issue right along. I left the council chamber last Monday when the issue came up for discussion and at four or five local meetings attended by councillors and planners, I made it known consistently all along of the family interest in the land and absented myself from the discussions.”

Cllr Crowe said that he absented himself from the meeting to ensure that “everything was above board”.

The rezonings proposed by the council are part of a large raft of rezonings in Bunratty, Newmarket-onFergus, Shannon and Sixmilebridge.

In relation to Shannon, the council is proposing a series of rezonings at Smithstown, Ballymurtagh and Ballycasey at Shannon, while in Newmarket, the Council is proposing the extend the town boundaries in a southerly direction.

The plan also provides for rezonings at Parteen, Clonlara and Blackwater. It further allows for the extension of Shannon town centre to the north, with the council recognising that certain areas can be developed without adversely affecting the provision of the rail-link.

The draft variation also confirms that a masterplan for residential development at Ballycasey has been drafted by Murray O’Laoire architects. The amendments to the plan are to be shortly published to allow the public make submissions.

THE Central Criminal Court in Tralee heard how 35-year-old Joe Greaney, a native of Limerick, implied he would “get” Ennis man Fergal Landy, after an incident in a bar a week before Mr Landy was knifed through the heart.

Greaney of Cahernane Meadows, Killarney, denies the charge of murder but has admitted the manslaughter of his best friend and former colleague between January 24 and 25 at Cahernane Meadows, Killarney.

The court previously heard evidence from Landy’s partner of how she had tried to pull his killer off him while holding their baby in her arms. Rachel Doyle told the court that Landy “looked at me and said, ‘Rachel, he has a knife. He’s after stabbing me.’” Those were his last words to her.

On the night of January 24, 2005, the two men met in the car park outside the apartment of the deceased wielding golf clubs, after the accused texted that he was going to Landy’s apartment. Greaney also carried a wide bladed kitchen knife which has been identified as the weapon which killed Landy.

Witness John Drummond, a chef at the Gleneagle Hotel and a friend of the accused joined Doyle, Landy and Greaney on the night of Sunday, January 16 at the Whitegates pub near the Cahernane Meadows housing estate where all four lived.

When Greaney went to the toilet, Drummond heard Doyle say to Landy “he’s texting me again”.

When he returned from the bathroom, Landy started shouting at Greaney “You’re a f***ing idiot when you’re drunk.”

Landy then punched the accused who fell over.

“Fergal was pointing at him, saying ‘I’ll f***ing kill you,” Drummond said.

On the walk back, Greaney was upset.

“I can’t remember exactly what he said. I’ll get Fergal, or he’ll be sorry for that, something like that,” Drummond told the court.

Evidence was given that Greaney stayed at the scene and tried to help the injured man. “I did it, I stabbed him, I am so sorry, I killed him. I am so sorry. He was my best friend,” he told Garda Brendan Cronin.

In a signed interview with Det Garda Pat Kelleher on January 25, he said he was drunk. He denied setting out to do Mr Landy harm, and only intended to frighten him.

The court also heard that Greaney was on medication for depression at the time of the incident.

The trial before a jury of seven men and five women, presided over by Justice Paul Carney, continues.