Category: News

A 27-YEAR-OLD man who assaulted another man in the corridor of Ennis courthouse has been jailed for six months.

Stephen Moloney, a father-of-one, with an address at John Paul Avenue, Ennis, assaulted Anthony Gallagher, on June 24 last year.

The court was told that Sgt Haran heard a commotion and a verbal altercation was taking place between the accused and Mr Gallagher, on the corridor of the courthouse.

The defendant told the court that Mr Gallagher had said something to him, but he could not remember what exactly, as it was a “long time ago.”

He told Judge Joseph Mangan that his doctor told him to cease drinking for life in January, due to a liver problem.

“I have to give it up, or just give up myself,” he said.

The court heard that Moloney had a number of previous convictions, most of which were drink-related. Asked by the judge was he happy with his behaviour over the past decade, the accused replied, “Not really, no.”

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client had a drink problem and had been told by doctors that if he continued drinking, he would die, as he had a liver problem.

“Drink has taken its toll, physically,” said the solicitor, adding, “If he doesn’t deal with it, he is endangering his life.”

She said he had not drank for more than a month.

“He won’t get the level of treatment necessary for him in prison for his drink or for his bowel problem,” said Ms Godfrey.

Judge Joseph Mangan replied, “He doesn’t seem to be getting it outside either.”

He imposed a four-month sentence for the assault charge and a two month sentence for a public order offence in Ennis on December 22 last.

Both sentences will run consecutively. Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

CLARE is to have a major new radio station, as competition opens for a new licence being offered by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI).

The new licence will allow a station to broadcast to Clare, Kerry, Limerick, north Tipperary and south-west Laois.

It is expected that media groups from Ireland and Britain will enter the race to get the valuable licence. Among the Irish groups expected to be in the competition is Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp, which owns a similar station in Dublin.

The new station will be aimed at the 15 to 34 year-old market and will have a ten year licence. The BCI are preparing for a searching review of applications which will look at proposals to air a mix of news, talk and music programming.

The Commission requires all licensed stations to broadcast at least two hours of news coverage each day. Applications will close on April 16 and the BCI may choose to hold oral hearings before awarding the lucrative licence. The number of independently owned radio stations on the Irish market has decreased in recent years, with big players such as Ulster Radio, Scottish Radio Holdings and EMAP entering the market.

WHEN your roots are firmly grounded on the Loop Head peninsula, water is never far from your mind and the next parish always means the Americas.

It can be said to be especially true where Paul Gleeson is concerned – a Limerickman who is the son of Loop Head woman Lourdes Keating, from Cross village.

Gleeson is now resting up after the mammoth journey and achievement in rowing across the Atlantic with his girlfriend Tori Holmes.

They battled through 2,550 nautical miles to get to the finish, arriving in the Caribbean island of Antigua last Thursday morning (11 am on Wednesday, Irish time), 86 days after they set off from the Canary Islands.

After reaching land for 13 position in the race, he told The Clare People “it is hard to put into words how happy the two of us are.

“Coming in this morning just after first light was so surreal. Both our families were there. We were looking forward to this for the best part of two months, it was so unbelievable when it happened. We are just smiling from ear to ear,” he added.

The couple, who met in Australia, had no rowing experience before deciding to take part in the mammoth expedition in aid of Concern. They hope to raise €25,000 for the Third World charity. Two years ago Gleeson cycled across Australia for charity.

This successful crossing gave 29-year-old Gleeson the distinction of being the youngest ever Irishman to cross the Atlantic. He is the first cousin of former Clare football captain Barry Keating, while his uncle Gabriel Keating is a former chairman of the Clare Football Board.

The boat they used was given to them by the Kavanagh brothers of Arklow, who also crossed the Atlantic successfully in it in a previous race. Among the highlights of the trip was being tracked by a Sperm whale, while the lowlights included a freak wave which knocked Tori off the boat.

The Atlantic Rowing Race was first staged in 1995 and first hit the headlines this year when Irish pair Ciarán Lewis and Gearóid Towey were dramatically rescued, when they hit trouble in a storm 1,400 miles from Antigua.

CLARE pharmacists have this week voiced their opposition to locating pharmacies in health centres, claiming it would reduce patient choice.

The pharmacists have also highlighted the potential risks to patient safety, if a doctor were to have a financial interest in a pharmacy and the traditional divide between doctor and pharmacist was not maintained.

It is current Government policy that there should be no business relationship of any kind between prescriber and dispenser. Pharmacists are calling on the Government to implement this policy, in the “interests of patient safety and patient choice”.

Responding to suggestions that this was merely the pharmacists looking out for their own interests, Shannon pharmacist Feidhlim Hillery, said that while pharmacy was a business, patients welfare was the first concern of pharmacists, as it was with doctors.

Dr Hillery said while pharmacies in health centres seemed to offer the patient a convenient one-stop shop, they were convenient for the small number of times that most patients needed to go to a pharmacy immediately after attending a doctor.

“However, what about all the other occasions when somebody needs to go to a pharmacy? People may only need the services of a doctor twice a year, but many need to go to a pharmacy every month to obtain repeat medication.

“The pharmacies that are located in health centres, are generally not as convenient for people as their local community pharmacy, as health centres tend to be located on the outskirts of towns. Many patients, particularly those who are most vulnerable in the community and those who are dependent on public transport, would be deprived of easy access to pharmacy services,” he said.

“If pharmacies are allowed to operate in these centres, it will enable one pharmacy to corner the market and will undermine the viability of other pharmacies in the neighbourhood, leading to closures. Ireland currently has a very wide network of pharmacies around the country, with many pharmacies operating late-night services, seven days a week.

“However, a reduction in the number of pharmacies in the community would mean reduced patient choice. We accept that doctors operate to the highest standards, however it is vital that patients can feel confident that there is no commercial relationship between a prescriber and a dispenser,” he added.

TOURISM and farming are declining in the Burren and what is now needed “is a radically new approach to strategic planning, management and decision making in the Burren region”.

That is the view of Wildlife Officer with the Heritage Council, Dr Liam Lysaght, who told an audience in Ennis last Wednesday that the Government needed to establish a National Park Authority for the Burren.

Dr Lysaght said that a new landscape-scale national park for the Burren should extend from Doolin and Cliffs of Moher on the north Clare coast up to Kinvara in Co Galway over to Gort and down to Corofin. Currently, only a small portion of the Burren, around the Mullaghmore area, is designated a national park.

Dr Lysaght said that the current National Park – covering an area of 1,500 hectares – was really a nature reserve masquerading as a national park and the new proposal would cover 270 sq km.

No progress has been made on the provision of visitor facilities for the existing National Park over the past five years, since the ill-fated Mullaghmore centre was demolished.

Dr Lysaght said the new large scale park had “huge marketing potential – national parks are recognised world wide as special places and such a brand is a distinct advantage”.

He said the existing National Park was “quite simply too small, by necessity it is inward looking, and has no possibility, nor was it ever really the intention to influence, in any strategic manner, the wider Burren area”.

Dr Lysaght – who worked in the Burren for seven years – said that there was a need to help the community in the Burren realise its expectations, because “despite the Burren being of world renown, here agriculture is in decline, tourism is in decline, recreational opportunities are not fully developed, and there are few if any initiatives to develop produce based on the special characteristics of the region”.

Dr Lysaght said that various reports on future strategy of the Burren had failed and were doomed to fail “because there is no adequate management structure that operates at the strategic level; none that plans and delivers strategic action.

“This is a serious problem for the Burren and one that is a major challenge to have established. A Burren National Park Authority could provide that strategic planning and management which the Burren craves for.”

PROVIDENCE Resources has released initial details of how the oil and gas fields located off Spanish Point and the Burren are to be developed.

Responding to a number of questions from The Clare People, the group said that the first step would be to send electronic charges through the earth crust from a specialist mechanism towed behind a ship at the site.

According to the company, these shocks would produce seismic data, which would in turn reveal whether further exploration was warranted.

Should the electronic charges reveal a good source of oil and gas, a drilling platform would be erected at sea.

The group, however, declined to give any indication on what impact the facility might have on shore in either Spanish Point or the Burren.

In a statement received by The Clare People a spokesperson said, “it is very early at this point and we are not in a position to talk about the economic or social impact of drilling at this stage.”

The fields, which are located some 200 km off the coast, came to public attention earlier this month when Providence and their junior partners Sosina Exploration, farmed out a large portion of the field to American giants ExxonMobil.

A CLARE county councillor has claimed this week that the county is safe from any extension from Limerick City.

Councillor Cathal Crowe said that following a brief meeting with the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche and the Taoiseach last week he got a strong indication that Limerick City’s proposed extension into Clare will not get the go ahead.

Instead Clare’s youngest councillor believes that Limerick County Council could provide adequate lands in their administrative area to the City Council.

This would not upset anybody’s THE work of members of Clare Civil mediate First Aid Course in 2005. defence was recognised at a ceremoMedals were presented to the memny at the Civil Defence Headquarbers of Clare Civil Defence who won ters, Clonroadmore Business Park, a record three in a row Munster Fire Ennis. The presentations were made Pump Drill Competitions from 2002by Ger Dollard, Director of Services 2004; the team who finished second with Clare County Council. Certifiat the National Finals and the Ladies cates were awarded to members who team who took top spot Munster and completed the Civil Defence Radio National Fire Pump Drill CompetiCourse in 2005/2006 and the Intertions in 2005. sense of county identity he claimed.

“Limerick City councillors need to understand that I am fully prepared to work with them on issues that affect the general mid-west area but I am not prepared to give a single inch of my native County Clare,” said the Fianna Fáil councillor.

“I think the Limerick City Council proposal for a boundary extension makes a farce of the Government’s National Spatial Strategy. The City Council’s proposal states that Limerick City is the urban hub of the MidWest Region. The proposal clearly negates the fact that Government policy has designated Limerick and Shannon as the ‘gateway’ to the MidWest Region.”

Showing Minister Roche a map of the south east Clare area the councillor outlined the various ways in which a boundary extension would negatively impact on local communities.

“I told the Minister that Clare County Council is currently providing a good service to my constituents. A commitment has already been given by Clare County Council to provide a full time Council area office and library facility in the Parteen/Westbury area. The Council has also adopted it’s Annual Roadwork’s Programme this week which provides €1,722,000 for local road surfacing and repairs in south east Clare,” he said.

SHANNON Development has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, John O’Donoghue TD, of up to €1 million to drive new strategic tourism marketing initiatives for Ireland’s Western Regions.

The Shannon region is one of the most important in tourism terms among those getting the new funding and will be benefiting along with Ireland West, and Ireland North West.

The overall Western Regions fund of up to €1.5 million for 2006 will be jointly funded by Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, the regional tourism authorities and their industry partners.

Welcoming the announcement, John King, Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Development said, “This fund will allow us to undertake a range of tourism initiatives during the coming year. We will again be teaming up with Ireland West Tourism and North West Tourism to promote the West of Ireland as a holiday destination during 2006.

“Up to €1.5 million will be spent on promotion and related activities in the UK, US and key European markets, with the objective of enticing more visitors to holiday in the West,” he said.

Speaking at the launch of the Super Regions Tourism Marketing Initiative, the Minister said that the value of cross-region co-operation spoke for itself, “both in regard to economies of scale and increased market penetration.

Shannon, Ireland West and the North West Region could be said to have ‘pioneered’ this concept last year, when they came together to undertake a Special Strategic Marketing Initiative.

“The exposure and impact achieved by these three regions through pooling their funds and other resources, far exceeded the sum of what they could have achieved individually.”

THERE is “no evidence” to support claims made in files handed to the gardaí and the DPP that prisoners bound for torture are being transported through Shannon airport, Minister Dermot Ahern has said.

But it has also emerged that under Irish law, Gardaí cannot search any foreign planes that have been given permission to land on Irish soil because the planes have immunity.

Sinn Fein justice spokesperson, Aengus Ó Snodaigh has handed what is described as a “book of evidence’ to gardaí concerning the alleged use of Shannon for rendition flights.

Two previous files which had been passed on to DPP showed that there “is a lack of sufficient evidence. The complaints related to a regurgitation of media reports,” the Minister told the Dail.

But according to gardaí, the Government would have to request the US to waive the immunity of flights landing at Shannon to allow gardaí search the flights. The US have not had any such request.

The only other way for Gardaí to get on board the planes, a spokesman said, would be with a search warrant issued on suspicion of a crime being committed.

Meanwhile an attempt to get an emergency debate in the Seanad on a combined Opposition motion to establish a select committee to investigate the rendition claims has failed by 28 votes to 18.

The motion, in the names of 25 members of the house, called for the establishment of a committee to consider the mechanisms whereby the State or its agencies could investigate, on foot of allegations or otherwise, whether persons were being transported, via aircraft landing at Irish airports, to locations where they risked torture or inhuman or degrading treatement and the extent to which such mechanisms had been invoked in the last four years.

And Fianna Fáil MEP, Eoin Ryan, who sits on the EU committee due to question European politicians on rendition flights said it is unlikely that Irish politicians will be quizzed.

It had been thought that the Ministers for Justice, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Transport would face questions fromt he committee, but MEP Ryan said that similar invitations would then have to be extended to most of their European counterparts and this would not be feasible.

A MEETING is being held in Killaloe tonight to allow residents objecting to the chosen route for the new bridge to explain their concerns.

The decision on where to site the new bridge was announced several weeks ago and since then, a large number of concerns have been raised by local people.

“We have written to everyone who will be directly affected within the impact area of this choice of route to ask them to come to the meeting,” said Ballina resident, John Young.

Young’s house is directly opposite the starting point for the bridge, on the Ballina side, at Roulagh Cross.

“If you think about the amount of heavy traffic which is going to now be coming through Killaloe, it’s not an exaggeration to say that we could be looking at the destruction of 1,000 years of history.”

He stressed that those objecting were “not objecting to a bridge being built – we are very pro having a new bridge. But the location is the wrong one.”

The objectors believe that no consideration has been given to the rate at which the town is expanding and to the amount of extra traffic that the bridge will generate.

The meeting is being held at 7.30pm at Tara’s Bar in Ballina and all are welcome.