Category: News

MOBILE phone users in Clare have been warned to beware of unsolicited text messages, after a Clare woman was billed an extra €64 for a series of messages received over two months.

The woman claims she unwittingly signed up to the service by replying to an unsolicited text in November inviting her to enter a competition.

She then received a series of texts, which she deleted instantly. The woman was not aware however, that these “spam texts” were costing her €2 each.

An 02 spokesperson subsequently warned that at the bottom of some of these text messages was “small print” saying that by entering, one was agreeing to enter a text draw costing €2 a time.

The Data Protection Commissioner has already investigated a number of companies for making unsolicited texts.

Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen, has warned of the danger of “spam text” to mobiles, after hearing of this constituent’s experience.

“I would call on mobile phone users to be extremely vigilant when it comes to text messages offering prizes, or draws and to ensure they read the entire text. They should also make a complaint to the Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg) if they receive an unsolicited telemarketing call, or text message,” said the Clare TD.

A Kinvara based organisation could put forward a single-issue candidate in the 2007 General Election if their campaign to secure sewage treatment for the town is ignored.

The development follows a protest from the group, Cairde Cuain Cinn Mhara, last week, which saw a toilet being strapped to a raft and launched into Kinvara Bay.

Last week’s protest is the latest in a series of activities undertaken by the group since they first began to campaign for sewage treatment facilities in 1999. Indeed, the group threatened to put forward a candidate in the local election at the time, prompting Galway County Council to give them a guarantee that a system would be put in place.

However, according to Richard Broad of Cairde Cuain Cinn Mhara, plans for the facility have been passed between the Department of the Environment and Galway County Council for the last seven years, with little or no progress being made.

“Almost 70,000 gallons of waste goes directly into the bay each day,” said Mr Broad.

“This is just 75 yards from the harbour and it does not wash out to sea. When the weather is calm you can see faecal matter floating in the bay.”

Cairde Cuain Cinn Mhara have collected some 1,000 signatures from local residents, calling on Department and Council officials to press forward with the project. Officially, a scheme is earmarked to begin construction in 2007, but sections of the local community have serious doubts over this date.

“The feeling is that the political process has let us down,” continued Mr Broad. “It could be well into the next decade before it is built. Unless it is fast tracked, there is no chance of it being up and running before 2009.”

While the group has not yet decided what action to take next, a spokesperson would not rule out the possibility of staging another election bid.

THE west Clare businessman sentenced to three months in jail last year for failing to comply with a court order, has failed in his bid to secure retrospective planning for his oil and transportation business at Moyasta in west Clare.

Last September, at Kilrush District Court, Judge Joseph Mangan jailed Oliver Marrinan of Henry St., Kilrush over his failure to remove an authorised oil depot at Moyasta in west Clare.

Mr Marrinan is on bail pending his appeal and his solicitor, Michael Ryan, failed in an attempt to have the district court matter adjourned pending the outcome of Mr Marrinan’s appeal to An Bord Pleanala.

The appeal was in response to last August’s decision by Clare County Council, who refused Mr Marrinan’s application to retain his business on the main Kilkee-Kilrush Road on four counts.

However, the appeals board has refused Mr Marrinan’s appeal on three counts.

“It is the policy of the Clare County Development Plan to encourage the location of industrial and commercial development into established and designated settlements.

“It is also policy to safeguard the rural amenities of the county.

“Having regard to the location of the development proposed for retention and completion in an unserviced rural area, it is considered that the development by itself and the precedent it would create for other services facilities, would conflict with the Development Plan, contribute towards an erosion of the rural amenities of the area and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

The Board also refused planning permission with regard “to the nature of the development proposed for retention and completion, and its location in proximity to Poulnasherry Bay, which is the site of established shellfish harvesting activity and a designated area of nature conservation (National Heritage Area, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation).”

As a result, the appeals board ruled that the development “would be prejudicial to public health and would adversely affect the integrity of the said nature conservation designations and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

The appeals board also found that “the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and obstruction of road users.”

Mr Marrinan is due to appear at the Circuit Court next month in relation to his appeal. He declined to comment on the decision this week.

THE State has dropped its pursuit of seven members of the Burren Action Group for €35,000 in legal costs arising from the decade-long Mullaghmore conflict.

Last month, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office appointed a debt collection agency to pursue the seven, including author, John O’Donoghue, and NUIG academic, Prof Emer Colleran, for €34,427 in legal costs.

However, the Chief State Solicitor, David O’Hagan, has now written to the Group to state, “I have now been instructed not to pursue any further the balance of the State’s costs”. Mr O’Hagan gives no reason for the State’s climb-down.

After the appointment of the debtcollectors last month, the Action Group wrote to Mr O’Hagan, contesting the claim that they owed anything to the State, or its agents.

“We acted at all times in the public good and we were successful in our litigation campaign against the State’s plan to locate an Interpretative Centre at Mullaghmore.

“We also sought to minimise the costs to the State which, in spite of our efforts, amounted to €5.1 million of public money.”

The move by the State to pursue the seven also came under fire from the Action Group’s chief political opponent in the ten-year long battle over the proposed interpretative centre at Mullaghmore. Junior Minister, Tony Killeen, described the State’s action as “very unhelpful”.

One of the seven plaintiffs, author and broadcaster, PJ Curtis, expressed his delight that the “sword of financial persecution” had been lifted.

“We are all so delighted that five years after being proven right, we now have had the sword of financial persecution lifted from above our heads. The State should never have held this threat against us, but this is a great day.”

A spokesman for the Action Group this week welcomed the move by the state not to pursue the seven for the €35,000.

“Whilst perplexed that the state pursued us thus far, we, nevertheless, welcome the decision to put an end to the matter. It should give heart to those who pursue legitimate concerns through the courts in the public interest.”

Dean of the Faculty of Law at NUI Galway, Donncha O’Connell said, “The decision not to pursue the Burren Action Group for costs, however belated, is welcome.”

The other plaintiffs pursued include two Burren farmers, Patrick McCormack and James Howard, broadcaster, Lelia Doolin, and Fionnuala McNamara.

THE case of an Ennistymon man accused of murdering his 17-year-old sister is “one of the most complex clinical cases” ever encountered by the psychiatriast assessing the accused.

Dr Paul O’Connell made the comment at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, in relation to Patrick O’Dwyer (20), who is charged with murdering his sister Marguerite, at Shrohill, Ennistymon, on November 29, 2004.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said he was aware of the enormous trauma the case had caused, and therefore he had attempted to have it heard several times.

“Everytime we assembled in court in Ennis, your side is not prepared to go on with the case,” he told defence counsel Hugh Hartnett.

Dr O’Connell, a psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin, said he had first met the accused in December 2004, for the purpose of carrying out a forensic psychiatric examination on his mental state.

But he said he needed more time to receive the views of a number of additional experts, including one from England.

“In my professional career, it’s one of the most complex clinical cases I’ve had to deal with,” he said.

Dr O’Connell said he had sought the opinion of a consultant neurologist as well as a psychological assessment and brain scans. He hopes to have concluded his final report by June.

Mr Hartnett said the accused man’s family was anxious that he be given the appropriate psychiatric care.

Last week, at a Central Criminal Court sitting in Ennis, Mr Justice Paul Carney said he was frustrated in his efforts to bring an early hearing in the case.

He said it was his practice to give an early trial locally in cases in his court.

A date for the trial will be fixed in June.

IN THE end, all it took was one line.

A line that finally brought closure on something that dragged around the beautiful Burren and beyond for 15 years. Mullach Mór – that mountain of a controversy.

The line didn’t smack of defeat, but that’s what it was. The final admission from the State that the interpretative centre game was up. A game the State started, the game the State lost.

The game started the April 22, 1991 day that the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Vincent Brady, announced that the OPW was going to build a £2.6 million interpretative centre in the shadow of Mullaghmore mountain.

The State moved in the bulldozers – intent on building its centre of interpretative excellence without planning permission. The State was above the law in planning matters, so their rules said.

Game on. The State’s loose interpretation of the planning laws amounted to bulldozing on the rights of ordinary citizens. Citizens like James Howard, PJ Curtis, Emer Colleran, Lelia Doolan, Fionnuala McNamara, John O’Donoghue and Patrick McCormack of the Burren Action Group.

They risked everything – their homes, their livelihoods. Lose and the State would show no mercy. They didn’t lose because An Bord Pleanála finally ruled in 2000 that the Mullaghmore centre “would result in an unacceptable degradation of the physical environment of an area of outstanding beauty and that it would not be in accordance with the principles of published by the Government in 1997”.

Still, the State showed no mercy when it was revealed by The Clare People last month that its agents, Crosskerrys Solicitors, had moved to try and get €35,000 from the Mullaghmore Seven.

It had another storm brewing in the Burren – even Mullaghmore supporter, Minister Tony Killeen, voiced his opposition to the move. The State smelled some small revenge – it only left their nostrils with their climbdown on Friday.

The one line letter to the Burren Action Group told this story. “I wish to inform you that I have now been instructed not to pursue any further the balance of the State’s costs in this matter,” said Chief State Solicitor, David J O’Hagan.

Another victory for the Burren Action Group. The final one. The end of the terrible affair.

A MOTHER-OF-TWENTY allowed her dogs to roam as they wished, and one of them bit an employee of Ennis Town Council.

Ellen McDonagh (59), of John Paul Avenue, Ennis, was charged with breaching the Control of Dogs Act, arising out of an incident on May 24 last year.

Gda John McGovern told Ennis District Court that he went to John Paul Avenue, where an estate agent with Ennis Town Council had been bitten on the heel by a small brown dog.

He said the accused was the owner of the dog. This dog and another one were allowed to roam as they wished and were on the public road.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said the dog, Brownie, had since been sent to Tipperary and her client’s other two dogs were under control and had dog licences.

She said her client was very upset about the matter and felt the best thing to do was to send the dog away.

Gda McGovern said he agreed with what the solicitor had to say. He said while Ms McDonagh now had licences for the two other dogs, she did not have these licenses on the date in question.

Judge Joseph Mangan said the matter was too serious for the Probation Act.

He imposed a fine of €30.

ENNIS Chamber of Commerce has said that closed circuit security cameras may only arrive in Ennis in 2007, despite Government assurances that the town is on its priority list, for the roll out of the new equipment.

Ennis is included on a Department of Justice priority list, for the Garda CCTV programme. Six new areas have been added to that list, bringing to 17, the number of towns on it.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said last week that more than €5 million had been set aside to extend CCTV coverage to provincial urban centres, this year. He said the initial public procurement process would get underway shortly.

A spokesman for the department told The Clare People all 17 would be rolled out in an “outsourcing initiative”.

“What this means for Ennis is it will be delivered quicker than previously would have been the case.

“Hopefully a lot of this will be done this year or next year,” said the spokesman.

The CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce said CCTV should be installed sooner rather than later in Ennis, the tenth largest town in Ireland.

“They [Dept of Justice] say they are starting the process, but the process takes between seven and nine months. It looks like we won’t get it until 2007,” said Rita McInerney.

“The process would want to start immediately in order for us to have it by next Christmas, given the length of time it takes,” she added.

The process will include the establishment of a committee between Ennis gardai, Ennis Town Council and the Chamber of Commerce.

“It is a very complicated process. If the committee is set up immediately, I would see no problem us working with the gardai and the Town Council. The organisations in the town are ready for it,” added Ms McInerney.

The Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Frankie Neylon, has said the CCTV issue has been on the backburner for far too long, having been put back four times.

“We were told we were third or fourth on the 2006 to 2008 priority list. If they have now added on other places, they have probably put them in front of Ennis, rather than behind it,” said Cllr Neylon.

But he warned that the arrival of CCTV should not be allowed to cause the transfer of crime problems to other areas of the county.

A LITHUANIAN man produced a false passport with the aim of getting a PPS number for another man, at the social welfare office in Ennis.

Tadas Grigaitis, with an address at Aiden Park, Shannon, pleaded guilty to one charge, contrary to the Theft and Fraud Offences Act, at Ennis District Court, arising out of an incident on November 11 last.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said the accused went into the office and produced a false passport, in the name of another Lithuanian national, with the aim of getting a PPS number.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said another man had given her client the passport.

She said the other man threatened him that he would hurt him, his car and his family if he did not do what he had asked him.

She said her client was “the tool of the instrument” by which somebody else wanted to obtain a PPS number.

Inspector Kennedy said gardaí accepted others were involved with the accused in committing the crime.

Judge Joseph Mangan said he would dismiss the case under the Probation of Offenders Act, given the mitigating circumstances.

THE newly-published Lonely Planet Guide to Ireland states that the Cliffs of Moher has turned into a “sightseeing circus”.

But, according to the Clare County Council official responsible for a new €32m visitor centre at the Cliffs, the Lonely Planet assessment is, “something we already knew”.

Ger Dollard said, “the fundamental principles of the new visitor experience is to bring order to chaos and introduce better visitor management arrangements to deliver a more positive visitor experience.

“The internal exhibition and interpretative elements are also designed to provide a sensory experience that allows the visitor to become one with nature at the Cliffs of Moher.

“Extending existing walkways will improve, very significantly, the health and safety aspects at the site.

“The cliffs are world-class standard and the new visitor experience project will ensure that facilities complement that.”

Overall, Clare receives a glowing endorsement from the Lonely Planet guidebook.

Its publication coincides with the council increasing its tourism promotion budget by 200 per cent this year.

The chapter states, “Clare sits quietly between Galway to the north and Kerry to the south, unmoved by the starry reputations of those two famous Irish counties. Yet Clare wins hands down when it comes to startling landscape and dramatic prehistoric artefacts.

“It may not boast the great mountains of Galway and Kerry, nor their corrugated coastlines, but there are few more compelling landscapes in all of Ireland than the Burren of north Clare, with its swooping hills of raw limestone and its mosaic of vividly coloured wild flowers. The Burren region is one of those compelling places that will captivate you and may never let you go.

“Here you’ll find the bare bones of ancient burial chambers, the curving walls of Iron-Age castles, medieval tower houses and remote beaches.

“Many of Clare’s towns and villages retain their traditional charm. The county town of Ennis has an engaging network of narrow streets, while villages such as Miltown Malbay and Kilfenora have grand old pubs that host traditional music sessions on various evenings.

“Two villages define Clare’s keynote attractions. Doolin on the breezy west coast draws music lovers and backpackers, while lovely Ballyvaughan, on the southern shores of Galway Bay, is an ideal base for exploring the Burren.”

Mr Dollard said, “I think the guide confirms that whether you go north, south, east or west, Clare has it.