Category: News

THE number of couples seeking annulments in the West, including County Clare, is down slightly in the last two years.

While numbers have held in the rest of the country, the western tribunal area, made up of eight dioceses including Killaloe, report a small decrease in the number of people seeking a Roman Catholic annulment over the past two years – a trend that has not been seen throughout the rest of the country.

Each year for the last decade, up to 120 people have requested that their marriages be declared invalid in the eyes of the Church.

Of that figure, just over 50 per cent, or between 60 and 70 couples, were granted their request.

Thirty years ago, four tribunals were set up to cover annulments in the country. Prior to this, every diocese heard its own cases.

The Western region covers Connacht, Clare and Longford.

According to Fr Ray Browne of the Galway Regional Marriage Tribunal, it is almost impossible to determine from what counties in the western area the applications come from.

There is a tendency that when a marriage breaks up, a person moves to another area, often the nearest urban area, which in the case of Clare is often Limerick and outside the Western area.

Fr Browne told The Clare People that annulments referred to the invalidity of a marriage.

He said it was extremely stressful on all involved, as they must go back over the marriage to test the validity of it.

An investigation to discover if the commitment of marriage was entered into with due discretion is often carried out.

“On the wedding day, did each party make a decision and know what they were doing,” explained Fr Browne.

For the marriage to be valid, both parties have also to be capable to “live as husband and wife, day in, day out,” he added. A condition less often investigated is that a party must intend to be faithful when marrying; if this is not the case, the validity of the marriage can be contested. Both parties must also be “open to children”. Couples must also receive a civil annulment, or divorce, to be allowed to marry again.

In 2004, there was an average of 20,000 weddings in Ireland. Up to 4,000 people filed for divorce in the same year, while between 350 and 400 sought an annulment in the same year.

TWO young motorists who raced each other on the dual carriageway between Clare and Limerick, at up to 110 miles per hour, did not realise they had passed out an unmarked garda car.

Before Shannon District Court were Tony Guerin (23), of Ballahadigue, Listowel, and Thomas Dillane (22), of Kilconlea, Abbeyfeale, who were both convicted of dangerous driving, at Moyhill, Cratloe, on November 16, 2005.

Sergeant Dermot O’Connor told the court he was travelling in an unmarked patrol car when he saw two cars travelling in excess of the speed limit, on the Limerick-bound lane.

Both cars completed an overtake on the inside lane, before being stopped by gardaí at Moyhill, Cratloe.

“It was obvious when they overtook the unmarked garda car, they didn’t twig it was an unmarked garda car. There was a bit of a race going on,” said Sgt O’Connor.

Defending solicitor Rachel Dobson said that what happened was “of the utmost stupidity and could have had much more dire consequences” not only for the accused men, but also for other road users.

Guerin, she said, was a butcher in Listowel and as part of his work, travelled throughout parts of Limerick and Kerry. Dillane was an assistant manager in a supermarket in Newcastle and helped to care for a member of his family.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy fined each €1,250, but said that given that there were special reasons, he would not impose a disqualification.

CLARE’S youngest county councillor has been nominated to the EU Committee of the regions.

Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) will represent the Mid-West region on the nine member Irish section of the committee. If for some reason the East Clare councillor is unable to fulfil his role, Limerick County Councillor Noreen Ryan (FF), will replace him.

The Committee of the Regions (COR) is an advisory assembly in areas of Union legislation and policy, created by the Treaty on European Union.

It is composed of 317 representatives of local and regional authorities from the twenty-five member states.

IN THE early part of the 20th century a book entitled An Angler’s Paradise was published that charted the immense quality of fishing and scenic beauty that was to be found on the River Fergus system in Clare.

So taken was the writer with the Fergus that he wrote the book in code and disguised any actual locations in order to keep the area secret from fellow fishing enthusiasts.

The book was reissued last year and it coincided with a new initiative aimed at restoring the River Fergus System to its former glory and developing it as a major tourism resource for the county.

At the heart of this planned renewal of the river is the work of the Ennis and District Anglers Association who for the past four years have undertaken the massive project of rehabilitating the fishery, improving access to the waterways and working with local landowners.

According to a study carried out by the Fishery Board in the 1970s Inchiquin Lake was the most densely stocked in Ireland, but fishing returns in the lakes and rivers of the Fergus system have steadily declined.

John Weir, Chairman of the EDAA, said that five years ago the group decided to take action to ensure the river didn’t fall into permanent disrepair.

“The club got together five or six years ago and we said, ‘right, it’s time we do something about this’,” he says.

“And ever since then we have been working away at trying to get it back to its former glory.

“Not only just for fishing but for the town, the local ecology and the tourism potential, the whole lot really.

“It is funny that the book comes out now – it sort of coincides with the rebirth of the EDAA.”

Over the past four years the EDAA have examined the reasons behind the decline in fish stocks and water quality and received a grant from the Heritage Council to hire two fishery scientists to undertake a comprehensive survey of the system.

The scientists found evidence of serious habitat degradation, nitrate and phosphate levels had dramatically increased while spawning grounds had become choked by weeds.

The findings formed the basis of the EDAA’s ten year development to restore the Fergus plan and allowed the club to successfully pursue additional funding from the Heritage Council.

Some of the measures that have been implemented so far included the erection of vortex weirs, bankside pruning and the placement of random boulders.

As a result fish stocks in the Fergus have returned to their highest levels since the seventies and Mr Weir believes that further development of the Fergus will see it become a vital part of Clare’s tourism industry.

“We formulated a five year development plan that involved applying for Leader funding. That funding was more based towards attracting tourism by building more riverwalks.

“It is very much orientated towards tourism. The plan has been done under the advice of the Shannon Regional Fishery Board and Lower Shannon Trout and Coarse Fisheries Development Societies who are coming on board and advising us,” he adds.

At local level the EDAA have produced a workbook based on the Fergus that has been distributed to schools in the Ennis area in order to educate children about the importance of the river.

It is now hoped that the scheme will be rolled out in a more general format to schools throughout the county.

Funding as always is a major issue and having received Leader funding from the Heritage Council the club must now raise matching funds of €25,000.

As part of the fundraising drive the club are organising a flytying night on January 26 in the One Mile Inn where there will be a cover charge of €10. All are welcome.

There are also plans to organise a boat raffle while new and existing members are invited to attend the EDAA AGM which takes place on January 31.

Mr Weir is hoping that the EDAA campaign will continue to be a success and that greater public awareness will lead to the continued revival of an “angler’s paradise.”

“On of the main aims of the club is to promote the environment and to educate people about the potential of the river and what it does for County Clare and for people not to abuse it or to use it as a dumping ground.”

SENIOR executives at Clare County Council can expect up to €72,000 in bonus payments over the coming year. The council agreed to allow a sum, which reflects ten per cent of seven of its official’s wages, to be set aside for such payments. The officials to benefit from the €72,000 allocation include the county manager and the six director of services in the council.

The county manager told councillors that the allocation set aside is to “make sure there is enough there” to cover any bonuses paid.

Cllr Tom Prenderville asked the manager if he was “expecting an increase in activity and productivity” that the bonus payments could reach that amount.

It is as yet unknown when the payments will be paid, but the manager assured the councillors that no section of the public sector is monitored like his sector. The councillors agreed to a €3,500 increase in the mayors allowance to €33,500 at a special budget meeting of the council. Council members expenses for the year has been budgeted at €221,000, while their salleries will cost the council €522,199.

Meanwhile Clare County Council agreed to drop a controversial charge on the collection of recyclables, which would have earned the council a further €70,000. The members of the council objected to the proposal within the budget, which stated, “It would be necessary to introduce a small charge for waste at the recycling facilities for waste other than WEE”.

The council executive did a u turn on the proposal following objections from the members saying that adding a cost to recycling would discourage people from doing so.

The County Manager also expressed concern that while the cost of landfill is reducing, the collectors are not reflecting the reduction in their costs.

A 20-YEAR-OLD man who heard allegations that his sister had been subjected to lurid comments, carried out a “frenzied attack” on a jeep outside the home of the alleged aggressor.

Michael Vaughan, of Toormore, Ruan, was accused of causing more than €1,500 criminal damage to a jeep in Newmarket-on-Fergus, on May 1, 2005.

In a related incident, his sister Geraldine Sherlock (30) and another woman, Olivia Cullinan (24), both with addresses at Kilnasoolagh Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus, pleaded guilty to assault, at Ennis Road, Newmarket, on the same date.

Garda Des McAuley told Ennis District Court that a man in his 30s made lurid remarks to the two women in a bar, to which they took offence.

Some time later, as he was walking home, the two women assaulted this man, with “a combination of kicks and fists.” Ms Sherlock took off her shoe and hit him in the face, after he called her a name. The man’s cousin then came along and he, too, was assaulted by the women.

The two women then went to Ms Sherlock’s home, where they met her brother Michael Vaughan. After he was told about the earlier incident, he went to the home of the man who allegedly made the comment, and damaged a jeep, which was parked in the driveway.

According to the garda, the owner of the jeep – the father of the man who allegedly made the comment – had nothing to do with the earlier incident. The total damage caused was €1,625. Gda McAuley said Mr Vaughan’s involvement was “premeditated”.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said Ms Sherlock, a separated mother-of-two, accepted she should never have acted the way she did, and said Ms Cullinan, a single mother, was trying to protect Ms Sherlock. She said Mr Vaughan was extremely upset about what he heard from his sister and her friend. The solicitor said Mr Vaughan had €600 in court, which was paid over, as part of the compensation.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said, “Clearly they (the women) were subjected to some form of provocation.” He dismissed the charges against both, under the Probation of Offenders Act.

He said Mr Vaughan got involved in something that “was effectively none of his business.” He adjourned his case for a month, to allow him to pay the remaining compensation.

AN 18-YEAR-old Clare man has been summonsed to appear in court in connection with a fatal road accident, which claimed the life of a 17-year-old girl in Ennis last year.

The young man is to be charged in connection with the accident, in which Charelle Howard died, on the Shanaway Road, on the outskirts of Ennis, in the early hours of July 16 last year.

It’s alleged that the young man, who will appear in court next month, was driving the car, which was involved in the fatal accident.

The accident was investigated by Ennis gardai, who interviewed a number of teenagers travelling in the car when the accident occurred. A file was then submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who directed that a charge be brought.

Charelle was travelling with friends in a Volkswagen Polo car at the time. The group was travelling from a birthday party outside Ennis town to the town centre, when the accident occurred, in the early hours of the morning.

Charelle, the only child of David and Teresa Howard, from Oakwood Drive on the Watery Road in Ennis, was travelling in the back seat of the car, which was involved in the single vehicle accident.

They had just left Charelle’s best friend’s birthday party and were on their way to Ennis.

The other occupants of the car survived. Two of them were treated for minor injuries, before being discharged from hospital some time later.

A NORTH Clare-based legal firm faces the prospect of having to demolish an extension to offices it built without planning permission.

Clare County Council has refused planning permission to Chambers & Co to retain an extension to its offices on Parliament Street, Ennistymon.

Already, the council has served a Warning Letter on the firm after finding that the extension was built without planning in Ennistymon’s Architectural Conservation Area (ACA).

In response, the company lodged plans to retain the development. However, the plan provoked opposition from the company’s neighbours on Parliament Street, Sean and Carmel Conway.

In their objection, the Conways told the council, “This extension has had a very serious and detrimental effect on our home, our privacy and our natural light.

“This illegal development by Chambers & Co solicitors has resulted in the virtual loss of light to a substantial part of the upstairs of our house.

“Prior, we benefited from sunlight for much of the morning and early afternoon. Now, we have virtually no daylight and do not benefit from sunlight. The structure built is not appropriate or suitable for Ennistymon, a town that has a wealth of history and tradition.

“This development is built with no consideration whatsoever to the obvious effect it was going to have on our home.”

The council opted to refuse planning permission following a recommendation by the council’s conservation officer, Risteard Ua Cronin, who stated that the development will set an unwelcome precedent in the town.

Mr Ua Cronin was also critical of the visual design and materials of the structure.

In its decision, the council ruled that the proposed development, by reason of scale and location in close proximity to the side boundaries of the site and to private gardens and windows of neighbours, would lead to overshadowing of these properties and loss of light.

The council ruled that the proposal would therefore seriously ignore the residential amenities of adjacent properties and be contrary to the proper planning and development of the area.

The council also pointed out that the proposed development was located within an ACA, where it was council policy to conserve the character and appearance of the area.

The council stated that the proposal would seriously injure the visual amenities of the area.

It is now open to Chambers & Co to appeal the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanála.

CLARE businesses are getting letters from debt collectors and bills for thousands of Euro for ads which they say they were not even aware they ordered.

Spanish based company, European City Guides (ECG) has been sending unsolicited letters to Clare companies, says Paul Woulfe of the Citizen’s Information Centre (CIC).

“We have had numerous complaints about this company,” he said. “The form they send first asks for updated details on the business for inclusion in an inter-professional CD rom.

“This is cost free but further down the form, where the recipient is asked to sign, it says that signing is placing an order for an insertion in the guide which THE Drumellihy/Westby Group Water Scheme in Cree has been granted €12,715 in funding as part of the CLÁR top-up funding.

This will enable works amounting to €35,570 to be carried out at the site. The remaining amount will be paid by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and by private contribution from the Group members.

Three households will benefit from the scheme with savings of €4,238 per household. costs €857.

“And this also involves placing an order for the following two editions at the same cost each time.

“The form is very confusing and a lot of people have been caught, and then they get bills for thousands of Euro for insertions which they never intended to purchase,” said Paul.

Paul added that when business people refuse to pay up, the company hands the matter over to a Swiss-based international debt collection agency “and they send out very intimidating, legalistic letters and in some instances, there have been phone calls asking for payment every day.”

When the CIC brought complaints made to them forward to the director of consumer affairs’, they were informed by the communications unit that as the ECG is a Spanish based company, the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs has no powers to intervene.

But the spokeswoman at the unit informed the CIC that there are now a number of judgements against the company “with regard to breaches of Spanish misleading advertising legislation in forms circulated in 1998 and 1999. A further action was taken against ECG in March 2001 and the judgement was accompanied by a fine of €22,000.”

The spokeswoman said that in the last four years, the Spanish Consumer Department has “received more that 3,500 claims from 40 countries from companies and professional workers concerned by the ECG.”

The company changed the form which it has been sending out and the Spanish authorities have said that the new form is acceptable.

But while in theory the Spanish company could get a judgement against debt defaulters which could then be processed through the Irish courts, the CIC is advising people who have been getting bills not to pay up.

“We believe they are targeting small businesses who pay because they are afraid of having huge court bills if the matter goes to court in Spain.

“But there is not one single instance in which ECG has taken this course,” said Paul.

The Clare People put the issues raised to the company by email, as requested by them. There was no comment available at time of going to press.

THE number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to Clare County Council dropped by 18 per cent last year, while the council’s refusal rate increased by 19 per cent in the same period.

Comprehensive statistics provided by the council’s Freedom of Information Unit reveal that since its inception, the council has received 522 requests during the eight-year operation of the legislation. However, over the past five years, the number of requests has almost halved, from the high of 97 in 2001 to 55 last year – a drop of 43 per cent. The council’s refusal rate has fluctuated over the past five years with the average, over the eight-year operation of the scheme, at 32 per cent.

The figures show that of the 38 decisions made, grants were made in 12 decisions, nine were part-granted, while 17 were refused. Over the eight years, the council department which has been the subject of most FOI requests has been Planning, receiving 23 per cent.

Environment received 19.5 per cent, and Housing 15 per cent. Forty-five appeals were made internally against decisions to refuse or part-refuse.

At this month’s adjourned council meeting, the decision to refuse details of bonus payments to the County Manager and Directors of Service prompted Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) to claim that there was a creeping culture of secrecy in the public sector.