A WEST Clare developer who raped a Brazilian woman he had asked to clean his house has been sentenced to seven and a half years, after a judge said he couldn’t “buy himself out” of a custodial sentence.
He had denied the charge. Mr Justice White said that on reading the victim impact report provided by the victim, he did not believe the rape had “a profound psychological effect” on her. “It strikes me that your victim is more interested in compensation rather than anything else,” he said.
VICTIMS of industrial abuse in Clare are preparing a mass protest against the newly formed CaraNua organisation, which they say does not represent what the vast majority of victims actually want.
CaraNua, formally the Statutory Trust Fund, was formed last month to oversee the provision of services for people who have suffered abuse at the hands of the religious orders.
It is estimated that there are between 13,000 and 15,000 survivors still alive and CareNua has a budget of around € 110 million to help gain different services for these people.
Many victims groups are against the service, and claim that the money is owed directly to them from the religious orders and the state should not get involved. Ennis resident and spokesperson for the Survivors who Standing Together group, Cathriona Barker, said that many abuse victims now feel that a massive public protest is the only was of forcing the Government to change its mind.
“This money was given to survivors as a good will measure by the religious orders and the state have no business putting their hands on our money and dictating to us what happens. The state are guilt party in our childhood abuse, along with the church. What’s worse is that no survivor was ever asked for their opinion about any of this,” she told The Clare People yesterday.
“The vast majority of people would like this money split up between us. If you did that, then each victim would get € 7,300 from the church. For what many people went through this would be an insult, but at least it would be our decision.
Cathriona has been in contact with a number of other abuse survivors and the possibility of a mass protest seems to be getting closer.
“I was talking to a survivors group from the UK over the weekend and the majority of people over there don’t want anything to do with this new group either,” continued Cathriona.
“As far as we can see, most of the services being offered by CaraNua are services that a person should be able to access anyway. It is things like dental care, if a person needs a hip replacement, maybe if you need a door in your house widened.”
For more about Survivors Who Stand Together visit survivorswhostandtogether.wordpress.com.
IN THE 24 hours after news broke that Doonbeg golf club and hotel was to become Trump International Golf Links Ireland, traffic to the Doonbeg website multiplied five times.
Eric Trump said the Trump name brought with it new recognition from people who may not even have heard of the west of Ireland, never mind Doonbeg, and testimony to the interest in the newly-acquired resort and golf course was evident from the online searches.
According to Doonbeg Managing Director Joe Russell the week had been full of bombshells.
“The initial atmosphere was one of surprise that somebody of Donald Trump’s stature, and international recognition decided to take on Doonbeg,” he said
The property and business was just four weeks in receivership when the deal was done.
“When it came on the market I found out it created a certain ripple around the market of ‘my goodness Doonbeg is up for sale, let’s go for it’,” explained Mr Russell.
Donald Trump Jnr, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organisation, had toured the golf courses of Ireland two years ago, and Doonbeg had left a lasting impression.
“It’s the location. It’s the quality of the property. It’s what we have done since we opened, in terms of awards, recognition, hospitality. We have our own selves and our own success to thank to get someone like Donald Trump here,” said Mr Russell.
“On a larger scale it is a huge vote of confidence for Ireland, West Clare, Clare. We got Donald Trump!”
“They are a big company, they have the resources, they have the engine in terms of marketing, there is a structure there as it relates to how one does things.
“It will probably move us out of our current comfort zone in terms of how we do things, but that is to be expected when you join an organisa- tion, when you change an organisation. If you went into a new job you would have to modify your practises and your approach as to how you do things. But they didn’t come here for no reason. They came here to take what’s here and take it to the next level in terms of the amenity development, and they are bringing a lot to the party too in terms of expertise,” said the managing director.
He is not surprised however that Doonbeg is an attractive location.
“It is a very special destination and at least now we have a very good chance. The day you stand still in this business you are dead in the water,” he added, happy that there is potential to develop the tourism business further.
“Everywhere this organisation goes it appears to have an affect. There is an immediate impact. There is an operational impact. For me they expand our facilities again, I don’t have definitive on what they are talking about doing but there will be things put in to grow the business.”
When the golf course opened more than a decade ago, it brought with it the job equivalent of a major international company to a city.
“Something of this magnitude moving into a rural location in Ireland at the time was significant, it was major press, similarly you have a situation where you have Trump Organisation now coming into Doonbeg,” said Mr Russell.
But how will Trump tally with the area.
“How will it fit? Certainly the local community will see itself as responsible for a business being here at all. Many of them have worked with the club from a community perspective,” said Mr Russell adding that community involvement must be retained and built upon.
“It is not the castle on the hill. It is part of the community. If you ever move away from that ethos and you ever become anything other than that I think you are in trouble. 40 per cent of our market is North America, what most of those people want to do is go to the village, they want to drive around and if there is any hostility towards the club that will seek it out.”
“This is a destination now. You look around – Loop Head right up to Kilkee, to Doonbeg right up to the Cliffs of Moher, this is a destination.”
A YOUNG family lost not just the roof of their home but a lifetime of memories and numerous precious objects when storm Darwin took the roof from their house and destroyed their home in Rehy East, Cross.
The Abel-Cahill family are now staying in a house in Kilkee, as each day more of the ceiling disappears and cracks appear on the family home.
Mother-of-two Kim Abel is thankful however that her young family escaped physically unharmed.
“I am glad I had my daughter in the living room with me at the time of the storm, because if she was in her room napping she would have been covered in glass because the sky light came right in,” she said.
Terrorised Kim was at home with her six-month-old baby daughter Kaylana when the storm took hold at lunchtime on Wednesday.
Kim recalled how a tree and debris fell outside narrowly missing her car as the gale became stronger. The house began to shake and she began to panic.
The young mother screamed for her partner’s mother, Anna Cahill, who was on the other side of the bungalow building and then ran into another room to be with her.
“I was on the other side of the house with my mother-in-law when I saw something crash on the ground. It was the roof from the other side of the house, where I had just left,” she said fighting back the tears.
The two women decided to grab the baby and run for the car in an attempt to drive away from the house. Ms Abel’s partner, Paul Cahill, has just arrived home grabbed the two pet dogs and joined the evacuation.
Ms Abel’s other daughter Chloe (5) was still in school just a few miles away.
The devastation of the house came at the worst time for the family as they have planned baby Kaylana’s Christening for this weekend, and family and friends from as far away as Wales and England are to gather in West Clare for the special family occasion.
“We have lost everything we had in the house. Everything in the attic is destroyed, all my memories are ruined,” said Kim.
For Mrs Cahill too the event was both emotional and frightening as the house was built by her later husband for his family.
“I don’t know what we will do, but we are all staying together where ever we go.
We are all a family and we need to be together,” said Ms Abel.
The family are currently staying in a house in Kilkee, but are now also under financial pressure as they do not qualify for rent allowance as they own a house, albeit one they cannot live in.
“We are definitely not going to be home in the next few months,” explained Kim, who continues to be haunted by the traumatic events of Wednesday afternoon.
DOONBEG was this week welcoming the investment by the Trump Organisation in the local Greg Norman designed golf course and hotel, and said it is looking forward to working with the new owners.
The community in Doonbeg have experience when it comes to deal- ing with large international companies and local development, having initiated the development of the world-renowned golf course in the late 1990s and manoeuvred its way through many issues surrounding its later development and expansion.
Rare snails, rights of ways and access to the beach were all difficult and emotive issues that have been worked through in the community and in the courts, but that hard work is now done, according to Doonbeg Community Development Ltd.
The chairman of the community group Willie Hanrahan said the investment by the Trump family “secures the whole golf course; it secures the properties, it secures the jobs and the on going facilities in the area”.
He said the financial backing of the company will have a major impact on the area. “If they help with the coastal erosion and secure the property that would be fantastic.”
He has no concerns that relationships may sour down the line, as Doonbeg is an established golf course and facility.
“There are always problems when you set up something new. Doonbeg is there. It is established. We have been there and done that. We had problems with the rights of way. We had problems with the access to the beach. They have all been sorted. They are all secured now. There will always be ongoing issues but we have a very good relationship with the management, with Joe Russell at the moment and the current management and we would hope that will continue,” he said.
IRELAND’S oldest living person, Clare native Kathleen Snavely, celebrated her 112th birthday on Sunday by relaxing and getting her hair done.
Kathleen Hayes Rollins Snavely, who was born in East Clare on February 16, 1902, became Ireland’s oldest ever living person late last year when she overtook Louth woman, Katherine Plunket, and is now clos- ing in on becoming one of the oldest people ever to live on planet Earth.
Kathleen, who lives in Syracuse in upstate New York, is currently in excellent health and is now just three years from becoming one of the 10 oldest people ever to have lived. She is, however, still a long from becoming the worlds oldest person – that honour rests with Jeanne Calment, who was 122 years and 164 days old when she passed away in 1997.
Kathleen was born in Maghera near Feakle in East Clare in 1902. She emigrated to America in 1921 and set up a successful dairy, completely from scratch.
Up to two years ago, Kathleen was living independently, travelling on the bus and shopping for food, until she broke her hip and had to move into a local care centre.
Sr Kathy Osbelt, a friend of Kathleen’s, says that Snavely regularly talks about her experiences growing up in Ireland and her family.
“She talks about the wit and the appreciation for natural beauty. She is very funny and very feisty and loves a good story and to tell stories,” said Sr Osbelt.
“It is unfortunate that more people don’t know her. She is a treasure; she really is a peach.”
So far Kathleen has lived through two wars and survived 18 American presidents and two husbands. She never had any children.
Kathleen received a letter from President Michael D. Higgins last year and the centenarian bounty of € 2, 540.
AN ENVIRONMENTALIST has maintained that a windfarm, which is currently part of a planning application to Clare County Council, will be visible from Doonbeg Golf Course.
Friends of the Irish Environment director Tony Lowes, who in 2000 held up the construction of the course when he raised concerns in the high court about the protection of the microscopic snail Vertigo Angustior, told a Scottish newspaper that he now wants new owner Donald Trump to help back a campaign against the proposed nine-turbine wind farm.
The billionaire businessman reportedly ceased plans to build a second luxury golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, following a failed legal battle to stop the construction of an 11-turbine windfarm off the Scottish coast.
Last week West Clare Coastal Windpower lodged plans for the nine 126-metre wind turbines at Carrowmore South, Einagh and Shragh, two kilometres south of Doonbeg village.
The company’s previous plan for an “industrial scale” € 200 million windfarm at the same location was refused by an Bord Pleanála last July.
Local business people said this week that they were taking a “neutral stance” on the issue, and that the previous application went through the process without any major concern locally.
Mr Lowes is reported as saying he believes people will listen to Mr Trump rather than the environmentalists on the issue.
Asked about the Trump Organisation getting involved in any such issues locally, executive vice president Eric Trump said it was not afraid of taking on important issues.
“Maybe it is too early, but we have never been afraid to tackle important issues time and time again, and we have never been afraid to take on important issues,” she told The Clare People .
“We are not afraid to take on the fight for the betterment of the community and quite frankly often times the community looks to us to lean on, to help them and for that leadership and for the resources to do so.”
SHANNON-based mining company Mincon could be set to double in size over the next two or three years – with the prospect of more jobs coming on stream in looking increasingly possibly. That is according to Mincon’s “house brokers” Davy Stockbrokers, who in a letter to potential investors last week described the Clare company as ‘outperform’ and said it was primed for expansion.
“It has grown rapidly in recent years, while generating returns of over 20 per cent,” the Davy note said. “[The company is] a pure play on the structurally less volatile global consumable rock-drilling products industry.”
Earlier this year, the company’s two biggest shareholders gave employees € 1.2 million from their own private funds to reward them for their hard work over the years.
Company founder Paddy Purcell and Kevin Barry initiated the employee recognition plan, which excluded all members of senior management.
The money was paid to Mincon’s 140 eligible employees across the group and was based on years of service with a payment of € 1,000 per staff member per year of service.
The Shannon-based rock drilling engineering company was founded in 1977 and listed on the Dublin and London stock exchanges late last year. Many of the company’s Shannon-based employees have been there for a number of decades.
“It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Mincon Group employees that it has grown from its origins in Shannon into the interna- tional business it is today, with operations in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australasia and with its securities quoted on the ESM and AIM,” said Paddy Purcell at the time that the payment was announced.
“As the largest shareholders in the company, Kevin and I wished to take this opportunity to show, in a tangible and meaningful way, our appreciation to the staff for their contribution in bringing Mincon to where it is today and positioning it for the next phase of its development organically and through acquisitions.”
AN ENNIS woman has received an 18-month prison sentence for a string of offences including stealing money from a pensioner and assaulting a garda.
Ann Marie Molloy stole € 200 from 85-year-old Anne McCullagh as the pensioner walked through Paddy Quinn’s car park in Ennis on November 1, 2013.
At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Detective Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy said Ms Molloy grabbed Ms McCullagh’s handbag before running away.
“She was extremely upset and crying. She was tramautised by the whole experience,” said Detective O’Shaughnessy of Ms McCullagh’s condition after the theft.
Ann Marie Molloy, with an address at Ballaghboy Halting Site, Quin Road Ennis, pleaded guilty to punching and kicking a female garda at Ennis Garda Station on May 14, 2012. She also pleaded guilty to a number of other theft and trespass offences including a break in at the Maria Assumpta Hall, Station Road, Ennis, between August 29 and 31, 2012, and theft of a wallet from a woman in a cinema on February 12, 2013.
She also admitted damaging post boxes at the Mill Road apartment complex. The court heard it cost the owner € 595 to repair to damage.
Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client came from a large family of 13. She said Ms Molloy has learning difficulties and a drinking problem. “She’s a lovely lady with a horrible problem with drink,” she added.
Ms Godfrey urged the court not to impose custodial sentence but rather remand her client in custody for a period to “frighten her into understanding what she did”.
An offer to pay compensation to Ms McCullagh was rejected by Judge Patrick Durcan. He said he was not impressed by people who bring money to court trying to buy their way out of jail. He said he would much rather hear compensation had already been paid.
He said Ms Molloy engaged in “horrendous criminal activity” over a 12-month period. He said he was cognizant of her family background, physical and intellectual difficulties and problems with alcohol.
In the case of the theft from Ms McCullagh, Judge Durcan said the victim had “gallantly and valiantly fought back but had been left in a distressed state”. He imposed sentences totalling 18 months. Judge Durcan warned assaults against gardaí and the robbery of old women would be met with the toughest measures open to the court. Recognizance were set in the event of an appeal.
NORTH Clare farmers have pledged to fight on against the decision to sell the Ennistymon Mart to Aldi following a “fruitless” meeting in Ennis yesterday.
Three member of Ennistymon IFA met with representatives from Clare Marts for a number of hours yesterday, at a meeting facilitated by Clare IFA president Andrew Dundas.
At the meeting, a spokesperson for Clare Marts confirmed that the sale of the mart had been agreed by the board of Clare Marts, but said that contracts had yet to be signed and the sale was dependent on planning permission being granted.
Tom Clair from Ennistymon IFA said yesterday that the people of Ennistymon feel like they have been “sold-out” by their fellow farmers for a “few dollars” from a multi-national.
“The people up here will fight this to the bitter end, that is for sure. But we are desperate downhearted that this has happened,” he said.
“The way that this has come about is not right.
“After all that was gone through to get that mart there in the first place and now to have it sold out from under us by our fellow farmers. And just because they had a few dollars dangled down in front of them. It’s not right.”
Yesterday’s meeting followed a protest help by more than 20 North Clare farmers outside of Ennis Marts last Tuesday evening and a mass meeting of more than 450 people which took place in Ennistymon earlier this month.
Those opposed to the sale will now likely take to the planning system to try and block the sale going through by lodging planning applications once Aldi bring forward a proposal.
The land where the mart currently sits was gifted to the people of Ennistymon by the McNamara clan as an area for fairs.
“It is though that the mart’s deeds could yet contain a condition requiring it to be operated for agricultural purposes. The Clare People contacted Clare Marts in relation to this story but they had no comment to make.