Category: News

THE Mental Health Commission pointed to a number of concerns it had relating to the 39-bed Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU) located in Ennis Hospital.

Following an unannounced inspection in July, inspectors for the commission were concerned about the individual plans for the 38 patients resident in the unit on the days of the inspection.

Admitting there was evidence of improvement in the individual care plans since the inspection of 2013, the inspectors said many of the Individual Care Plans did not specify the interventions to be carried out, and did not specify which member of the multidisciplinary team was tasked with this aspect of the care plan.

The inspectors also found that the unit was not suitable for children, although it has taken in minors on the permission of parents.

The inspection report also raised concerns that not all staff had been trained in the use of physical restraint.

The structure of the ground level unit was also cause for concern.

“The interior decoration of the unit was in need of attention, with evidence of peeling paint, missing f oor

PATIENTS referred to speech and language therapy or physiotherapy services through the public health system by their GPs are not receiving the required treatment because they are residents at an Ennis Mental Health unit.

This inequality in services provided to residents at Cappahard Lodge emerged during an unannounced inspection of the 32-bed unit by the Mental Health Commission on July 10.

“It is unacceptable that a public service will not accept a referral for a speech and language therapy assessment or a physiotherapy assessment simply because the persons referred are patients of a mental health service,” the inspectors said in their report.

Eight residents, who had been referred by their GP to avail of speech and language therapy services, and one resident, who had been referred by their GP to avail of physiotherapy services, had to pay for them privately.

“In this regard, there appeared to be an inequity of service provision afforded to mental health patients, in that residents of the approved centre did not have access through the public health system to speech and language therapy and to physiotherapy, despite being referred to these services by their GP,” the inspectors found.

Inspectors Sean Logue, Assistant Inspector of Mental Health Services, and Dr Fionnuala O’Loughlin, Assistant Inspector of Mental Health Services, recommended that resident of Cappahard be provided with the services through the public health system, as required.

The inspectors also found that the unit was in breach of the condition of its registration, which required that it be fully compliant with Article 15 of the Regulations Individual Care Plans. They found that a signif cant number of residents had not had a six-monthly physical examination carried out and in some instances; this had been due for over three months.

According to the inspectors’ report deaths had not been notif ed to the Mental Health Commission within a 48-hour period as required.

The report also stated, “The premises were clean, warm, adequately lit and well ventilated, and had been recently painted and decorated.”

TWO men have pleaded guilty to assault charges arising from a violent feud related incident in Ennis when a father of 10 lost part of his f nger. Bernie McDonagh Snr (47) suffered multiple injuries including the loss of half of his right ring f nger when he was viciously assaulted by three men at Market place, Ennis on May 18, 2010.

The incident developed after Mr McDonagh drove to Ennis National School to collect his children at 3pm.

He was followed to the school by three men in a black Toyota Avensis. The three men launched an attack on Mr McDonagh’s vehicle.

McDonagh drove furiously away from the front of the school and ended up driving the wrong way into the market area of the town, coming to halt in heavy traff c and very narrow ly avoiding a collision.

Mr McDonagh’s 14-year-old son, f ve-year-old daughter and baby granddaughter were in the car throughout the course of the incident.

The group traveling in the Avensis caught up with Mr McDonagh in the Market where they launched another attack on the car.

Mr McDonagh was driven to Ennis hospital by his 14-year-old son.

One of the perpetrators received a three-year prison sentence at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court in May 2011 after pleading guilty to assault causing serious harm.

The two other men involved in the attack appeared before Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Their respective barristers told the court a jury would not be required and their clients could be put forward for arraignment. Michael McDonagh (34), with an address at Kilcruttin Halting Site, Kilcruttin, Tullamore, Co Offaly, pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Bernie McDonagh at market place Ennis on May 18, 2010.

Anthony McDonagh (28), with an address at Ardreigh Walk, Dun Brinn, Athy, Kildare, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Bernie McDonagh on the same date and location. Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan said those pleas were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the case now becomes a matter for sentence.

Counsel for Michael McDonagh, Mark Nicholas said his client is a 34-year-old man with no previous convictions who “stupidly got involved” in this incident.

He said a report from the Probation Services would be help Judge Gerald Keys get a proper prof le of Mr Mc Donagh prior to sentencing.

Counsel for Anthony McDonagh, Pat Whyms, also requested a probation report for his client.

Judge Keys ordered probation reports for both accused and remanded them on bail to appear in court on January 12, 2015 when a date for sentencing will be f xed.

JAIL terms have been handed to two people involved in a robbery in Ennis that left a woman “terrorised”.

At Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday, Congolese national Mao Kimbai (41) received a three-year prison sentence with the f nal year suspended.

His co-accused Clara Chapman (20) received a two year prison term with the f nal year of the sentence suspended. Both were jailed after admitting their roles in an attack on the young woman at the Causeway link Road near Glór in Ennis on January 18, 2014.

Mao Kimbadi and Ms Chapman forced the woman to hand over her handbag after she was told Mr Kimbadi was holding a knife.

The court previously heard the woman did not see the knife but could feel something poking into her back.

The incident was reported to gardaí within minutes and Mr Kimbadi was arrested a few hours later in possession of a kitchen knife.

Both accused were heroin addicts at the time and Ms Chapman later told gardaí the pair were looking to “rob someone for a bag of heroin”.

Kimbadi, with a former address at Laurel Lodge, Ennis, and Chapman, with an address at Harbour House, Woodquay, Ennis and former address at Banner Lodge, Ennis both pleaded guilty to robbery of a handbag at the Causeway Link Road, Ennis on January 18.

Mr Kimbadi admitted a further charge of possession of a knife at Clon Road, Ennis on January 19.

Mr Kimbadi has 18 previous convictions and Ms Chapman has four previous convictions for theft and drugs offences.

Imposing sentence, Judge Gerald Keys said an aggravating factor in the case was the fact the robbery “was a joint enterprise and violence was used”.

Judge Keys noted a knife had also been threatened.

He said it was clear from the evidence of Garda Denis Stack the victim was “terrorised” by the accused’s actions.

Judge Keys noted the pair, Kimbadi amnd Chapman had also expressed remorse for their actions.

Judge Keys said Mr Kimbadi had claimed Ms Chapman was the main protagonist in the robbery.

But Judge Keys said that bearing in mind the age gap between the parties, it was his belief that Mr Kimbadi was the most culpable.

He imposed two concurrent three year sentences on Mr Mr Kimabdi with the f nal year suspended. Ms Chapman received a two-year sentence with the f nal 12 months suspended.

Referring to the pair’s drug addiction, Judge Keys said;

“I believe that if more resources were put into people who become addicted to drugs, the number of cases (coming before the courts) would fall rapidly”.

THERE were unruly scenes at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin last week after Michael Maughan of Stone Court, Ennis, was convicted of murdering Piotr Nowakowski (peter nova kovskee) in Ennis last year.

Supporters of the accused man shouted abuse at the jury and overturned a bench in the court room.

It took the jury under 2 and a half hours to unanimously convict Michael Maughan (40) of the murder of Piotr Nowakowski at Sandf eld Mews in Ennis in July last year.

He had admitted manslaughter. The jury heard he stabbed the Polish man twice after they’d spent the day and night drinking together.

In a victim impact statement relatives said his loss is like ‘a big sadness taking our soul’.

Maughan’s lawyers offered his apologies and said he really regrets what he’s done. Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence for murder and the court rose.

After that there was uproar as a couple of Michael Maughan’s supporters overturned a bench and hurled verbal abuse at the jury before gardaí intervened to restore order.

Michael Maughan, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Piotr Nowakowski, aged 31, at Sandf eld Mews, Ennis, on July 23, 2013.

The Central Criminal Court was told that the manslaughter plea was not acceptable to the prosecution and a jury was sworn in for the one-week trial. Maughan had also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Declan O’Dea at the same address on the same date. The jury of seven men and f ve women found him guilty on both counts by unanimous decision after two hours and 23 minutes.

Mr Justice Paul Carney handed down the mandatory life sentence for the murder to run concurrently with four years for the assault. He backdated both sentences to July 24, 2013, for time spent in custody.

Mr Nowakowski was stabbed twice and died in an ambulance on the way to Shannon Airport, from where he was to be airlifted to hospital in Cork. The court heard that Maughan and his brother had been drinking with the men in the apartment in the Sandf eld complex earlier that day and returned there that night.

He told gardaí he was angry when he was not allowed in.

He said he lifted his brother in through a window so he could let him in the front door.

Maughan told gardaí that he went into the bedroom where Mr O’Dea and Mr Nowakowski were asleep.

After Mr Nowakowski followed him into to the kitchen, he got paranoid and grabbed a carving knife from the counter.

He told gardaí he “just went berserk” and he stabbed him twice in the side. The court heard the deceased received several blows and was stabbed before receiving a further kick to the head.

A JUDGE is considering imposing a two-year prison term on a woman for what he called a “vicious assault on a completely innocent person”.

The 20-year-old woman pleaded guilty at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Friday to robbery of a handbag and items with a total value of € 1780 from a woman on O’Connell Street, Ennis on September 2, 2014.

After hearing details of the drink fuelled robbery where the female victim was punched, kicked and pulled to the ground, Judge Gerald Keys said he had in mind a two-year prison sentence.

“This type of carry on has to stop”, the Judge said.

Judge Keys also noted the victim was too intimidated to come to court.

Garda Darren Lynch told the court gardaí met the female victim in a “quite distressed state” after responding to reports of a robbery outside the Old Ground Hotel at around 11.50pm on the night in question.

He said swelling was visible on the woman’s face.

The court heard the victim was walking on O’Connell Street when she noticed someone walking behind her.

As the woman neared the entrance of the hotel, her attacker ran in front of her and asked her for a cigarette.

The woman said she did not smoke and at this point the accused made an attempt to cover her face. Garda Lynch said at this point, the victim became afraid.

He told the court the accused then punched the woman twice, knocking her to the ground.

After attempting to grab the woman’s bag, the accused then kicked her a number of times.

“At that moment she described herself as screaming for help”, Garda Lynch said.

Asked if the woman had been informed of her right to make a victim impact statement, Garda Lynch said she had.

However Garda Lynch said the woman has not been herself since the attack.

He said the victim was afraid to come to court because she knows her attacker.

“She would feel intimidated by coming here,, he added.

The attack was witnessed by a taxi driver.

“He witnessed the attack and the ferociousness of the attack”, Garda Lynch said.

The accused was arrested half a mile away approximately 70 minutes after the robbery.

The accused also discarded the handbag on O’Connell Street and all items were recovered.

The accused was arrested and told gardaí she consumed a f agon of ci der, two bottles of wine and a few cans prior to the robbery.

However Garda Lynch said the woman later minimised the amount she had drunk.

He agreed with Prosecuting Counsel Stephen Coughlan’s view the attack was the product of the accused’s “bad temper and the consumption of liquor”.

Defence Counsel Pat Whyms said his client is “very sorry for what she did”.

Judge Keys said, “I regard this as a vicious assault on a completely innocent person”.

He said he had in mind a two-year sentence. However Judge Keys adjourned f nal sentencing after requesting further clarif cation of issues raised by the defence in relation to the personal circumstances of the accused.

The woman was remanded in custody to appear again in court on November 7.

the onset of winter.

It is unclear if the dolphin was alive when it was initially washed ashore at Fanore, but the body was badly damaged when it was discover by a member of the public on Monday.

“It looks like a striped dolphin, a species that is frequently stranded, often alive, but rarely observed in Irish waters. They are an offshore pelagic species occurring in deep water,” said Simon Berrow of the Clare based Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).

“They typically occur in warmer waters than Ireland and the increase in stranding records could be due to a warming of our waters associated with climate change.”

The IWDG co-ordinate the cetacean stranding scheme in Ireland and ask that all sightings of stranded dolphins, whales and porpoises are reported to them by email on strandings@iwdg.e or online on www. iwdg.ie.

The group have a network of recorders who visit stranded animals to record species, length and gender for long term monitoring.

IRISH WATER has doubled the charge for treated water in Clare since taking over the utility provision from Clare County Council.

The charge of € 2.44 per cubic metre of water set by Irish Water is a massive 49.1 per cent higher than the € 1.20 charged by the local authority for the same water, which runs through the same pipes and from the same source. A close examination of the water charge f gures also shows that Clare County Council proved better value for money when it came to disposing of waste water with its cost set at € 1.65 per cubic metre, as opposed to Irish Water’s charge of € 2.44. On Saturday, as water fell freely from the sky, almost 2,000 people marched against the water charges in Shannon and Ennis.

A 25-YEAR-old woman has rejected a Judge’s offer to cut her prison sentence by seven months.

At Ennis Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Gerald Keys said he was willing not to extend Bernadette Marrinan’s time in prison beyond January 2015, when the term of a prison sentence she received from the district court is due to expire.

Ms Marrinan, with a former address at Flat 3, Francis Street, Kilrush, was before the circuit court having pleaded guilty last month to possession of a 13-inch lump ham- mer at Hermitage, Ennis on March 14, 2014.

Judge Keys proposed a 10 month sentence with the f nal seven months suspended after saying the offence could have been dealt with in the district court had the facts been fully outlined to the district court Judge.

He said the balance of the sentence would be suspended on condition Ms Marrinan enter into a bond to be of good behaviour and commit to working with the Probation Services to deal with her drug addiction.

“I don’t agree”, Ms Marrinan replied after hearing the Judge’s offer. Ms Marrinan held a brief consultation with her legal team after which defence counsel, Pat Whyms, told the court his client did not want to enter into the bond.

“I really cannot understand why not, but that is her choice”, Judge Keys said.

Imposing a full 10-month sentence, the Judge said;

“If she has a change of mind I’m open to being persuaded to suspend the balance of the sentence”.

In the case, Garda Trevor Shannon of Ennis Garda Station said he and a colleague were on patrol when they met Ms Marrinan in Hermitage at around 4.50pm on March 14.

He said it was noticeable the accused was concealing an item. When gardaí asked her to produce the concealed item, Ms Marrinan took out the lump hammer.

Garda Shannon said Ms Marrinan told gardaí she had the weapon for her own protection.

Asked to outline the accused’s circumstances, Garda Shannon said Ms Marrinan had a “hard enough upbringing”, was homeless for a period and had developed an addiction to heroin.

She is currently serving a ninemonth sentence for theft imposed at Ennis District Court in June. Ms Marrinan has previous convictions for theft and criminal damage.

Garda Shannon said the thefts were mainly committed for food and to feed Ms Marrinan’s addiction.

After being told the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had recommended the case be dealt with in the district court, Judge Keys asked why jurisdiction had been refused by the district Judge.

Garda Shannon said the district court judge has an issue with weapons offences and believes they should be dealt with in the circuit court.

Judge Keys said that if the circumstances were fully outlined to the Judge, he would have accepted jurisdiction.

He imposed a 10-month sentence after Ms Marrinan rejected the offer to suspend seven months.

THE development of parking facilities at the Cliffs of Moher is still a live project according to Clare County Council, despite delays in gaining planning permission.

The world famous tourist attractions was granted more than half a million euro earlier this year to upgrade facilities in the coach and public parking facility at the cliffs. An application for planning permission for the works was lodged in March with a decision due on May 19 – but no decision has yet been announced.

This planning application is complicated by the original planning permission granted for the construction of the Cliffs of Moher Experience in 2007. Under the 2007 permission granted by Bord Pleanála, the public car park was to be a temporary facility, pending the development of a park and ride facility from Liscannor or Doolin – however, no park and ride has ever been developed.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council yesterday said that the application represented a “tidy up” of the temporary car park, rather than the development of a permanent facility.

“The Part VIII [planning permission] process is very much alive. Observations received from the NPWS required some further assessment work to be undertaken as the site is beside a Special Protection Area for certain species of bird. A specialised environmental consultant is preparing the further detailed data that is required,” said a spokesperson.

“The overall proposal for Part VIII is primarily a ‘tidy up’ of the car park to improve its presentation. Its proximity to an EU designated site requires the detailed analysis which encompasses the potential in combination effects of the recent development of the Cliffs Coastal Walk.”

The cliffs, which attracted in excess of 1 million visitors to Clare last year, has been operating using a gravel public car park for more than seven years now.

A grant of € 550,000 was made available to the facility earlier this year for the development of both the coach car park and the public car park as well the development of a new exhibition in the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience.