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Tiondladh Foram Oige an Chlair

THE Bishop of Killaloe has told Education Minister, Batt O’Keeffe that he may have to close down En- nis National School over the state of the school building.

Dr Willie Walsh was responding to a HSE report which concluded that the school was ‘not fit for purpose’.

The report stated that parents of pupils attending the school “are en- titled to feel seriously concerned about the health and welfare of their

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School authorities met with Minis- ter O’ Keeffe to advance the case for a new school, two weeks ago when Dr Walsh referred to the health and safety inspection which had put him in a position where the school might have to be closed.

THE number of Clare people who have sought help from the Govern- ment to help pay their mortgage in- terest this year has almost doubled on the numbers seeking assistance last year.

Statistics provided by the Minister for Social Welfare, Mary Hanafin show that 152 people have sought

supplementary welfare allowances for mortgage interest in Clare so far this year.

Highlighting the difficulty more families are experiencing in repaying their mortgages, the figures show the 152 people seeking help compares to 78 last year; 65 in 2006; 56 in 2005 and 51 in 2004.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) yes- terday called on the Government to

provide additional help to people having difficulty paying back their mortgages.

“It’s frightening what’s going on and this is only the beginning with people losing their jobs. The great- est fear people have is losing their homes. The Government has to show leadership and we all have to pull together in this. The taxpayer has already provided a guarantee to the

banks and they should not engage in any repossessions.”

“You can’t have banks coming along and repossessing homes and selling them in a depressed housing market at a fraction of the value. That is to the benefit of no one. The people who bought these homes couldn’t qualify for social or affordable housing. It is not their fault that they had to pur- chase these homes at inflated prices

— they had no choice.

“Enough profiteering has gone on. We had it with the price of houses and we had it with the price of land. It is time to say stop’, Cllr McCarthy declared.

The supplementary welfare al- lowance scheme, administered by the HSE, provides for a weekly or monthly supplement to be paid in re- spect of mortgage interest.

GARDAI in Ennis are believed to have intercepted a Dublin gang plan- ning to commit a serious crime in the heart of the town.

As part of a major operation, armed gardai swooped and arrested five members of a suspected criminal gang on Parnell Street in Ennis on Friday morning.

Pedestrians looked on in aston- ishment as the five were taken into custody, while a car and van were taken by gardai for technical exami- nations.

The five men were taken for ques- tioning at Ennis and Shannon Garda stations, where they were held throughout the day. All five were released without charge on Saturday and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecution’s of- fice, where a decision will be taken on whether to charge them.

According to sources, the move- ments of the gang had been under surveillance for a number of weeks and this led to Friday’s major op- eration. They are understood to have been monitoring their business target in Ennis for some weeks.

There was the most significant Garda operation mounted in the county capital for a considerable pe- riod of time.

The other, separate, most prolific Garda operation in the town this winter was last month’s success- ful recovery of a haul of more than

€100,000 worth of jewellery which had been stolen from people’s homes across the town.

The jewellery was stolen during 55 burglaries over a six-week period and was recovered in a garage in the town five weeks ago.

This was on foot of the establish- ment of Operation Ennis, which was set up after dozens of home own- ers reported that their premises had been broken into during the daytime. Jewellery and cash were taken by the intruders as burglaries hit an all-time high in the town.

A major surveillance operation was set up and this led to the arrest of an individual. One man has been charged in connection with the in- vestigation — he is facing four charg- es — and the probe is continuing.

Some of the victims were delighted to have their valuable items of jewel- lery returned to them by gardai in- volved in the extensive investigation.

FIVE students who returned to edu- cation in St. John Bosco Community College, Kildysart, have been award- ed Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) awards in business studies, computer applications and special needs assist- ant training.

The college offers the business studies course certified by the Fur- ther Education and Training Awards Council of Ireland (FETAC). Re- cipients of certificates were Patricia Kelly, Kildysart; Mary McMahon, Ballyea; Stephanie McNamara, Lis- sycasey; Karina Mescal, Cooraclare, and Lorna Wallace, Cranny.

The course is co-ordinated by Betty Culligan and her co-tutors are Marie O’Callaghan, Mona Garry and Mairéad Doohan.

FETAC is the statutory body set up in 2001 to create opportunities for all learners in further education to have their achievements recognised nationally and internationally.

Marion Coughlan Flynn, col- lege principal, said it was a huge achievement on everyone’s part. Being awarded a FETAC certificate indicated that one had reached the precise standard. She complimented the students on their hard work and co-operation despite also having responsibilities at home. She also thanked the four teachers for their commitment and dedication to the Fe) acter

The graduating students would be worthy ambassadors for the Kildysart

course in years to come, and she en- couraged them to encourage others to take on a PLC experience, since they themselves had enjoyed and benefited so much from one.

FETAC representative Donal Grif- fin presented the certificates and sug- gested that the mature students might consider as one option the setting up small business. Big business often started from small initiative. There was also the option of taking up modules in other FETAC opportuni- ties for further study and training.

FETAC awards were a relatively new element in Irish education and gave a framework to people to start back on a ladder and afforded step- ping stones to progress through education. It was a huge and very positive change for all involved and contrasted greatly with previous times when no way back into educa- tion was possible if one stopped at a particular point. He was delighted that the college had become involved in that change.

He also complimented the four teachers who managed and pro- gressed the course and said he hoped the students would have found an ap- petite for further learning, whether in St. John Bosco College or elsewhere, to build on what they had achieved.

THE sister of a man accused of rap- ing and threatening to kill his preg- nant ex-partner has told a jury that she spoke to her brother on the phone during the alleged incident and he told her he wanted to commit sui- cide.

She said the accused told her eve- rything was “ok” and she also talked to the complainant, after hearing that her brother had hit her and the wom- an confirmed that she was not hurt.

“She said she was fine and it was not serious,’ the witness told the jury.

She said she asked her brother to ei- ther put the gun down or throw it out the window and leave the house.

She said she asked him, “Do you realise that the police think this is a hostage situation?” as that was what their father had earlier told her.

When asked by counsel if her broth- er was obsessed with the complain- ant, the witness replied “He loved her very much but I am not qualified to say if he was obsessed with her”.

The accused’s brother told the court that he rang the man after his sister called him. He said that his brother told him he was going to kill him-

self.

The trial was also told that a cousin of the accused contacted gardai be- cause he was worried about the man’s welfare after he noticed that his own shotgun and cartridges were missing from his home.

The witness said he “thought of the accused” because the man was de- pressed and was going through his own troubles. He went to the garda station after he spoke to the accused on the phone and realised he was in the company of his ex-partner.

He later talked to his cousin, with the phone on loudspeaker so the

gardai could listen in on their con- versation, during which the accused admitted he had hit his ex-partner AUN eM Melomcae tee

Sergeant Brian Howard said he took over the phone from the accused’s cousin and reassured the man that his and his ex-partner’s welfare were priority for the gardai and confirmed that they would not storm the house.

He also told him that he would give him any assistance, medical or oth- erwise, that he required.

Sgt Howard said he made an agree- ment with the accused to leave the shotgun in the back of his cousin’s

car and the man later complied with Wek

He then met the accused and the complainant at the back of her home and arrested him under the Mental Health Act.

On the way to the station the ac- cused started to cry and the com- plainant, who had asked to travel in the patrol car with him, leaned over and held his hand for the rest of the journey.

Sgt Howard said the complainant was injured and appeared to be both frightened and shocked.

Buyers look to Internet for cars

A WOMAN has denied in court that she made love to her ex-partner after he hit her. She said, “I can categori- cally 100 percent say it was not love. It was rape.”

She was giving evidence in the trial of a man who has pleaded not guilty to seven charges arising out of an al- leged incident in the complainant’s Clare home on September 9, 2007.

He denies three charges of rape, anal rape and oral rape of a woman, one charge each of falsely imprison- ing and threatening to kill her, aggra- vated burglary using a single-action shotgun and unlawful possession of a firearm, all on the same occasion.

He has pleaded guilty to one charge of assaulting the woman on the same occasion, causing her harm.

The woman told the court that the

43-year-old accused had announced that he was going to rape her before he did so.

She was surprised he had said that because minutes earlier he had de- clared his love for her.

She didn’t accept a suggestion from defence lawyers that the accused had a gun with him that night because he was intending to shoot himself.

She also didn’t accept that she started to row with her ex-partner when she woke up to find him in her room.

“He had a gun with him and I was not going to argue with him,” she said.

She said the accused was lying if he had told his counsel that he had not touched her in the face with the gun.

The complainant agreed that she had a cigarette with the accused that night. “I asked him for a cigarette be-

cause I was shaking. It was a break from his anger and it was a connec- tion between us to share a cigarette,” she said.

She said during the rape she had thought about trying to escape by poking the accused in the eye with a set of keys on the bed but she re- alised to get out she would have to jump out of a window when it was pitch black outside.

The complainant agreed with John Phelan SC, defending, that there was a “series of ups and downs” in their relationship, that there was a pattern of “moving in and moving out” and that they had “their share of fero- os (o) brome: 0 yca 000 8(o) 81 RcMe

The hearing continues today (Tues- day) before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of five women and seven men, at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.

AFTER much delay, this highly an- ticipated decider is finally down for decision this weekend. Newmarket and Kilmaley were both finished their group stages before the com- mencement of the championship but due to the involvement of girls on county teams, both Under 18 and Junior and then Kilmaley’s run of great results and the decision to play the Under 18 club championship, the league has waited until what is near- ly Christmas week to see the final I eNierem

Ironically, it is a repeat of the pair- ing which lined out against each oth-

er in the senior championship final, where Kilmaley emerged victorious. Kilmaley have since won the Mun- ster Junior Club final while losing the All-Ireland final and last week- end, the county U18 final as well. They will be hoping to win the dou- ble and have in doing so chose not to leave this final go until next year as they have a number of girls from the Under 18 panel in the senior team. It is yet to be seen whether or not they will have Claire McMahon available to them. Claire broke her wrist on the evening of the All-Ireland club final and has had it in cast since then. If missing she will be a big loss to the county champions.

Newmarket will be out to avenge that county final defeat and had a

narrow win over Kilnamona in the league semi-final where it took the game to extra time. They were also surprisingly beaten in the UI8A semi-final by eventual winners Sixmulebridge and they will not want to let the year go without adding to the UI4A title that was won in the parish during the year.

This should be a tight contest but with the recent run of games that Kilmaley have had if Claire Mc- Mahon is fit, they may just add the League title to the championship. A League title that they won just short of this time last season, and will not want to relinquish.

THERE has been a surge in applica- tions to reduce maintenance in the family law courts in Clare, as a di- rect result of the recession.

Family law solicitors in the county say more and more people are facing difficulty in paying maintenance and are applying to the district court to vary payments.

The free legal advice clinics in En- nis are also noticing a huge increase in queries related to family law and employment law issues, due to the downturn in the economy.

Solicitor and family law special- ist Mairead Doyle said many people have had reduced incomes or are on

social welfare and as a result are simply unable to meet maintenance payments.

‘There 1s a marked increase in the number of applications for decreas- ing maintenance before the courts. This is as a result of some people earning substantially less than they were, she said.

She pointed out that the threat of committal to jail is hanging over those who fail to meet their main- tenance commitments, pending the decision of a district court judge.

‘People are missing payments and are being brought back before the judge. The penalty is committal to prison and the judge has to consider each case on its own merits,” said Ms

Doyle.

Those who are not receiving their maintenance are going to court, to PYG COKoN MOO OMONTLAKOe

‘The other option is for an attach- ment of earnings order to be brought to the district court, where someone applies to have maintenance deduct- ed at source by the employer. Those applications are more common now,” added Ms Doyle, who is an associate partner at Michael Houlihan’s solici- tors in Ennis.

She said the family law courts — which sit twice a month in Clare — have been particularly busy in the run-up to Christmas, amid intense family pressures and the squeeze on incomes.

“The family law courts are ex- tremely busy, especially coming up to Christmas. There are access mat- ters and problems with maintenance. The downturn is taking effect. Peo- ple are really feeling the pinch,” she NCO

Ms Doyle is on the free legal ad- vice panel, which runs clinics in Ennis every week and has noticed a sizeable increase 1n queries in recent weeks.

“The clinics are inundated with family law and employment law que- ries. The way the economy is going, a lot more pressure is being put on relationships,’ she said.

The free legal advice clinics are regularly held at the Ennis Citizens

Information Centre on Bindon Lane every Thursday between 7pm and O00