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The Courts Service has released documents that show how the Su- perintendent for the Killaloe area expressed considerable opposition to the move. Supt Tony Kennelly’s view prevailed and the Tulla sittings will now be held in Killaloe.

The Courts Service board recently ratified the re-organisation of the Clare Courts Service, which involves the the abolition of a number of sit- tings in the county.

The moves will see sittings taking place in three venues from the New

Year: Ennis, Kilrush and Killaloe. When additional courthouses are provided in Ennistymon and Shan- non, the number of venues will in- crease to five.

The plan — which will be effective from January | — will see Kilkee sittings take place in Kilrush and Lisdoonvarna and Miltown Malbay being relocated to Ennistymon. The re-organisation will also see Scariff sittings being relocated to Killaloe.

Ennistymon sittings are currently being held at Kilrush pending the provision of a new courthouse in the north Clare town.

A spokesman for the Courts Serv- ice said that it may be one more year before courts are held once more in Ennistymon. Negotiations are ongo- ing in relation to a proposed site in the north Clare town.

The spokesman said that next on the priority is a new courthouse for Killaloe.

An internal Courts Service memo stated that the former courthouse building in Killaloe was being used by the county council “as a store for everything from straw to wheelbar- rows. The courthouse is in a ter- ribe state. However, there is at least room there to constitute a proper court venue, preferable with a local partnership input to best utilise this building”.

A spokesman for the Courts Serv- ice said that it’s hoped that the court- house will be shared with the Family Support Centre in Killaloe and that the two would share maintenance costs.

The spokesman couldn’t put a time- frame in relation to the provision of a new courthouse in Killaloe or Shan- non. The Shannon sittings are cur- rently held in Ennis.

An internal memo anticipated that there would be resistance to the move from Kilkee to Kilrush. The memo stated that “conditions are very poor at Kilkee and Kilrush has good fa- cilities eight miles away”.

However, no opposition to the Kil- kee move materialised.

THE family of a Polish man who died as a result of a road accident three years ago – while working in Shannon – has secured €500,000 in damages in the High Court.

Damian Zimowski (27), an alarm technician with Active Technology in Shannon, died as aresult of an incident on September 10, 2005. He lost his life

hours after the accident in which steel rods protruding from the back of a lorry pierced into his van. He became impaled in the upper body.

The case was taken by his widow Agnieszka against Foley Contract- ing of Milltown, Askeaton, Limerick – owners of the lorry – and Brian Mc- Mahon, Ballynoe, Castlemahon, Lim- erick, who was the lorry driver.

The offer was made to the plaintiff

on the third day of the hearing before Mr Justice John Quirke at the High Court last Thursday.

Liability had been fully contested, until an engineer for the plaintiff gave evidence in court. A satisfactory offer was then made by the defendants.

Solicitor for Ms Zimowski, Gear- oid Howard – partner with Crimmins Howard solicitors in Shannon – said the case was tragic and his client was

relieved it was all over.

“Tt is a huge relief that the case has fi- nally been settled. It was a tragic acci- dent. He had come to Ireland to make a new life for himself and his family,’ he said.

Mr Howard paid tribute to the late Mr Zimowski’s employer Ultan McAvinue at Active Technology in Shannon.

“Damian sold his family car to fi-

nance his trip to Ireland. At the time he was killed, his family didn’t have the money to pay for his funeral or fly his body back to Poland. Mr McAv- inue paid for the funeral and for his body to be flown home,” said Mr Howard.

‘His employers were hugely support- ive of his widow and his child. They did everything they possibly could to help at this difficult time,” he said.

A MAN WHO snatched a ‘defence- less’ 81-year-old woman’s handbag and knocked her to the ground has been handed a five-year jail term. However the sentence will not come into effect 1f the accused succeeds in staying away from heroin, to which he had been addicted at the time of the attack.

Jonathon O’Donoghue (28), of Beech Grove Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, pleaded guilty to robbing the woman of her handbag and €450, at Avoca handweavers, Bunratty, on October 31, 2005. He also admitted assaulting her.

Ennis Circuit Court heard that the woman was confined to bed for al- most two months after the ordeal she endured.

In imposing sentence, Judge Ger- ard Griffin told the defendant he chose a “defenceless elderly woman” to rob, to feed his heroin habit.

“The weakest victim you could find,” remarked the judge. “You de- prived her, by your actions, of her independence, as she was confined to bed for two months after,’ he AYO Ce(oxen

However he said he had taken into account the very positive report from Slainte and the fact that O’ Donoghue had inspired other young adults on

the road to recovery.

He said the appropriate sentence was five years, which he suspended in its entirety, on condition that the accused remain drug-free for five years.

“You have made great progress in your rehabilitation and I wish you oN DOME HO TAL

“T want to warn you if you are tried and convicted from this day on, or if you don’t remain drug free, I will impose a five year sentence,” he con- Wb OLeCoee

“You are getting a chance. You de- serve a chance in the circumstances. Don’t let it slip,’ Judge Griffin add- ek

MICHAEL Dillon told the trial that he felt ‘fine’ driving on the day of the accident and rejected suggestions that he had fallen asleep at the wheel.

The father-of-two, a fitter based in Connemara, had travelled to Port- magee in Kerry the day before the accident to join his colleagues from Galway Scuba Diving Club.

He had got up at 5am and left his Inverin home at 5.30am to drive to Portmagee. He arrived there at

9.30am and did two dives off Val- entia that day. He later went out for dinner and had four or five pints of Heineken. He said he remained in the pub until around lam and then went back to a house that was rented by some members of the sub aqua club.

There, he was handed a bottle of beer but only drank a mouthful and fell asleep. He was awakened at 2.30am and went to the hostel where he was staying. He went to bed and slept until 9am when a phone call from his wife woke him. He went

back to sleep until 10am and af- ter getting up, he was between two minds whether to stay in Kerry for another day.

He eventually decided to drive home and left at around llam. He said he got a headache about 40 minutes into the drive and pulled over and took paracetamol and a drink. He contin- ued on with his journey and said the headache went away, but said he did not remember anything after passing Bunratty. “Nothing, ‘til after the ac- cident,” he told the court.

He said after the accident, he re- membered “sitting in the jeep. The windscreen was broken and the bon- net was on the windscreen.” He said he had no memory of seeing the two cyclists and had no memory of his jeep veering off and leaving the dual OF NU UTE

He said he learned that Mr Flan- nery had died when he arrived at his Inverin home later that evening.

He told the trial he had several medical examinations carried out in the aftermath of the accident, in

an effort to ascertain what had hap- pened to him, but no explanation emerged. He said he did not drive for 10 months after the accident and did not dive until April of this year.

Under —_cross-examination _—_—by Stephen Coughlan, for the prosecu- tion, Mr Dillon said he felt “fine” while in Kerry. Asked could he have fallen asleep while driving, he said, “No. I felt comfortable driving.” He denied that his jeep had left the road as a result of falling asleep. “I didn’t feel tired or anything,” he said.

he felt it necessary to have his feelings known when he took part in the teachers and parent’s protest against budget cuts in education.

‘For me it is very clear cut. I am a teacher and at the cold face of it, and long after this has died down as a political issue, for me and other teachers and more importantly the children will be paying the price for months and maybe even years to come,’ said Cllr Crowe.

He said as far as he was concerned there was no conflict of interest in his stance.

“T think it is healthy that I should go out. [ am a Fianna Fail man and wish to stay a Fianna Fail man, but I was elected by the people of this area and this does not sit well with them and it does not sit well with me,’ he

added.

While his own school won’t be af- fected directly by the cuts this year the east Clare councillor has not ruled out crippling affects in the fu- neh ker

‘Down the road new appointments could be affected and class sizes,’ he Cr AKOR

“I think the Government and Fian- na Fail need to rethink this. In mak- ing the necessary cuts you should not touch the young or the elderly.

“We have a very low betting tax and by increasing it by a few more per cent it could net another €100 million.”

Like many more in the profession the young teacher said he has spent his Own money on providing essen- tial materials for the classroom.

‘“T have spent close to €2,500 of my own money to put things in my class room.

“IT bought my own projector and I am out of pocket and I took out a broadband contract that I use for the classroom. This is something that should be in every classroom,” he said. “I am not alone in this. We (teachers) put up with a lot and say very little, but at a time like this we cannot stay quiet anymore,’ said the outspoken councillor.

ALMOST 70 per cent of créches in Clare failed to comply with HSE regulations. That is according to a survey of inspection reports from the county’s créches and schools car- ried out between October 2006 to October 2007 and released under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to the pre-school inspec- tion reports into facilities that ca- tered for 10 or more children, 69 out of the 101 inspected in Clare were in breach of the HSE’s criteria.

Of those, which did not comply with the inspector’s criteria, as many as 33, or almost a third, were record- ed as having minor or very minor

breaches of the regulations. Another 32 had no breaches at all.

Among the most common breaches outlined was the child-adult ratio exceeding the 10:1 limit, bound- ary fencing or doors broken, lack of space for children to move about in and un-nutritious food.

At the Knocklisheen Accommo- dation Centre the inspector found a long list of issues including the need for more space and staff, and a lim- ited range of toys available

The report also recorded that there was no nappy bags or disposable gloves for the staff, no snacks pro- vided to the children in the morn- ing session and sleeping babies were at risk of being hit by falling toys.

There were no toys or equipment in the outdoor area.

The Department of Justice said however that the number of children in this pre-school in the reception centre for asylum seekers had been adjusted to meet the HSE guidelines.

Additional toys and equipment are now in place and a stock of depos- able gloves and nappy bags are avail- able to staff. It said healthy snacks it said were available, and the outdoor play area, which was under construc- tion at the time of the inspection is now complete.

The inspector also out lined con- cerns relating to the prefabricated building in which the Little Rascals Playgroup in St Conaire’s National

School in Shannon was situated. That prefab has since been replaced however and the HSE are said to be happy with the new facility.

In Maghera Gardens Créche the in- spector found that nappies were be- ing changed in both toilets including staff toilets. The creche said that one of the toilets is now designated for staff only, and the other is the chil- dren and changing nappies only.

The Inspector found that the stage area in the Community Centre in Kil- rush was not suitable for the Stepping Stones Playgroup. The playgroup has applied however for funding to fix the concertina doors leading to the stage which they claim provide plenty of room for the children.

, will this week

(Wednesday night, 9pm) focus on the

Brendan O’Donnell tragedy, while

it will also look back at the Patrick O’ Dwyer case.

The final part of the series, next

week, will look at the unsolved mur- der of Ennistymon woman Emer O’Loughlin, on the Galway/Clare border in 2005.

In a case that shocked the na- tion, Brendan O’Donnell murdered Imelda Riney, her three-year-old son Liam and Galway priest Fr Joe Walsh. Their bodies were found in Cregg Wood in east Clare in 1994.

O’Donnell was subsequently con- victed of the triple murder, but died in 1996 while serving his sentence at the Central Mental Hospital in Dub-

lin.

Patrick O’Dwyer, from Shrohill, Ennistymon, killed his 17-year-old sister Marguerite in a frenzied at- tack at their home on November 29, pAuers

O’Dwyer hit his sister six times on the head with a claw hammer and in- flicted more than 90 stab wounds to her body. He told gardai he had con- templated suicide and attacked his sister while she watched television, as he feared she would get in the way of his suicide attempt. He later came

clean to gardai. “It’s like being inside a room with a video and I can’t turn it off,” he told gardai.

At the Central Criminal Court in June 2007, O’Dwyer claimed a de- fence of diminished responsibility, in that he suffered from a mental disor- der when he killed his sister.

The jury in the trial agreed and found him guilty of manslaughter, by reason of diminished responsibil- ity. He was sentenced to six years in jail.

This week’s hour-long programme will address the issue of balance of mind and the prevalence of mental health issues among a high percent- age of those who commit crime in Ireland.

The third Clare tragedy to be in- cluded in the series is that of Emer O’Loughlin. The 23-year-old’s body was discovered in a burnt out cara- van near Tubber in April 2005. No- one has ever been held accountable for her killing. The story of Emer’s killing is one of three unsolved cases being highlighted in the documen- Fe AY

The series is produced by Sideline Productions. It examines the rise in Irish murder rates and assesses the impact of the various killings on the families left behind. It is presented by former T’V3 crime correspondent Maura Derrane.

A POLICY is needed for the future maintenance of the Ennis public lighting system, Town Councillor Johnny Flynn has said.

At a meeting of the town council last night, Cllr Flynn proposed that a professional consultant be employed to draw up such a policy as the con- tract between the council and the ESB is drawing to a close.

In a motion before the meeting he asked that “in the context of deregu- lation and possible departure of ESB contracts that Ennis Town Council

develop an appropriate policy to manage their street lighting asset having regard to public safety, en- ergy efficiency, value for money for maintenance, liability indemnifica- tion, design commissioning and cer- tification”.

The councillor said that the service which the town council is getting has reduced in recent years “probably because of the break up of the com- pany into constituent parts”’.

He said that street lighting is “a valuable asset” on which the coun- cil spent a third of a million Euros last year. “We have something in the

order of 3,000 street lights in En- nis and it’s important that we have a policy for managing and maintaining them,” he said.

Cllr Flynn said that in February 2007, 7 per cent of the town’s pub- lic lights were not working. “That went back to two per cent following a discussion of the matter,’ he told the meeting.

Cllr Tommy Brennan said that it would be important when the council takes over maintenance of the light- ing system that they “ensure that we are taking over lights that are in good working condition, in the same way

that we would if we were taking any- thing else in charge’.

In reply to the councillor’s motion the town engineer said that the coun- cil has engaged a company to carry out an inventory of public lighting and an asset management system. “The softwear is a specialised light- ing management package which is used by eight other local authori- one

He said the lighting inventory would be used by the local authority to tender their public lighting main- tenance when their existing ESB contact expires.

A WEST Clare student was honoured along with five more from the county at the National University of Ireland Galway last week for outstanding re- sult in this year’s leaving cert.

St Joseph’s Secondary School Spanish Point paid tribute this week to past pupil Sorcha Curtin who not only secured the maximum 600 points in the state exam but was also awarded a bursary from the Galway University at the Entrance Scholars Socsaleyne

The intelligent teenager is now studying medicine at the college.

School principal Mary Crawford paid tribute to the 17 and a half-year- old and told the Clare people the school was very proud of Sorcha’s achievement.

While attending the Spanishpoint school she opted to study English, Irish, Maths, French, Music and Chemistry.

“As well as a great academic achievement she was a trusted friend and also got on very well with all members of staff in the school,” said

a school’s spokesperson.

“Tt 1s an honour for her and the school that she was one of eighteen to get such a high grade, and we would like to congratulate her,” he said.

A keen musican Sorcha plays the concertina in Michael Mahony’s tra- ditional music group.

She is the daughter of Anne (nee Barry) and Christy Curtin from Clondony Miltown Malbay.

Other Clare students to be hon- oured by NUIG were Ian Broderick from Ennis, who was a past pupil of Rice College and is now studying

Engineering. Finn Krewer, from Tu- ber is also studying engineering and is a past pupil of Gort Community College.

Caoimhe Marie Hanrahan from Corofin is a past pupil of Ard Scoil Naoimhe Mhuire Ennistymon and is now studying Occupational Therapy.

Christine Kelly is also from Tu- ber and is a past pupil of Kinvara Secondary School. Paula Christina Kelly is a past pupil of Rice College Ennis and she was also honoured by NUIG.

TRIBUTES have been paid from across the world to a west Clare woman who raised millions of euros for the poor and sick, and was co- founder of two new missionary rell- gious congregations in Burma.

Mary Doohan, founder of the Lit- tle Way Association was born at The Hand, Coore in 1917 and 1s still re- membered fondly by neighbours.

Mary Burke recalls how Ms Doohan’s mother Hannah was a very religious woman, and it was no sur- prise that three of her children en- tered the religious life.

Mary Doohan far surpassed many in her religious devotion and service of the poor, and was recognised for her work by the Holy See when she was decorated with the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” medal in 1978 and was made a Dame of St Gregory in 1996.

Despite her worldwide recognition Mary never forgot her home and last month was laid to rest in Coore Cem- etery.

Having given so much in life, Mary died without any home, in the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Meadow Road, Vauxhall, aged 91 years old.

The late Ms Doohan was the sec- ond child of Timothy and Hannah Doohan. Her brothers John and Michael joined the priesthood and continue to dedicate their lives to the Columbian Missionary in the Philip- pines. Her late sister Philomena be- came a nun.

Mary was also predeceased by her sisters Bernie and Teresa, and her brothers Patrick and Joseph.

She is survived by her sister Cath- erine (Baby) and Fr Michael and Fr John.

Having been educated in Spanish- point she left for London in 1937

where she worked as a clerk. She was a daily mass goer and spent much of her time working with the Legion of Mary. She also promoted devotion to St Therese of Lisieux and

While he was working in the Phil- ippines her brother Fr John wrote to say that the roof of his church had been blown off by a typhoon. Miss Doohan started holding jumble sales and other fundraising events to help her brother’s mission. Soon priests and lay Catholics became involved.

Ms Doohan set up her charitable association, The Little Way Asso- ciation, with missionary Bishop of Anthony Galvin of Miri in Malaysia, who helped her get approval from Cardinal William Godfrey in 1960.

The Little Way Association takes its name from St Thérése’s “little way – which emphasised carrying out the smallest of deeds in a spirit of charity.

The association was the first run from a basement in London’s Victo- ria Street before it moved to a larger office in Red Lion Square, before fi- nally moving to its present headquar- ters in Clapham in 1962.

Ms Doohan, was the lifetime presi- dent of the Little Way when she died in London on August 29, following a stroke.

During Miss Doohan’s lifetime the Little Way Association grew from an informal group of lay people raising money for the Catholic missions to an organised missionary charity with six centres.

Two of these centres are based in India and the other four are in places of pilgrimage in Lourdes, Knock, Fatima and Walsingham.