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IT would be very wrong to convict an innocent man, but it would also be very wrong to acquit someone if evidence was available.

That was the statement made by Judge Rory McCabe, as he told the jury to consider each charge against Paschal Carmody separately. He said there were two types of charges to be considered; false pretences and de- ception, relating to three patients.

‘Each of the three suffered from a deep-seated terminal cancer. In all but one, all other methods were ex- hausted. All three died within a rela- tively short period of time of receiv- ing treatment,’ he said.

“You may find some evidence cred- ible and some not credible. If any

evidence has two different meanings and one is favourable to the defence, you must use what is favourable to the accused. If you have a doubt, you must acquit,” he said.

He pointed out that Mr Carmody had chosen to give evidence in the trial. ““His evidence is no different to any other evidence in this case. It is up to you to decide what weight to give his evidence. If you feel a charge is proved beyond reasonable doubt, convict. If you have reason- able doubt, you must acquit,” said the judge, last Wednesday.

“To convict an innocent man would be very wrong, but it would also be very wrong to acquit someone when the evidence is there beyond reason- able doubt,” said the judge, who said the ideal verdict on each charge was

unanimous.

He also told the jury that John James Gallagher’s wife Bernadette – who gave evidence during the trial – is suing the accused for damages.

He noted that at the beginning of the trial there had been 25 charges, but directed the jury to find Mr Car- mody not guilty on eight of those charges. “The prosecution accepts there is insufficient evidence to pro- ceed,” he said.

He said there was no evidence of any promise of a cure made in rela- tion to Mary O’Connor, Josephine Durkan or Karen Kurvink.

yester- day that from October 2008 they will be increasing the capacity of the planes servicing the route. The Shannon-Charles de Gaulle service was instigated last February follow- ing the axeing of the Aer Lingus con- nection through Heathrow.

“The decision for Aer Lingus to move their slots to Belfast was a very unwelcome one for the airport and also for the region. But the decision was made and it has happened. For us it has been blow in terms of pas- sengers and spend in the airport – it was our biggest and best route,” said Shannon Airport Director, Martin Moroney.

“We lost it quite suddenly and from that we lost global connectiv- ity. It was a huge loss to the region and to the west of Ireland as well. Twelve months on it’s still a big loss and there is no prospect really of Air

Lingus coming back on the route – in the short term at least. We will keep trying to get someone else to recom- mence the service. We will keep try- ing because we know how important the route was for the business.

“By getting in Air France/CityJet we have been running a very success- ful service to Paris since February. Obviously it a much lower capacity and doesn’t make up for the loss of

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“We believe that this service does give global connectivity through Charles de Gaulle and it will im- prove later in the year when Air France puts on a large aircraft and will possibly move the first flight to an earlier time. So far a large extent this service compensates for the loss of Heathrow but no fully.

“Some people are actually flying to

Dublin in the morning and then go- ing on to Heathrow but unfortunately some people are also driving to Cork in the morning and going form there. Our aim would be to restore Heath- row service if possible because we know it was a profitable route, it’s unlikely in the short term but that is the goal.”

Mr Moroney believes that a number of new routes will be opening up in Shannon in the near future. “We have been in talks with CityJet about the creation of a London City route. There is a large business segment that have been left without a flight to London. We are very hopeful of this but nothing has been decided yet,’ continued Mr Moroney.

“Ryanair did put on extra flights to London to serve that London market – and they have become very impor- tant to Shannon. Ryanair is doing very well here – they have 31 routes here now and that is a great network.

‘Some people are saying that they are dominating everything but they are a major airline. Maybe some people are not keen to come in and compete with them but CityJet have come into Shannon and are doing (3 aan (0) 0 ee

IT IS festival peak season in west Clare this weekend, as three local festivals and a prestigious agricul- tural show will entertain visitors and locals enjoying the bank holiday.

Cooraclare, Kildysart and Kilmihil are making last minute preparations for their annual week and weekends of festive fun.

The Kildysart Cultural Festival will be the first to begin the merrymak- ing, as it starts tomorrow evening with a car treasure hunt.

Flower power will be the order of the day until the end of the festival on Monday, August 4, as the theme of the festival this year is “The Sixties”. The festival has been a major fund-

raiser during the last five years for the provision of a public playground, which is now complete.

A total of €190,000 has been spent on the project to date, but the fund- raising 1S on-going as it is hoped that phase two of the project will begin shortly.

The second part of this ambitious project will include an all weather pitch, dressing rooms, and toilet fa- cilities.

This year the famous Kildysart Agricultural Show will take place on the Saturday of the festival on the Cahercon Road, with the exhibition hall in the village.

In its 66th year the show will in- clude as always the All-Ireland two- year filly championship.

Labasheeda native John O’Sullivan from the Quickpark company this year announced his commitment to sponsoring the Champion Young Horse for another five years.

The Kilmihil Festival of Fun begins on this Friday, August |, with the un- der 12 football followed by “Crazy Ball Game” and barrel racing.

This festival, best known for its “Bonham Racing” began in its present format in 2000.

It has developed from a one-day event to the present day four-day fes- tival, finishing up on Bank Holiday Monday.

Each year new events are added to improve and expand the range of ac- tivities of this family and community eee COLORED

Preparations are also underway for one of west Clare’s longest running festivals. In its 29th year the ever- popular Rose of Clare Festival will begin on Saturday, August 2, with a song contest in Danganelly Tavern, Cooraclare.

The week long festival will run un- til Friday, bringing craic, ceoil and lots of lovely ladies to the villages of Cree and Cooraclare.

This year, as always, a dozen new roses will be introduced to the crowd after the Sunday afternoon Fancy Dress parade in Cree, by Clare man of the year and local man Martin Done

The people of west Clare will be spoilt for choice of holidaying at home this long weekend.

THE summations to the jury of the evidence brought in the trial of Pas- chal Carmody were lengthy and took almost an entire day in court.

The two senior counsel involved with the case had the job of summa- rising the case in terms of evidence for their respective sides heard over five weeks.

Beginning the summation before the jury of 11, Denis Vaughan-Buck- ley for the prosecution said that they ‘can not decided these cases based on sympathy for the accused or sympa- thy for the alleged victims. You must base your decision on the evidence you have heard and that alone.”

He told jurors that they had heard “evidence of a number of patients

who have done extremely well. But you have to decide on the three cases you have before you. You have heard evidence that he (Carmody) put his hand on Conor O’Sullivan’s shoulder and told him ‘Ill cure your cancer or at least keep you alive”.

He said that Carmody had said in direct evidence that he had been trained in PDT as an undergraduate in University College Galway “but there was no training in PDT treat- ment at UCG at the time he was an undergraduate”, the prosecutor said.

In Carmody’s defence, Pat Mar- rinan SC said that some of the wit- nesses whom it might have been ben- eficial for the jury to hear could not prom meellem me

Mark Hadden, who had been a pro- ponent of Carmody’s and had lived

several years after being treated by him had passed away just before the trial. Despite there having been evi- dence that he had met some of the pa- tients involved in the cases, this was “not declared upfront. Why when this was man who had had such a positive experience with Dr Carmo- dy why were they trying to cover that up? Why did the fact that he had met these people have to be dragged from IW STomAW ALB OCerstsonc ei

He told the jurors that the families of the cancer victims were under emotional strain. “Anyone who has been close to someone who is dy- ing of cancer knows that days flow into weeks and everything becomes a blur. It is not an event that you can recall as a day-to-day experience.”

He said that all of the patients,

without exception, had misinterpret- ed what their consultants had said to them prior to coming to Carmody.

“Were they told by their oncolo- gists that they were all clear or was that what they wanted to hear?”

He told the jury that the case “is about fraud. It is for you to judge, having in mind that he has served for 30 years as a doctor, having seen the people who took the stand on his behalf and testified from their hearts, you must judge, is that man a fraud- ster?”

THE Department of the Environ- ment has raised serious concerns over plans by the Shannon Airport Authority to construct a major piece of infrastructure in a protected la- goon near the airport.

Earlier this year, the SAA lodged plans to construct a pump station in order to control water levels at the Shannon Airport lagoon. According to a submission lodged on behalf of the SAA, it stated that “the proposal

to construct and operate the pump station represents a continuation of the existing station where pumping is achieved by means of a portable, diesel powered pump”.

The submission states, “The Shan- non Airport lagoon is experiencing a reduction in salinity with some evi- OLS aTerom Mat-1 USNR KSI IOLAD ITO Re sr-Nereers in fauna and flora communities.

However, in a strong worded sub- mission to the council, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Environment

states, “The application area is locat- ed within and adjacent to the lower River Shannon and includes the en- tire area of the lagoon.

“The lagoon is an example of the EU Habitats Directive priority habi- tat, and the candidate Special Area of Conservation (CSAC) has been listed for the conservation of the habitat.

“Pumping is having a negative ef- fect on the lagoon, including on its area, Structure and function, and on the species it supports. The proposed development will continue these ef-

fects.

‘This department considers that the proposed development will adversely effect the integrity of the SAC.”

An Taisce has also made a sub- mission stating that the “Shannon lagoon was originally developed in the establishing of Shannon Airport — it was in fact man made but over the years the migrating and wild bird population has developed into a very important bird sanctuary and 1s list- ed under the Special Protection Area of the River Shannon.”

WHEN PJ Murrihy goes to bed at night he dreams of the land, his life touring Ireland and the world and

Such dreams and visions are now making up a large part of the west Clare man’s ninth album as he wrote or co-wrote eight of the tracks.

As well as playing throughout Ire-

people he meets along the way.

The man from Mullagh then uses these dreams to write songs that have proven firm favourites among Irish country fans around the world.

land PJ also plays with a tour com- pany in Spain and Portugal and on Caribbean cruises.

While on one of those cruises with his friend Johnny Carroll he wrote “Johnny Carroll, The Man from Cas- tlerea”’.

“One night we were on the cruise and he told us “I am going to bed ear- ly because when you are doing this for 50 years like me you will have to go to bed too.” I was thinking about it that night and I had a song for him in the morning,” PJ told

IRELANDHOTELS.COM, the Irish Hotels Federation’s (IHF) accommo- dation website, has joined forces with Shannon Development to launch a summer marketing initiative through its new short breaks website, www. shortbreaksireland.1ie.

The partnership will see a wide range of value short breaks feature on the website throughout the re- mainder of the summer.

The website provides a resource for holidaymakers keen to avail of “best value’ deals in the Shannon region, allowing visitors to view special of- fers on everything from activity and spa breaks to romantic weekends AEN

Commenting on the initiative, Michael Vaughan, chairman of the IHF Shannon branch, said “We’re delighted to work closely with Shan- non Development to promote the re- gion as a highly desirable destination

offering a high quality product.”

“The partnership is an excellent opportunity to achieve sustainable development and growth of tourism and is a very positive development for marketing the region.”

He added, “Using www.short- breaksireland.ie. to book hotel and guesthouse accommodation offers people the best deals, cheapest prices and is an exciting channel for hotels and guesthouses to promote their products.”

John King, Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Development, stated, “The Shannon region has an unrivalled array of top class visitor accommodation and attractions. We are delighted to work with the Irish Hotels Federation to promote these attractions.”

“This venture combined with a range of other tourism marketing initiatives we are implementing will help drive additional tourism busi- ness to the Shannon region.”

AS Ennis mother of two Sharon Col- lins faces the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence following her con- viction for conspiring to kill her mil- lionaire partner and his two sons, friends of her primary target, busi- nessman PJ Howard, have leapt to his defence and have described as scurrilous claims about him made in court.

Mr Howard and his sons Robert and Niall have been trying to rebuild their lives after the six week trial which concluded last month.

Close friends of the businessman, who has been deeply affected by rev- elations in court, rallied around the 59 year old property tycoon saying that what was said about him in court was far from the truth.

During the trial of Sharon Collins and former Las Vegas poker deal Essam Eid for conspiring to kill the Howards in 2006, the details of an email in which Mrs Collins referred to her partner’s fondness for trans- vestite sex and prostitutes were read into evidence.

A former Mayor of Kilkee, local businessman, and a close personal friend of PJ Howard, Manuel DiLu- cia has described those allegations about Mr Howard’s private life as “total fabrication and all lies.”

‘| have known PJ for over 30 years and there has never been any indica- tion to suggest that any of what was said about him in court is even in the slightest way true. I have never seen or heard anything which would sup-

port any of the claims made in court and we have travelled many places together throughout Europe and he was always a total gentleman,’ Mr DiLucia said.

“PJ was always and still is a very generous and thoughtful man but in business he could be a very tough business opponent but you would ex- pect that. People work hard to earn what they have and PJ is no differ- ent.

“When I founded the Kilkee res- cue service in 1982 we were looking for sponsors to help us buy our first boat. In 1983, PJ came forward and offered to buy the boat, which he did, and even paid all the expenses to go to England to look at boats. When it was built and completed, he also paid the expenses to go back and collect it and bring it to Ireland. What’s more, he has made several contributions to local organisation and events since

then,’ Mr DiLucia said.

“I knew his late wife Teresa very well and even though they had sepa- rated, he looked after her very well up until her death. Some years later, it was exactly the same with his part- ner Bernie who also died. He was al- ways and is still a great father to his two sons. This was a vile attempt to tarnish the impeccable reputation of metro mmeet-see

“Nothing which was said in court about PJ’s private life is true and PJ is very upset by the comments. I haven’t spoken to PJ since the trial as I known he is resting and getting over the ordeal but I have been speaking to the family and I know how upset he has been about what was said,” Mr DiLucia added.

Another friend of Mr Howard’s, Limerick based businessman Bob McConkey said, “When I first heard some of the things which came out during the trial I was absolutely as- tonished. I was flabbergasted. In the 20 years I have known PJ Howard, in my experience; I have never seen or known anything of that about him – no way.”

‘I have never seen a side like that to him and it is scurrilous what was said and I know it to be scurrilous. When you know someone that long you know them. If anything like that was true, I would know about it or certainly would have heard. As far as I am concerned, what was said about PJ was a disgrace and absolutely un- founded,’ Mr McConkey added.

THE people of Miltown Malbay have always been proud of where they are from, and now the respect they have shown their local environment and their senior citizens is being recog- nised nationally.

The Senior Laichtin Naofa in the West Clare Family Resource Cen- tre is the only project in west Clare being considered in the All-Ireland competition Pride of Place.

Pride of Place started in 2003 and is an all-island competition directed towards recognising the improve- ments of local communities to create his Comm owe CoM OO MN elcsNUE-D Ror.

The competition encourages peo- ple to come together to enjoy all that

is good about their area as well as change or improve certain aspects of their community.

The competition is hosted by Co- operation Ireland under its Local Authority Programme in conjunction with the all-island Local Authority Steering Forum comprising officials from authorities in all of the island of Ireland.

This year three new single-issue categories have been added to the competition – including Services for the Elderly. It is in this category that Seanoiri Laichtin Naofa is being considered for the €2,000 prize and trophy.

This unique low-cost service pro- vides social care for senior citizens in the area through a voluntary agency.

It offers a wide range of services to approximately 60 senior citizens every week such as library services, IT learning opportunities, medical support, leisure and meals daily.

Local County Councillor Christy Curtin (Ind) said, “This service is open for social networking for a group of people otherwise isolated.

“Tt is sustainable and as it operates as a low cost facility, this makes it at- tractive to further development.”

He paid tribute to the Local Ac- tive Retirement Association and ICA guild; bean an ti Cait Ni Loingsigh, the six volunteers, the three FAS workers and Clarecare.

‘This is amodel project on a low op- erating cost and minimum overheads fulfilling a significant social need in

a disadvantage rural area,” said Cllr Curtin. The concept behind the Pride of Place competition is very simple – to recognise and celebrate the vital contributions that community groups make to society.

This basic element of community recognition makes the competition unique. Past entrants in Pride of Place have included groups involved in a wide variety of activities across the social spectrum. The common thread is the impact and difference these activities have made in peo- ples’ lives- just as Seanoiri Laichtin Naofa has.

ATLANTIS Development Ltd has withdrawn planning applications for two separate park and ride fa- cilities serving the Cliffs of Moher – just hours before a final decision on planning was due from Clare County Council.

The company has also lodged fresh planning applications for the con- struction of park and ride facilities at the same locations – at Coogyulla, Doolin and in Main Street, Liscan- nor.

The new application lodged by At- lantis for the park and ride service in Liscannor consists of a considerably smaller development than the origi- nal application which was withdrawn last week.

The proposed extension and up- gerade of hostel accommodation

at Egan’s Pub has been virtually halved.

Instead of the 14 bedroom hostel and eight apartments originally pro- posed, the new application consists of a seven bedroom hostel and five apartments.

The proposed demolition of a number of structures located be- tween Egan’s and McHugh’s Pub in the village has also been abandoned in favour of altering the existing SSM CRON KeNe

The new application for the Coogy- ulla park and ride in Doolin is simi- lar to that previously applied for.

A spokesperson for Atlantis Devel- opment Ltd told