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A MAN has been acquitted of har- assing his former partner in Shan- non, almost three years ago, at the end of a trial at Ennis Circuit Court. Andrew Mullins (34) of Belfield Gardens, Limerick, and formerly of Kincora Apartments, Shannon, faced one charge of harassment. It was al- leged that he harassed mother-of- two Bernice Galvin at Tullyvarraga and Ballycaseymore, Shannon, on dates between April 4 and 11, 2005. The court heard that the pair had

been in an “extremely stormy” re- lationship for about two years and that Mr Mullins was the father of Ms Galvin’s second daughter who was 19 months old at the time of the al- leged offences.

The relationship had ended in 2004 but Mr Mullins had liberal access to the couple’s daughter.

In her evidence, Ms Galvin said Mr Mullins first approached her at her place of work in Shannon at around Ipm on Monday, April 4, 2005, and that he was extremely agitated.

She said that the accused was roar-

ing at her and she left the shop to speak with him. She said Mr Mul- lins told her he heard Ms Galvin’s brother had held a “big drugs party” at her home on the previous Saturday payhca ole

Ms Galvin also said that later, the defendant had leaned over the coun- ter at the shop where she worked and called her a “drug whore.”

Ms Galvin said she had been out on the night and that her brother had been babysitting her two daughters. When confronted by Mr Mullins about the alleged incident, Ms Galvin

said she would “sort it.”

The court heard evidence of similar alleged incidents over the following days at Ms Galvin’s place of work as well as on the roadway near her mother’s house.

Evidence was also given of a Se- ries of telephone calls between the accused and Ms Galvin which she claimed were also abusive.

Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan, told the court the accused had subjected Ms Galvin to a “sus- tained barrage of abuse” and said “if he (Mr Mullins) had valid concerns

about what happened on that Satur- day night, there were other ways of Ole U Epa teans aie 0 Ws | ne

Defending counsel Elaine Houli- han said that because of the genuine concern her client felt for the safety of his daughter, having heard that a drugs party had been held in the house where she was sleeping, he had honestly believed that he had a “‘rea- sonable excuse” to act in the manner WerelmeComenlem

After deliberating for 50 minutes, the jury returned a unanimous ver- dict of ‘not guilty’.

THE need for a maternity unit and a proper ambulance service for the county came to a head this week When three babies were born in GE TKcmeE-AWE WAS RO)ONMMalom Kcr LUBDRSLO Mpa eTorO ce ical services.

As the HSE prepares to centralise its services to centres of excellence, the mothers of Clare have called for the one service that 1s already cen- tralised to be decentralised back to the county.

Following years of campaigning amid claims that west Clare has been under resourced, political figures and young mothers are now demand- ing an emergency unit in the region.

During the early hours of Monday morning last, first time mother Mary O’Gorman discovered first hand the shortfall in the ambulance services when she went into labour.

An ambulance was called at 3.45am for the terrified Kilrush woman but failed to arrive in time and baby Brooke was born with the assist-

ance of her aunt and grandmother at 4.20am on the family’s couch.

Mary’s father, local town council- lor Stephen O’Gorman (FF) said that the ambulance eventually arrived at 5.05 am. Shannondoc, the out-of- hours GP service, was contacted by the family at 3.45am but arrived just minutes before the ambulance.

Cllr O’Gorman believes that the ambulance that arrived to bring his daughter and granddaughter to hos- pital would have been even later if another young woman from the area

who was also in labour had not can- celled it and risked the long journey to hospital by car.

That new mum – Anna Jenkins – was just a short while in hospital when her baby was born.

“There was no ambulance coverage in west Clare from Saturday night to Tuesday. That 1s a disgrace,” said Cllr O’Gorman.

“We need a mid-wife service in Kilrush and a unit that people can avail of in emergencies and a proper ambulance service. The coverage 1n

west Clare is not good enough. We are looking at fatalities in the fu- ture,” he said.

Fine Gael Deputy Joe Carey, said that the nearest ambulance available for the O’Gorman baby had to come from Limerick.

“It’s just not possible for it to be able to respond to emergencies hav- ing to cover that distance. A 24-hour fully equipped fully staffed A&E is essential for Clare people. We also need 24 hour ambulance cover to support this service,’ he said.

THE LATEST bid to reconnect Shannon’s air link to Heathrow has suffered a setback with news that Minister Noel Dempsey has not in- cluded the service on a list of appli- cants for EU Public Service Obliga- tion (PSO) funds.

But the Mayor of Clare, Councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind), who heads

the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance, said that while the minister’s deci- sion was “disappointing, the route is a profitable one and I am confident that a carrier will be found and we will continue to work to achieve ere

It had been hoped that EU funds would be available to an airline will- ing to operate the Heathrow route out of Shannon under the PSO system.

Under EU legislation, governments can impose a PSO on a route if it is considered vital for the economic life of a particular region. PSOs are in place on routes between Dublin and Sligo, Donegal, Derry, Knock, Gal- way and Kerry.

But it emerged this week that the minister had not included the Heath- row slot in his application for a re- newal of a PSO on these routes for a

three-year period from July 2008.

Minister Dempsey said that offi- cials from the Department of Trans- port had discussed the possibility of having a PSO on the Shannon- Heathrow route with the European Commission. The minister said that the EU officials had pointed out that there were already regular services between Shannon and other airports in London.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to judge this Clare team on Sunday’s perform- ance. Simply because of the early sending off of Clare’s David Barrett, the game was tainted as a real con- test and only came to life when Tony Og Regan was dismissed early in the second half to even up the numbers. Still, by that stage, Clare were al- ready 13 points in arrears so while the points were never in question, it was only a matter of how Clare would respond against the odds.

It was a pity really as the game promised to be a real test of both side’s progress to date and the fact that it was not a dirty game makes the three dismissals something of a joke. Unfortunately for the Banner, this was a missed opportunity that could have been beneficial going forward but with Laois next on the list, Clare might have to wait until the Limerick game in the Gaelic Grounds to truly evaluate their development.

That’s in no way designed to dis- miss Laois who have been an emerg- ing side over the past few years. However, if Clare are to be taken seriously this year, they will have to put up a big score against the strug-

gling midlanders.

Laois manager Damien Fox has transformed their fortunes since tak- ing over last year. They completed their initial aim by winning Division 2 last year but despite some good performances, they went out in a dif- ficult qualifier group. Only six points separated Clare and Laois in Portlao- ise last year in the qualifiers but you also have to consider that Clare had WM ACCP eK emant-lam cw eetvu ues! by the weather.

Nevertheless, since then Damien Fox’s good work is unravelling all around him with the news that three dual players are opting for football over hurling this year. Cahir Healy, one of last year’s biggest perform- ers along with John O’Loughlin and Darren Rooney are gone but there is still plenty of talented youth emerg- ing in the county. LIT’s Willie Hy- land and UL’s Matthew Whelan should be well known to Clare due to their Waterford Crystal and Fitz- gibbon involvement while forward James Young is always amongst the top scorers of the championship each year.

Clare need to iron out a few prob- lems of their own first and despite the numerical disadvantage, Mike McNamara would have gained some added knowledge on his player’s ability to respond under pressure. In that regard, the full back line leaked

plenty on Sunday and were unable to deal with Galway’s full forward line which scored 1-10 from play. They also leaked another goal with a first half penalty. Changes were eventual- ly made and they looked more secure in the latter stages but they can’t af- ford to give the Laois forwards sim1- lar freedom on Sunday.

Further injuries to Brendan Bugler and Conor McMahon didn’t help matters while David Barrett will be suspended this weekend. With an- other six possible starters (Gerry O’Grady, Alan Markham, Diarmuid McMahon, Derek Quinn, Tony Grif- fin and Bernard Gaffney) still miss- ing for various reasons, it will be a test of the squad’s depth for the Laois game.

Nothing less than a victory will do however as Clare need to get their league campaign underway in a posi- tive fashion. Expect Laois to throw everything at Clare for the first twenty minutes but if the Banner can get on top early, they should look to repeat Limerick’s dismantling of the midlands side last Sunday.

That is if the referee allows fifteen players to remain on the field.

JAIL is full of drugs and there is no help available for addicts – according to a former inmate.

The claim was made at Ennis Dis- trict Court on Friday, by a young man who was released from prison last month, having served an 18-month term for criminal damage.

Jason Gordon (29), of St Vincent’s Hostel, Anglesea ‘Terrace, Cork, admitted a charge of burglary of a house in Ennis last Thursday, Febru- eae

Garda Beatrice Ryan told Ennis District Court that she received a call at lunchtime last Thursday, claiming that a man had broken into a house.

Sie IUUA Lot MrI MASON AI KoM Ele noticed that a window had been bro- ken and the accused had crawled in through the broken glass.

He had been seen by a neighbour going into the house and was still there when gardai arrived.

The court was told that Gordon had 65 previous convictions, some of which dated back to 1992.

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client was extremely intox1-

cated, having drank two bottles of 0r6 1 ¢2

He said his client had been travel- ling on a bus from Cork to his native SY ETXey

He got off the bus and broke into the house, which was very close to the bus station, said the solicitor.

He said nothing had been taken from the house.

‘He has a long-standing battle with alcohol. He is smoking heroin and taking cocaine. This was an unhap- py attempt to return home. It was a mindless crime,” said Mr Hassett.

Gordon stood up in court and said he had been released from jail, five weeks earlier, having served time for criminal damage.

“You just end up taking more drugs when you go into prison. Prison 1s full of drugs. You can’t get any help in there,” he told Judge Joseph Man- gan.

Judge Mangan jailed him for six months and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

ENNIS Town Council has been urged to follow the example set by famous chefs like Gordon Ramsay and aim higher.

That was the message from the February meeting of Ennis Town Council where there was support for a motion calling for the Council to seek the ISO 9000/9002 Quality As- surance Award.

Town Clerk Eddie Power explained the Council does not intended to pur- sue the ISO qualification because a rigorous system of measurement, involving 46 separate service indica- tors, 1s already in place.

Supporting the motion Green Par- ty councillor Donal O’Bearra said,

“You don’t see chefs stopping with one Michelin star, they always go for two stars. We should do the same”.

Tabling the motion, Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn said that given the Council’s €12 budget it was important the Council retained the confidence of the public.

He said, “€12 million of public money is being spent this year. The ISO is widely accepted as the highest standard of performance. There have been issues like the crisis with the public water supply that have dam- aged public confidence. The time is now to address that”.

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn agreed it was important public con- fidence was restored. He said, “I would support that motion. Percep-

tion 1s everything”.

Independent councillor Frankie Neylon also backed the motion. He said the Council should not be fear aiming for the highest possible standards.

“If we go for the ISO, then I don’t think we should be afraid of going for it. If we don’t go for it, the ques- tion will be asked, why we didn’t go for it. If its, (the Council), is as good as we Say it is, then we should go for ra

Independent councillor Taiwoo Matthew said it was important for the Council to operate to the best Standards. “We have to set standards, we have to be measured because we are providing a service. If we were in the private sector, we would have to

innovate”.

Mayor Tommy Brennan tabled a counter proposal. He said, “I think before proceeding with this, we get advice on what we would have to do and what are the costs associated with it”.

Fianna Fail councillor Joe Reidy said, “I’d have no problem with the system there at the moment. We need to find out a bit more about the ISO”.

Town Manager Tom Coughlan said the funding and impact on resource allocation would have to be consid- ered. “It would take up more time. I wouldn’t like it to be the case that staff time is being taken up with achieving measurements rather than doing the actual work”.

THE Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, has ruled out the privatisa- tion of Shannon Airport.

But Mr Dempsey revealed that re- cent sales of Dublin Airport Author- ity (DAA) assets has resulted in the authority enjoying a net cash position at the end of 2007. This represents a boost for Shannon Airport’s inde- pendence bid.

Mr Dempsey said he had no inten- tion of privatising either Shannon or

Cork airports, in a Dail response to Labour TD, Tommy Broughan.

The Department of Transport is still considering the Shannon Aiur- port Authority’s business plan, which was first lodged with the DAA.

“The actual timing of airport re- structuring will depend on the crea- tion of the appropriate conditions that will ensure the financial sustain- ability of each of the three State air- ports,’ said Minister Dempsey.

“The restructuring process will re- quire coordinated strategies for the

achievement of operational and fi- nancial readiness of each airport. In this regard, the Dublin Airport Au- thority (DAA) has a key role to play in finalising the financial framework and coordinating the individual busi- ness plans for the three airports that will enable airport separation to take place,” he added.

Minister Dempsey said that the DAA, which owns Shannon, Dublin and Cork airports, had overall bor- rowings of just under €500 million as at the end of 2007. Just over €200

million related to Cork Airport, al- most €/70 million to Shannon and the remainder to Dublin.

“Following recent disposals of Great Southern Hotels and DAA’s interests in Birmingham and Ham- burg Airports, DAA net debt levels have fallen sharply in the short term, resulting in a temporary net cash position at the end of 2007, before rising steadily again over the period referred to by the deputy,” said the minister.

“Precisely what DAA’s debt levels will be over this period will depend upon a number of factors. However, in the context of the DAA’s capi- tal investment programme over 10 years, DAA’s debt position will rise substantially, with net borrowings increasing to over €1 billion over the course of the next five years.

“The future level of debt at Shannon and Cork will depend on a number of factors including, most significantly, the business plans for these airports which are currently being assessed by my department.

“The State Airports Act 2004 pro- vides the framework for the estab- lishment of Shannon and Cork as independent airports. Under the Act, both the Minister for Finance and I will have to be satisfied as to the state of operational and financial readi- ness of the three airports before any vesting of assets can take place,” the minister said.

THE four-point losing margin cer- tainly flattered Clare, but Mike Mc- Namara gladly took it at the end of his debut league game in charge. An- yway, the result wasn’t of concern to Clare on this day, because winning isn’t everything in the earliest days of McNamara’s time at the wheel.

ed WaTompushiUN mm c-h0 Me mao orsl mm peel oe)me- 001 me McNamara told a posse of reporters after the game. “We were looking for character in players more than any- thing else today. We’re new and we’re on the road now and were looking for character and I think we found it.

“We went a little disjointed when we went down to 14 men. It was a new team, with new boys. An expe- rienced team would be able to cope with a loss like that. We haven’t that experience yet.

‘I would be extremely pleased with the manner of the performance and the character of the players. We’ll have to accept that it’s going to take a while to get a team game going. Individual performances all over the field were quite good, but you have to accept with Clare going forward that it’s going to take a while to put the team effort in place and play as a team, particularly this year when we have no ball-play done at all,” added McNamara.

Character then is going to be the template of McNamara’s steward- ship — his thesis being that only by throwing players in at the deep end will character emerge. Give me the boy and I’ll make the man could be- come a byword for McNamara’s first season in charge.

“We spoke during the week that if we all came through unscathed it

would be a miracle. If you put six or seven debutants on a team and five come through unscathed, you have a ereat day’s work done,’ McNamara revealed.

“We can take a lot of positives from it. don’t know what we scored but 3- 15 (3-17) or whatever, with five lads playing in the forwards who didn’t play league before. It’s going to take time to generate team play, team spirit and a team itself.

“We’re down the road now, we’re up and running and we can only look forward to getting better everyday. I’d be very surprised if the perform- ances don’t increase and the tempo doesn’t increase in Clare hurling and that players, individually and collec- tively, will increase their perform- ances,” he added.

Starting with Laois in Cusack Park this Sunday.

A YOUNG man was knocked down and killed by a car driven by his girl- friend, in Kilkee, a court has heard.

Ennis Circuit Court was told that Stephen O’Reilly (24), from Tallaght in Dublin, was on a week-long holi- day with his girlfriend and two oth- ers, in January 2007.

He and a friend were standing on a footpath on O’Connell Street, Kilkee, when his girlfriend Denise O’ Reilly – who was driving his Honda Civic car – approached the two.

Mr O’Reilly stepped onto the road and she struck him and knocked him oleae

Ms O’Reilly (20), of White Brooke Park, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty

to careless driving and drink driving, arising out of the accident, in the ear- ly hours of January 30, 2007.

Ms O’Reilly, a clerical administra- tor, entered the plea, just before she had been due to go on trial for dan- gerous driving causing the death of her boyfriend.

She was banned from driving for two years and fined €2,000, after the court was told that the parents of the deceased accepted it was a tragic ac- cident.

Garda John Convey said the de- fendant and another girl had gone for a drive in Stephen O’Reilly’s car, having been socialising earlier in the night.

As they returned to where they had been staying, Mr O’Reilly and his

friend were standing on the foot- ortaee

“Mr O’Reilly stepped out on to the road and was killed,” said the garda.

He said the accident occurred on a straight stretch of road and driving conditions were good at the time.

He said that the accused told gardai there was little she could have done to avoid the pedestrian. She was “very traumatised” by the incident and admitted driving the car when the accident occurred.

The couple had been together for several years and knew each other’s ie Teeb eR lony

Ms O’Reilly’s Counsel told the court that the parents of the deceased man accepted it was an accident and are supportive of the defendant.

The court was told that analysis of a sample of urine produced by the defendant showed a concentration of 116 mgms of alcohol per 100 mls of Vem alee

Judge Rory McCabe said the inci- dent was tragic. “I’m afraid we read about it every weekend, this type of event happening, a combination of youth, alcohol and possibly inexperi- ence,’ he said.

“A young man lost his life. No-one intended it to happen but it did,” he Sr AKOE

However he said he did not believe it would be appropriate to send the accused to prison.

He imposed fines totalling €2,000 and disqualified her from driving for two years.

THERE was a large attendance of approx 120 people at the emergency public meeting of the Killone Group Water Scheme, held at the Commu- nity Centre, Ballyea.

Waters shortages have affected around 3300 homes, farms and small commercial businesses in recent weeks. Supply from the plant installed last year, at a cost of €900,000, on Killone Lake is not meeting the high demand in the area.

The plant was designed to meet a demand of 180 cubic metres per day. It is estimated current demand for water in the area is 300 cubic metres per day.

Arsing from the meeting, the Kil- lone Group Water scheme are seek- ing a meeting with the officials from EPS, the firm who designed, built and currently operate to station.

The meeting proposed and _ sec- onded local businessman Michael Sheedy to the role of Chairperson and Cllr. Paul Murphy was called upon

to take the minutes. Past and present committees were also thanked for all of their work throughout the years.

The current shortfall in water was then addressed. Murt Reddington outlined how at present only 288 m3 per day was being produced and that there was a need for 360 m3 per day. As a result the problem being posed is how the water is to be shared amongst the community.

Homes in Dara have also been af- fected by the shortages.

Deputies Joe Carey, Tony Killeen,

Pat Breen and Timmy Dooley all ad- dressed the meeting and spoke of the need for all parties involved to pull together and iron out any problems.

Joe Carey TD then proposed that meetings should be sought with of- ficials from the firm EPS who are in charge of the pump station and also with officials of Clare County Coun- cil to try and fast track a solution to this ongoing problem.

A number of volunteers were also appointed to the committee to spread the workload