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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.

It’s believed that the €40 million price tag was put on the hotel last week in a deal which sees Brian Brennan of Brennan Hotels become the new owner of the Dublin Hotel.

Brennan Hotels has four properties in Tipperary, Kilkenny, Meath and Wicklow.

The Lynch family bought the land- mark property in 2003 for €11 mil- lion. They went ahead with a mas-

sive redevelopment which saw room numbers almost double to 270, with the addition of a swimming pool and spa facilities. The redevelopment is believed to have cost €30 million.

In a statement, Lynch Hotels said that it will now focus on operating its properties in the west of Ireland. These include the upmarket Breaffy House hotel near Castlebar in Mayo and the West County Hotel in Ennis.

After the deal, Brian Brennan said “our business focus is commercial and leisure and the Green Isle is ide- ally suited to our expanding needs and requirements and is an ideal ac- companiment to our business mod- el.”

AN AMBITIOUS plan to establish the mid-west as a region of excel- lence and expertise in the area of en- ergy efficiency will be unveiled later WT Le1e).e

Junior Environment and Energy Minister Tony Killeen will launch Ireland’s first Regional Climate Change Strategy at the Mid West Re- gional Authority’s (MWRA) annual

conference in Adare on Friday.

And the importance to the region was highlighted by Authority Ca- thaoirleach Lilly Wallace who urged every individual in the mid-west to CCM doles bum oy Nu mB OMusxO LUCID OrcamNalomKorealO) IM dependence on fossil fuels as well as reducing carbon emissions by five tonnes per person.

“The economic and environmen- tal costs of doing nothing are far too great. Carbon costs alone for the

mid-west are calculated to be €62.2 million by 2010, and €94.5 million by 2020,” she said.

Explaining the reason behind the Adare conference, MWRA _ Direc- tor Liam Conneally said the author- ity decided to produce a strategy designed to enhance the mid-west’s energy, environmental and _ eco- nomic sustainability in response to increased concern about climate change and the Government’s recent

carbon budget.

Mr Conneally said that the ‘Mid West Climate Change Strategy’ had been developed as a working docu- ment ensuring the sustainability of the region’s energy needs, while playing a substantial role in support- ing the Government in achieving Ire- land’s Kyoto commitments.

He said the mid-west was well placed to exploit its substantial re- newable energy resources of wind,

wave, wood and energy crops.

“Much is already being done to establish the mid-west as a centre of excellence for the development and delivery of renewable energy technologies, and energy efficient buildings. The future development of this region as a region of excellence and expertise in the energy area will bring opportunities for communities, entrepreneurs and third-level gradu- ates,” he added.

TRANSITION-Y EAR students from Ennistymon VEC have proven that pollution from the town is disturbing the ecosystem of the Inagh riven and could actually be responsible for the disappearance of the otter locally.

As part of the school entry for the Eco-Unisco Project, the students un- dertook a series of test to determine if pollution from the town was dam- aging the local river.

“We have entered the Eco-Unisco project for two years in a row now. The first year we built a solar panel and the second year a windmill,’ said teacher, Mary Joyce.

“So I asked the students what they

wanted to do. They started talking about the river, and wondering where the otters in the river had gone.”

This led the students to undertake research on the otter, and to discover that pollution is one of the main fac- tors which drive otters out of certain areas. Not content with this, howev- er, the transition-year students took to the river last Thursday, attempting to prove beyond all doubt that pol- lution from the town was damaging the river.

“We went down to the river with large nets and started collecting the insects that were in the water. We were trying to find out whether the bugs in the river were mostly ones that needed high oxygen or low oxy-

gen. High oxygen insects is a sign of good quality clean water and the presence of low oxygen insects is a sign of polluted water,’ said student, Michael McCormac.

“We caught more than 20 speci- mens altogether. There was much more high oxygen insects in the wa- ter before the town than we found after the town. This, we think, is be- cause sewage from the town is pol- Leiseetem atom eAiole

“We have brought the insect back to the school now and we are going to study them and see what else we can learn from them. After than we need to put together a 3,000-word re- port on our findings.

“The whole reason for this work

is to see why the otters have left the river. They like clean water and they used to be very common around here but not anymore. If we could treat the sewerage better before it goes into the river then we might be able to get the otters back.”

When they have completed their work, the transition-year students plan to bring their findings to the at- tention of Clare County Council.

IT was back to Thursday nights at the stadium last week where the feature was the Student Nurses Voulenteer- ing Abroad 575 that took place on the eighth race of the card. Top prize went to the Noel Mullins trained Ballingown Boy who produced a good finish in testing conditions. The outside runners were fastest away here and off the first bend trap five Donail Blueboy shaded the lead.

At the third bend, Ballingown shot to the front and despite the renewed attempt of Donail the Mullins trained tracker ran on to beat him by a length in a time of 31.99.

The strong running Burnpark Pad- dy in trap three ran on for third spot just under three lengths back.

John Fitzgerald of Kilrush was on the mark in the third race over 325 yards as his Ler Thisnthat made all to take this. Coming away well from trap three, this fellow was chased all the way by trap five Crannagh Jim but he held him off on the run to the line by just under a length in a time of 18.32.

Donies Dasher for Ann Carey of Cooraclare came away fastest and led up to the first turn in the fourth race over 525 yards followed by trap two Maxical owned by Michael Browne of Kilrush who took over off the second bend. From here the Browne owned tracker was always in control and ran on win by just over two lengths in a time of 29.74.

Owen Treston’s All Time Classic got back into the swing of things in

the tenth race as she notched up her fifteenth victory here with a decent performance. Got Derailed for Frank Browne of Quin in trap six was the early leader here but Classic was hot on his heels and led down the back straight and win in a time of 29.50.

The best wine was saved until last as the Michael Downes of Killa- loe trained Sloanes Beauty kept her excellent run of form going when making all in the bumper over 525 yards. Coming away fast from trap two, she pulled away quickly as there were some traffic problems with the placed greyhounds.

From here on, she was never getting caught and ran on to beat trap three Millview Roy by four lengths in a time of 29.43.

Friday night’s card at Galway fea- tured the three semi-finals of the UCG A4 575 which came late in the card on this very cold night. The track here was rated slow for the entire night as a result of the condi- tions.

Fastest of these was the Tom Fit- zgerald trained Black Bush who got back into winning ways when taking heat two of this.

Pat Curtin got into the winners en- closure as his Tullagower Blue took the third race over 525. Taking the lead into the last bend, this fellow ran on to win by just over a length in a time of 30.12 (-0.30).

The Semi Finals of the €30,000 Green Lane Pet Foods 525 came down for decision on Saturday Night Where connections of the 12 runners as well as the 12 Schools attached to

the greyhounds waited anxiously for the heats that came in the 8th and 9th races on the card.

Tyrur Taco owned by P.J.Fahy was the slight favourite here and things looked tough for him after a slow start from trap four.

Here trap two Carhugar Bobsie led up to the opening turn followed by trap one Clonfeigh Nikita for own- ers Johnie Maher Kilmaley and Noel

Gavin of Ballyea who took over at the second turn. Along the back straight Tyrur moved up into third spot and then exploded with pace to go right up to the leaders.

The door was shut here however, as Clonfiegh stayed at the front but Tyrur steered a wide course off the last bend and on the run to the line he powered up to snatch victory from Clonfeigh by a neck in a time

of 29.14.

Carhugar stayed on for third spot to get his Quin owners and trainer Michael Downes of Killaloe a sec- Oe OVE TKcmmebeNelolmBEOMelomEDeT-UE

A MAJOR jobs announcement for Shannon is expected today (Tuesday) with Enterprise Minister Micheal Martin (right) arriving in town.

The minister is to announce an in- vestment by an international player in the medical device manufacturing arena at 3pm today at the Park Inn Hotel at Shannon Airport.

The jobs announcement is being described as “significant” according to sources close to the free zone but both the department and Shannon Development have remained tight- lipped on details in advance of to- day’s announcement.

The good news on the Shannon jobs front comes at a time when work- ers at two Shannon manufacturing companies have expressed concerns about the future of their jobs.

Staff at Unbrako Europe S.P.S. International Limited voted in fa- vour of industrial action last week. Members of the SIPTU and TWU unions, are angry at what they say is the company’s continued failure to inform them about widely rumoured but unconfirmed moves to sell the company. SPS is a subsidiary of US based Precision Castparts Corp (PCC) which according to sources is involved in negotiations to sell the Shannon operation. The company

produces socket screws and other fasteners for industrial machinery and equipment.

A former PCC subsidiary, Mohawk Europa, also based in Shannon but sold off by PCC some years ago, closed last August with the loss of 90 jobs. Meanwhile, workers at another PCC company in Shannon, Highlife Tools, are also concerned about their future and are monitoring the SPS situation closely.

A SIPTU spokesperson said yester- day, “With all the rumours and sto- ries going around and in the absence of any information from the compa- ny, our members are understandably concerned for the future.”

THE man, who is bringing a case to the High Court to ensure a right of way to Doughmore Beach remains open, has spoken out as to why he has under taken the mission.

Cree man James McNulty, was eranted permission by the Attorney General to take a case in respect of the public right of way to the beach from the Caherfeenick Road, last year.

‘For many years now I have been in- volved with the local efforts to ensure that public access to the public beach was maintained via the Caherfeenick Road resulting in a High Court case taken with the fiat of the Attorney General against Doonbeg Golf Club Limited to clarify once and for all whether or not an established public right of way exists between the end of the Caherfeenick Road L-61041

through Doonbeg golf course to the public beach at Doughmore Bay,” he ene

“My reason behind instructing my solicitor to take such a case are sim- ple. For far too long both Doonbeg Golf Club and Clare County Council have insisted that the only one who could make such a determination is the courts.

“After receiving the permission or fiat of the Attorney General proceed- ings are winding their way through the High Court system sine 2006, but I have now decided to speak out fol- lowing the comments made my Cllr Patrick Keane and Oliver Garry who recently suggested that they reached their decision on the basis that the recent extinguishment proposal was improving public access to Dough- more and that it was not interfering with matters currently before the High Court.”

Mr McNulty argued that he and his Wife were part of the original mem- bers of the Carrowmore/Caherteen- ick Right of Way action group.

“Although Doonbeg Golf Club has repeatedly (gone) on public record stating or suggesting that the golf club reached an “agreement” with this particular action group, neither my wife or I were party to any high court agreement with the golf club,” |aTemncy-H (6

A High Court Agreement exists however between five local people and Doonbeg Golf Club allowing them access to the beach through a “new” right of way that is also off the Caherfeenick road.

This allows the five named farmers (one since deceased) vehicle access to the beach from November to Feb- UCD aYs

Mr McNulty is not one of the five.

““T would like to say in relation to the

Attorney General High Court case that in 2000, I was offered and given my own private right of way across the golf course to the beach, by way of a letter from Doonbeg Golf Club in 2000. Unfortunately at the time I simply could not understand why lo- cal people and members of the public should have to give up something that they always had, used, and enjoyed over the years,” he said.

“Some years ago and out of pure frustration I instructed my Dublin solicitor to issue legal proceedings in the High Court to establish and ensure “forevermore” that public ac- cess to the public beach at Dough- more beach would be guaranteed by a High Court ruling to all members of the public I took this legal action at a personal financial cost to myself and my family, to ensure local people and members of the public could continue to access their public beach.”