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THE HUGE cost of gas bills to peo- ple living in local authority homes has to be tackled, Shannon council- lors have warned.

Councillor Tony Mulcachy called for alternative heating systems to be used in council homes in the future after hearing from Shannon residents who are “being savaged” by bills of €200 a month and up- wards.

Speaking at a meeting of Shannon town councillors, that by virtue of qualifying for local authority hous- ing “many of these people are on low incomes. They are being cru- cified, seriously struggling to pay these bills. As the local authority which built these houses, we have to come up with ways to ease this”.

He called for the council to con- sider using alternative heating sys- tems such as wood-chip boilers or solar energy in homes which are

built in the future.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy said that in older estates, heating systems were of the dual variety, where a fire could be lit and backboilers used to heat the home.

“When natural gas came along, people were told it was a cheap al- ternative to oil and they assumed that was the case. People assumed that the price of oil was going up, but they didn’t necessarily realise that so was the price of gas. People

need to be educated in the most eco- nomic and efficient use of the gas systems,’ she said.

Town manager Ger Dollard said that with the publication last week of the national energy strategy, lo- cal authorities will be funded to provide energy efficient homes.

He added that the current thinking in designing local authority homes is towards making use of energy sources such as solar power to bring down the cost of energy bills.

THE latest figures from the 2006 Census show that areas that have enjoyed substantial holiday home de- velopments have suffered decreases in population.

The populations of Lahinch, Lis- cannor and Killaloe have declined since the 2002 census.

According to the figures, the popula- tion of Lahinch has dropped by three per cent, Liscannor has dropped by 34 per cent and Killaloe has dropped

by 12 per cent.

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) said that the census figures confirmed that the exorbitant price of property on Clare’s coastal resorts was making it impossible for young people to re- main in their homeplace and driving them out of the villages.

“As aresult, you have a drop in pop- ulation and the social consequences are that it will be difficult long-term to fill local schools and local football teams,” he said.

Cllr Conway said that it was “quite

ironic that while you have a drop of population in these areas, the house building for holiday homes that has been going on has been colossal.

‘The prices for property have spi- ralled out of all proportion and way beyond the means of locals.

‘The census also reflects the puni- tive planning regime in place where there 1s a two-tier system operating.”

He added that local people were chilefly affected by the ongoing house price rises.

“It 1s difficult for sons and daugh-

ters of local people to secure plan- ning, yet an out-of-town solicitor or accountant can write a cheque for 500,000 to buy a holiday home.

“*T believe that there should be a tax placed on holiday homes so that these areas can be provided with adequate facilities and money ringfenced for facilities such as playgrounds as these homes are vacant for 10 months of the year.”

The census also showed that En- nistymon suffered a drop in popula- tion of eight per cent. Kilrush suf-

fered a population loss of 1.6 per cent, while Kilkee’s population in- creased by 5.2 per cent.

The greatest leap in population was enjoyed along the corridor linking Ennis to Shannon.

Population around Ennis increased by 27 per cent, while that in Shan- non’s environs increased by 22 per ne

The population of Sixmilebrige increased by 25 per cent, Ennis in- creased by seven per cent and Shan- non increased by three per cent.

IN THE immediate aftermath of killing Liam Moloney, Anthony Kel- ly went to the victim’s apartment and stole €600, which he called “blood jee) eat aae

He told gardai that something in the back of his mind said, “Do it, do it, do it,’ and he just “struck out” and attacked his victim.

“The thought of hitting or hurting Liam Moloney came to me before that day,” he said.

He had been depressed and para- noid prior to the killing and there had been a build-up of anger inside him, during the week before it.

“For some time I’d felt very, very bad. Stuff was getting into my head. One of the people I was upset with was Liam. We used to talk on the phone. Sometimes he’d piss me off. He’d made racist jokes. I was broke at the time, living on very little,’ he PHO

On the night of the killing, he said a “feeling of rage” came over him.

‘IT had a feeling I never had before. I remember saying to myself, ‘What am I doing?’ When I got out of the car, I more or less tried to stop my- self and I couldn’t. There was a burn- ing sensation throughout my whole body,” he said.

“I felt possessed. I never hit any- one before in my life. It was like fire coming out of my eyes, fire coming

out of my head and I couldn’t stop,” | stemnceeB(Gm

He said his victim didn’t put up any resistance and there was blood “every place”.

He said that looking back, his be- haviour was like that of “some kind of an animal, if an animal would do such a thing .. . I was gone com- pletely wild. I couldn’t believe I’d be capable of something even remotely like that. It was like as if it wasn’t me. It was some creature. I was just totally taken over,” he said.

He later took €600 from a closet in Mr Moloney’s apartment.

“I said to myself ‘blood money’. I remember repeating it a thousand times to myself when I was alone. I was not gloating or anything,” he Sr ALGE

Detective Superintendent John Fit- Zpatrick told the trial that a knife, with an eight-inch blade, had been found in Mr Moloney’s tax1.

He said that two sources told gardai that the accused owed around €150 to the deceased.

The Garda obtained a search war- rant and carried out a search of the accused’s home in Kerry, on Febru- Maes

‘‘He mentioned to us he had a shot- gun in the bedroom. It appeared to me to be a double- barrelled sawn-off shotgun. In fact, it was a single bar- relled sawn-off shotgun,” he said.

He later told gardai he did not have

the gun with him in Ruan, on the night of the killing.

Mr Kelly was arrested for unlawful possession of the gun and was taken to Cahersiveen Garda Station.

“During the journey, he began to speak about the murder of Liam Moloney and the role he played in it. He said he was finding it very dilf- ficult to sleep. He was having night-

mares in relation to what happened,” said the garda.

STUDENTS at Ennis Community College have been doing their bit to raise money for some of the world’s poorest people.

The school recently handed over a cheque worth almost €3,500 to Tro- caire after taking part in the organi- Zation’s annual 24-hour fast.

The students join the 15,000 other students nationwide that take part in Trocaire’s RTE 2fm 24-Hour Fast every year. This year’s fast helped raise essential funds for Trocaire’s long-term development projects in the world’s poorest countries.

The fast focused on India this year, where millions of people live in pov- erty, with little or no access to educa- tion or healthcare.

Despite the economic expansions of India in recent years, an estimated

27 million people still live in poverty in the two regions where Trocaire works. Many of the communities Troécaire supports are living without a clean water supply, without access to education and without the chance tO go.

Last year about 20,000 people over- all, raised over €lmillion through the fast for Trocaire’s long-term de- velopment programmes worldwide.

Teacher Catriona McNicholas said the students were eager to take part in the fast.

“We had around 61 students from Ennis Community College and the Gaelcholaiste taking part. They came from first year to sixth year, basically anyone who wanted to take part.”

She explained the school had been involved in a number of other fund- raising projects.

“They raised €550 for Daffodil

Day. One of the students went to Chernobyl! with St Joseph’s and some of the students raised €1000 for that nana

Meanwhile, a former student of Ennis Community College has won one of the most prestigious awards in Irish science.

In April, Iris Choi was the winner of the inaugural Rosse medal for graduate research in physics.

Iris won for presentation of her work in Quantum Cryptography. She is a member of the Tyndall Institute and University College Cork.

Ms Choi, originally from Hong Kong, gave details of her work, which seeks to securely encode and transmit information at the quantum arial

The medal commemorates the third Earl of Rosse (Sir William Par- sons KP, PRS) and his contributions

to science. The presentation of the medal was made by the seventh Earl of Rosse, Sir Brendan Parsons.

During the 1840s and starting from virtually first principles, the third Earl of Rosse, Sir William Parsons, designed and implemented the build- ing of the mirrors, tube and mount- ings for a 72 inch reflecting telescope which was the largest in the world at that time and remained so for three quarters of a century.

A 37-YEAR-OLD German man was dead in his Ennis apartment for a fortnight before his body was discov- ered, an inquest heard last week.

Christian Sonntag’s body was found in a one-bed apartment on O’Connell Street, on July 12, 2005. He had not been seen for over two weeks.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard last week that Mr Sonntag had not col- lected his mail since June 24.

Jens Gottloeber, another German national, said he had worked with Mr Sonntag in Shannon.

He said Mr Sonntag had asked him to give his “sick papers” to his boss, as he had been ill.

He said he knew Mr Sonntag had been in hospital and he last saw him in the Diamond pub, three weeks be- fore his body was found.

He had tried to phone him a number of times in the interim, but could not get through.

William Justin said he last saw his friend Mr Sonntag in the Diamond pub, on June 24.

Detective Garda Brendan Rouine told Ennis Coroner’s Court that he saw the body on a bed in the apart- ment on July 12.

“The body was in a state of semi- decomposition and had obviously been there for a period of time,” he

said. He said there had been no sign of “anything untoward” in the apart- ment.

State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy carried out a post mortem examination on the body on July 13, 2005. She said there was “advanced decomposition of the body”, which suggested he had been dead for up to two weeks.

‘There were no marks or injuries to the head or body and his death was not related to trauma,” she said.

Professor Cassidy noted that Mr Sonntag’s heart was grossly enlarged and that this could cause sudden col- lapse and death at any time. At the time of death, he was intoxicated by alcohol and had also been taking amphetamines, which could cause the heart to beat irregularly. She concluded that his death was princi- pally due to the enlarged heart, with alcohol and amphetamines possible contributory factors.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea suggested than an open verdict be brought in and the jury agreed.

“It is a very sad situation for some- one to die in such circumstances,” said Ms O’Dea.

Inspector Tom Kennedy – said, “Quite a bit of thorough investigat- ing went into the case and there were communications between gardai and his family in Germany at the time.”

LIAM Moloney suffered “pretty horrendous” injuries in a “planned and executed killing’, after he was “lured” to the countryside, the trial has heard.

Prosecution Set SKoyee] O’Connell told the jury last Wednes- day that the accused, Ruan native Anthony Kelly (54) with an address at Emlagh na Muck, Emlaghmore, Waterville, Kerry, intended to kill Mr Moloney (56).

Mr Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the separated father of four, at Portlecka, Ruan, Ennis, on February 11, 2005.

Mr Kelly has admitted unlawfully killing Mr Moloney, but claims he

was suffering from a mental disorder at the time and was of diminished responsibility.

Outlining the prosecution case to the jury, Mr O’Connell said, “I think you can infer from the injuries sus- tained by Liam Moloney that Antho- ny Kelly intended to kill him.”

“There were 17 major blows around the skull area…many fractures to the skull and face and the throat was cut from side to side,’ he said.

‘The motive which he had for kill- ing Mr Moloney was to enrich him- self…to steal money. He went to Mr Moloney’s flat after, but only got €500 to €600,” he said.

‘He (the deceased) was working on the evening of the killing. Anthony Kelly lured him to the place where

he killed him,” said Mr O’Connell. He said Mr Kelly “selected and

sharpened” his weapons in Water-

ville and then brought them to the

scene of the killing.

He said Mr Kelly had arranged to meet Mr Moloney at Considine’s pub in Barefield and Mr Moloney would drive him to Ruan.

After he had killed him, Mr Kelly took Mr Moloney’s cab and drove back to Barefield. He abandoned the cab there and it was found 24 hours Fitoe

He told the jury that Mr Kelly emi- erated to the US around 1970 and re- turned to Ireland in April 2001.

He worked in security in Shannon and moved to Waterville in 2003.

Liam Moloney, from Ennis, worked with Aer Lingus in Shannon after leaving school.

He retired in January 2002 and received a severance package of

€71,000. He then began working as a driver with Ennis Cabs.

Mr O’Connell said that Anthony Kelly told John Butler, a mutual friend, that he was to marry a Swed- ish woman in Stockholm in Decem- ber 2004. He had asked Mr Butler to be his best man and Mr Moloney to be his groomsman. The wedding was later cancelled and it was believed the story had been “fiction”, said Mr O’Connell.

At the outset of the trial, Mr Kelly pleaded guilty to six other charges, including robbing Mr Moloney and taking his car, on the same date. The trial is expected to conclude later WT Lete)

LAHINCH’S reputation as Clare’s Mecca for new and original music continues to grow with the news of a band who are taking an original slant at performing and making music.

The Navigators are a local four- piece who have taken up residence in Flanaghan’s Bar in Lahinch on Wednesday evenings. The band fea- tures a mountain of musical talent in- cluding famed uilleann piper, Davy Spillane, who plays electric guitar, Ogi Doyle on drums, Mark Farrelly on keys and synth and Blendi Kras- niqi on precession.

They play a mixture of jazz, blues and funk with the inclusion of a few contemporary electronic sounds.

The original thing about them, how- ever, 1s that they do not write songs; instead, they improvise their music each night.

“We are friends and neighbours who live here. We’re not here just for the summer, we are here for a long time. We’re almost like a social club. We love playing the kind of music that we play. We’re not doing it to impress people, we are doing it to impress ourselves. It’s unrehearsed but it’s deliberately unrehearsed,” said Davy Spillane.

“There is a real thrill 1n it. There 1s a great journey to go into a night of three hours of music when you don’t know what you are going to do. There is a real fear, it’s fantastic. Really challenging. The crowd are looking

at us and we are looking back, not re- ally knowing what to do.”

While the music is unscripted, a great deal of work goes into mak- ing the three-hour gigs happen each week. Every performance is record- ed, listened to and discussed by the band who strive to make each night better than the previous one.

This process of making music al- lows the audience the chance to wit- ness, and even effect, original music as it is being made.

“We try to avoid learning music but instead navigate ourselves through the music. That’s why we are the navigators,” said Mark Farrelly.

“We have a theme as a band. We have bits and pieces of music that we like and they develop naturally, but

we don’t rehearse. We are trying to get away from the structured, framed music.

“We respond to the crowd. When the crowd start cheering and are into it, we do tend to push it farther. As the people start getting into it and the energy rises, the music starts to get aul elome

The Navigators play in Flanaghan’s Bar in Lahinch each Wednesday aneeaal

JOHN Vaughan Auctioneers, En- nistymon, have a lovely three bed- room bungalow on their books, guiding at €385,000. The house is set in a mature, spacious site off the Ennistymon/Lahinch Road, within

a mile of Lahinch beach, golf links and all other amenities in the resort, while also being close to the vibrant town of Ennistymon.

This house has large sash windows and is a bright house with beautiful timber floors in each of the three bedrooms and in the sitting room.

The accommodation comprises a kitchen, dining room with an open fire, sitting room with open fire, three bedrooms, and a family bathroom. The attic is floored and can be ac- cessed via a Stira stairs. The attic of- fers good conversion potential. For full details contact 065 7071477.

ANTHONY Kelly felt “possessed” When he hit Liam Moloney to the head with an axe, then dragged his body out of the car, before cutting his throat from side to side.

The thought of killing his victim had entered his mind several times and as the two travelled from Ennis to Ruan, a feeling of “rage” came over him and voices told him “do it, elon ia

The trial was told that Mr Kelly

had owed Mr Moloney about €150 at the time.

Mr Moloney’s taxi was seen parked at the entrance to Port House, an un- occupied building, at around 8pm on the evening of February 11, 2005.

According to the prosecution, Mr Kelly opened the gates after he killed Mr Moloney and dragged the body 15 to 20 yards inside.

‘The pockets of the deceased had been turned out,’ said prosecution barrister Tom O’Connell SC.

Less than an hour later, Mr Kelly

entered Mr Moloney’s apartment on Barrack Street, Ennis, where he stole money. He later picked up a 14-year- old boy in Shannon, on arrangement with the boy’s mother, and drove to Waterville.

The following morning, the boy saw the accused throwing clothes he had been wearing the previous evening into a fire in the back garden of his house. That day, he threw the head of a hatchet and other items in the direction of a lake in Kerry.

‘He was purposefully seeking to

cover his tracks and dispose of things which might connect him with the killing,” said Mr O’Connell.

Initially, Mr Kelly denied any knowledge of the killing. He later ad- mitted involvement. He said he had been depressed and angry in the run- up to the incident. “I had been down in my house in Waterville and had nightmares for months,” he said.

He said that Liam Moloney had “pissed” him off and used to ring him, telling him sick jokes.

On the night in question, Mr Kelly

was carrying a knife and a small axe. In Ruan, he got in and out of the taxi a few times and Mr Moloney asked him what he was “up to”.

He reached into his bag and had his hand on the axe. He felt a burn- ing sensation and something said to him, “do it, do it”, and he struck him a number of times to the head.

“| felt like I was possessed. I used a knife to cut his throat and said *F*** You’. It was only when I was driving back to Kerry that there was pain in my heart,” he said.

which has been compiled by Gerald Kennedy to mark the 40th anniver- sary of the club.

Superstars of Irish football such as Ronnie Whelan and Packie Bon- nar were in north Clare earlier this month to help mark the historic day for the club.

“We started off about five years ago with the idea of putting this book together. An awful lot of work

was done back then in gathering old match reports, photos and any kind of memorabilia together. As the 40th anniversary began to come closer, we decided that we really should get moving and put the book together,’ said Gerry Kennedy.

“We didn’t realise how much work would be involved in doing it. The collection is fairly comprehensive, but there were one or two things that were difficult to find. I remember taking some photographs myself in the early days but the quality was so poor in those days that not a lot of them survived. Older photographs were one of the hardest things to

track down.

“We were getting lots of bits and pieces all the time and while there was some few things that we weren’t able to include, I’m not sure we could have made it any bigger or more comprehensive. We were lucky in the early days that soccer was treated as a bit of a novelty sport and, because of that, it got a lot of coverage in the media at that time.”

The books track the evolution of the club since its foundation at New- town United in 1967 up until its latest incarnation as Corofin Harps.

“We have got great feedback from old members of the club. It brings

back great memories for them. But equally for the young people, they get to look back and see where the club has come from and how it has developed into what it is today,” con- tinued Gerry.

“In fact, there is really something in the book for anyone who has an interest in sport in Clare. The club has had a lot of ups and downs over the years and it has not always been smooth sailing.”

The book is available at a cost of €15 from O’Callaghan’s Newsa- gents in Corofin. Alternatively, you can contact Gerry Kennedy at 086 3478050 for more details.