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THE MURDER of elderly farmer Jack Daly sent shockwaves through- out the quiet village of Belharbour, four years ago.

The 83-year-old was lying in his bed shortly before 7am on April 30, 2003, when he was attacked by his nephew.

John McInerney had been anxious the previous night and feared that the devil had been trying to get in to the family home, at Abbey West, Bel- harbour. His obsession with the devil ultimately cost his uncle his life. He believed the devil was in his defence- less uncle.

MclInerney’s mother Kathleen was worried about his behaviour in the hours leading up to the murder.

He had been admitted to Our La-

dy’s Psychiatric Hospital on March 18, 2003, after he had disappeared from his home and spent a night at Corcomroe Abbey.

A neighbour, Gerard Kerin, later found him there, standing on an altar and carrying a fork in his hand. He claimed he was trying to ward off the devil, who was taking over the altar.

He spent a month at Our Lady’s and was discharged in mid-April. On the night of April 29, he began to talk Vole) Ulm a slome (oa EB

Kathleen, who was 83 at the time, knew that something was not right the following morning when she heard her son going in to her broth- er’s room.

She was terrified and ran from the house. She later heard Jack saying, “I killed Jack”.

McInerney was arrested a short

time later and was questioned at En- nistymon Garda Station throughout the day.

He was charged with murder at a special sitting of Tulla District Court later that night. He pleaded guilty but insane to murder, at the Central Criminal Court in November 2004.

Medical experts for both the pros-

ecution and defence agreed that he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time. The jury returned a verdict of guilty but insane, without leaving the jury box. Mr Justice Paul Carney ordered his detention at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.

The inquest into the death has taken four years to be heard and in some way brings to a conclusion a very sorry chapter for the Daly and McInerney families, and for the peo- ple of the close-knit community of Belharbour.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea and Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy paid tribute to the wonderful neighbours of the Daly and McInerney families during this “traumatic” time.

INDEPENDENT TD James Breen SEISMW se NW OLecO MO OFLU Slom @cOn/orusbestoIIMAY el suffer if Clare isn’t compensated for the Open Skies aviation deal, which was ratified in the Dail this week.

The Minister for Transport, Mar- tin Cullen, said that the Government would deliver an economic plan for Shannon to support the region.

But Deputy Breen said that Clare was long overdue a pay-off to make up for decades of neglect.

“IT guarantee the minister that if that payback is not announced in the near future, the Government will get its own payback in spades in the forthcoming election.

“The Minister has let Shannon and the mid west down and has sold us down the river.

“Shannon is the one airport for which Open Skies represents a major negative and the minister can only wash his hands of it.

“If he was serious with regard to securing the future of Shannon and the mid west, this fund and other packages would have been put in place before the Open Skies agree- ment was announced.”

He added, “The lack of proper

measures means that the Shannon area can expect a 30 per cent drop in trade. The shortening of the intro- ductory period leading into the start date of the Open Skies agreement confirms the apathy with which this administration views the mid west.

“In the immediate aftermath of the announcement of the agreement, Aer Lingus announced new routes to San Francisco, Orlando and Washington. Significantly, all of those routes will operate from Dublin Airport.

‘There is no doubt that this agree- ment will lead to a cherry-picking of routes by airlines.

‘Much was made of the establish- ment of customs and immigration clearance in Shannon and this was trumpeted as a jewel in the crown of SI erVeveCOye MAURO DKen

‘However, it now transpires that a similar station will operate out of Dublin Airport within a year. This is further proof of the minister’s con- tempt for the mid west.

Speaking on the issue, Pat Breen (FG) said, “The minister had a gold- en opportunity to announce the im- plementation of the tourism and de- velopment plan but failed to do so.

“We’ve had enough photo opportu- nities. We need action.”

A LITHUANIAN man who falsely imprisoned and threatened to kill a 40-year-old woman in Ennis has been jailed for three years.

Ennis Circuit Court heard yesterday that the attack was “unprovoked” and the woman was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Arturas Kupriscenka (22), of Hol- land’s Place, Liscannor, also admit- ted assaulting the woman and steal- ing her handbag in the early hours of October 15 last year.

Garda Trevor Sheehan said the woman was walking towards Sand- field Place when the accused pulled up alongside her in his car. He jumped out of the car, grabbed her and forced her into the car. He then locked the door and drove off at speed in the di- rection of Galway.

He hit her with the back of his hand. He drove as far as Ballyalla and beat her to the face and body. He tried to rip her clothes off, but she fought back. He put his hand up to her mouth and threatened to kill her.

‘He told her to shut up or he would

kill her. She was terrified. She put up a huge struggle,” he said.

Kupriscenka eventually opened the door of the car and threw her out and she managed to make her way to a house in Ballyalla and raise the rUPDeOee

Kupriscenka was arrested shortly afterwards on suspicion of drink driving at a Garda checkpoint.

The court was told that the victim suffered extensive bruising and spent four days in hospital. She continues to suffer emotionally.

Defence Counsel John Edwards,

SC, said his client was not charged with abduction and was denying that he had dragged her in to the car.

‘His contention was she had sought a lift from him and he had given her a lift,’ said Mr Edwards.

He said that Kupriscenka, who has lived in Ireland for almost two years, had a difficult upbringing in his na- OAM COUNT RA

He said he had drank six pints and four double vodkas and he could not remember a lot of what happened that night. Kupriscenka apologised in court.

Judge Carroll Moran said the case was “disturbing”.

‘There was no reason for the ac- cused to attack this lady. He didn’t know her and she didn’t know him. I haven’t been given any explanation as to why he did this. . . Clearly this is worrying because this sort of thing could happen again,” he said.

He said he was obliged to accept that the accused gave the woman a lift, rather than drag her into the car.

He imposed a four year jail term and suspended one year because he had pleaded guilty.

WITH the arrival of the good weath- er, the urge to get out in the field and get some work under the belt is erowing all the time. It is appropriate then, at this time of increased activi- ty, to remind farmers, and especially young farmers, of the importance of insuring their safety while working and operating machinery.

With this in mind, the FRS Net- work Training Services, in conjunc- tion with Teagasc and IFA Skills Net, will hold a one-day training course in Ennis on Friday, May 11 and in Limerick on Wednesday, May 9.

The training courses, which are en- titled “Young Agricultural Drivers’ Safety and Skills Awareness’, were

launched last week by the Minister for Labour Affairs and Clare Gener- al Election candidate, Tony Killeen.

The majority of young agricultural drivers are allowed on the public roads with just a basic provisional licence, without any formal safety awareness training. These drivers carry a huge responsibility for public safety while on the road.

‘They are responsible for being in control of very large modern tractors with large implements attached, such as Silage trailers laden with anything up to 20 tonnes of grass, and it’s all rush, rush, rush and long hours dur- ing the busy harvest or sowing time,’ said a spokesperson from the FRS.

“Unfortunately, this all adds up toa very serious accident waiting to hap-

pen and, in order to minimise this possibility, FRS along with Teagasc and IFA Skills Net have joined forc- es to put on the courses in the two fo) tonal she

“If there is a good uptake this year, we see the idea being rolled out na- tionwide next year.”

Each course has been designed and will be delivered by experienced tu- tor Val O’Connor and there will also be experienced drivers available on the day to deliver invaluable practi- cal driving instruction.

The courses are designed to create safety awareness for all agricultural drivers, be they silage workers, hay- making contractors or tillage work- ae

Items covered will include law, work

equipment, use on the road and dan- gers in the yard, tractor maintenance, checking trailers, lights and tyres and driving and tipping trailers.

More information can be got by contacting the FRS Network Train- ing Services in Limerick on 063 y1Uelelon

PLANS for a rail-link to Shannon have suffered a major setback with news that the early results of a fea- sibility study on the project are “ex- tremely poor”.

The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen confirmed that “the analy- sis, figures and economic case in the original draft” were not good enough.

He said that “he did not go with it” because of the poor figures.

“A different set of requests and questions were sought and these have gone into the mix. The local author- ity is dealing with it at present. I ex- pect to receive the final report soon and it is hoped that it will be posi- tive,’ he added.

It is understood that the consultants involved in drawing up the feasibility study, MVA Consultants, estimated the cost of the rail-link at €700 mil- |bTeyee

Chairman of the Shannon Rail Partnership, Councillor Sean Hillery (FF), disputed the €700 million cost on the rail-spur yesterday and said that the partnership’s own costing put it at €240 million.

“We accept that a rail-spur to Sixmilebridge is not viable and the approach to take is a direct rail-link between Limerick and Shannon. This is not going to happen this year or next year and will depend on popu- lation increases. A rail-link between

Shannon and Limerick would attract a public-private partnership, whereas a link between Shannon and Sixmi- lebridge would not,” he said. Councillor Hillery added that he hoped the route for the rail-link would be frozen in anticipation of it being built in future years. Meanwhile, in a Dail debate on Shannon Airport, Deputy James Breen (Ind) asked Minister Cullen if he would provide Shannon with debt free status. The estimated debt of Shannon is believed to be around

€100 million.

Minister Cullen stated, “It is not an issue because Shannon does not have a debt. I am not bothered about it.”

Deputy Breen also asked Minister Cullen about the possibility of fur- ther investment in the airport.

“Absolutely. There is no question about it,” said the minister.

WORK on the new playground in Sixmilebridge is due to get under- way within two months and a major fundraising drive will be launched locally next week.

Planning permission for the project was secured from Clare County Council five months ago. However the council did not grant permission for the area to be fenced off. The committee behind the project felt DOE NOON ECMAY’c-RN Rol O1UUDKCLO MEDI MEBOCCMN DOI) te ests of security, and appealed this condition to An Bord Pleanala.

This appeal was successful last week and now means that the eroup’s full plans will get the go-

ahead.

Funding, to the tune of €110,000, has been granted by Clare County Council and various Government agencies, while locals have also raised money for the project.

Now that the start of the work is in sight, a major fundraising drive is to get underway in the local area. A public meeting will take place at Teach Cuirte on Thursday, May 10, where the fundraising plan will be made public.

“Donations are more than welcome. We are looking to raise €14,000 to complete the construction and we will have to raise €3,000 to €4,000 every year to fund the insurance. Local businesses have been excel-

lent and we will now start a big ap- peal,’ said chairperson of the com- mittee Gwen Bowen.

“We will be moving forward from then. We would be hoping to start building within eight weeks,’ she added.

The boundary will consist of a two-metre high green-coated steel fence, at the site, which 1s located at Cappagh Lodge. To offset the visual impact of the proposed boundary treatment, the committee has been asked to submit a revised landscaping plan, indicating trees and shrubs, which are to be planted along the perimeter of the site.

In its ruling, An Bord Pleanala stated that the boundary was neces-

sary “in the interest of ensuring the facility 1s secure out-of-hours and does not present a threat in terms of damage or injuries to unsupervised users.”

“The playground will be located in the middle of a green space and will be surrounded by a cycle track. We have been on the road for a while. The hiccup was the planning condition, which we had to appeal. We have been ready to go since last Summer,’ said Ms Bowen.

When completed, the facility will be run by the local community and will be a huge asset for the people of Sixmilebridge, where the popu- lation has grown hugely in recent years.

CLARE farmer and Chairperson of ICMSA’s Beef and Cattle Commit- tee Martin McMahon, last week said that there is no basis for the down- ward pressure on beef prices over the last few weeks and that prices should be rising to bridge the gap that ex- ists between Irish prices and prices in other EU markets.

According to McMahon, farm- ers who are selling cattle this week are losing money, particularly in the context of the significantly higher feed costs relative to 12 months ago.

He said that the prices farmers are receiving are not adequate to com- pensate for these additional costs and prices need to rise to reflect that reality.

“Irish beef prices are still 23c/kg below prices in England, 1lc/kg be- low Northern Ireland prices and 25c/ kg below French prices with this rep- resenting a massive gap equivalent to up to €80 per head,” said the Beef and Cattle Committee Chairperson.

‘There is an ongoing and growing deficit in EU beef markets and it is now well past the time that the meat plants closed this gap and returned

improved prices to farmers.

“The gap that exists is simply not warranted given developments in the EU beef markets in the past number of years. The latest attempt this week to cut beef prices is very short-sight- ed and can only serve to undermine the future of the Irish beef sector.

“There had to be a realisation, in all quarters, that the future of the beef industry itself 1s what is at stake and if the sector is to develop further then prices will have to increase to a realistic level.”

Meanwhile, the IFA’s National Livestock Committee Chairman,

John Bryan, last week accused the factories of managing and manipu- lating cattle numbers and prices.

“The factories’ latest move this week, to cut prices, was a real kick in the teeth to winter finishers who have endured losses of in excess of €100 per head this winter,’ he said.

“At a time when prices were ris- ing in our main market in the UK, it was a scandal that Irish factories were attempting to cut prices. It is an even bigger scandal that some facto- ries were importing cattle and telling their farmer clients that they must cut the price.”

THE controversy surrounding the Mary Shannon rape case is poised to prevent other rape victims coming forward, according to the Rape Cri- sis Centre in the mid west.

Ms Shannon waived her right to an- onymity in March, after a three-year suspended term was handed to Ennis man Adam Keane (20), of Barnagee- ha, Darragh, Ennis.

He was found guilty by a 10-2 majority of the jury of raping Mary Shannon (33) at his trial, at the Cen- tral Criminal Court.

Ms Shannon was outraged by the sentence, the leniency of which is be- ing appealed by the Director of Pub-

lic Prosecutions.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office last week showed that there was a huge decrease in the number of sexual offences reported during the first quarter of the year.

Nationally, the number of reported sexual offences dropped by 44.5 per cent, when compared with the same three-month period last year.

The co-ordinator of the Rape Cri- sis Centre in the mid west, Miriam Duffy said the “furore over the statu- tory rape case” last year is bound to have played a role in the huge de- crease.

SY eTomcr COMA OT-LMmy OND CoMmMeCoM\Y EDavane)oretoee non case was not likely to have had an impact on the figures for the first

quarter, it was likely to have an ef- fect on figures for the remainder of this year.

‘There has been a knock-on effect from the statutory rape case,” she Sr AKGe

“What happened with Mary Shan- non’s case…you would want to assess it again in six months,’ added Ms Duffy.

“A lot more training needs to be done with the gardai. We are con- cerned that this is a big reduction in the number of sexual offences re- ported,’ she added.

“There has not been any dramatic fall-off in incidents of rape reported to the Rape Crisis Centre,” she add- ed.

GARDAI in Shannon welcomed a delegation from Canada including a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to County Clare on Friday as part of a scheme to pro- mote a transatlantic literacy pro- eramme involving dozens of schools and libraries in Ireland and Canada.

Constable John T Kennedy of the RCMP, or Mounties as they are affectionately known, met with members of An Garda Siochana at Shannon and later with some of the participants of “The Reading Chal- lenge. Cst Kennedy was accompa- nied on his visit by Eric Stackhouse, Chief Librarian, Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

The visit is the culmination of a link forged last year between Clare County Library, An Garda Siochana, Canadian Libraries, the Royal Cana- dian Mounted Police (RCMP) and 21 National Schools in Co Clare aimed at promoting reading among chil- Clone

‘The Reading Challenge’ forms part of the ‘Adopt-a-Library Literacy Program’, which was established ten years ago in northern New Bruns- wick by the RCMP. The police act as the ‘bridge’ between the commu- nity and the library, and in return the library develops programs and ac- tivities that directly impact literacy amongst children.

Explaining how the Challenge works, Patricia Fitzgerald, Assistant Librarian, Children’s Services, Clare

County Library said, “Gardai and public library staff visit participat- ing schools where they explain the importance and fun of reading to the children and encourage them to use their local library. Once a month, a designated teacher in each school counts the number of books read before registering the tally on ‘The Reading Challenge’ website.

The Reading Challenge began in late 2006 and has proven to be hugely successful. The participating National Schools are Tubber, Bur- rane, Clouna, Carrigaholt, Doonaha, Lackyle, Killaloe Boys National, En- nis Educate Together School, Coore, St. Senans National School Kilrush, Moy, Mullagh, Corofin, Flagmount, Crusheen, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Cratloe, Moyasta, Feakle, Doora and

Inagh.

At the end of the school year, the school that has read the most books overall will receive €2100 worth of books, sponsored by Scholastic pub- lishers. Clare County Library is also awarding the school who reads the most with €2000 worth of books.

County Librarian Noel Crowley said, ““We are delighted to have been able to partake in such an important and unique program. The Library Service looks forward to further developing the initiative in county Okan

SHERRY FitzGerald Hussey Mad- den, Ennistymon, have a limited number of semi-detached properties left in the latest phase of the Cuirt Merriman development, priced at €240,000. These houses are beau- tifully designed and represent great value for money.

Only minutes walk from the town centre, these properties have the add-

ed bonus of being just 1.5 miles from Lahinch beach and golf course.

The properties have three bed- rooms, with the master bedroom, en- suite. They also have large gardens. The selling agent assures that “the highest level of construction and fin- ish is guaranteed with PC sum allow- ances of €4,200 per house.”

Finishes include wooden floors in the living room and all bedrooms, and the houses will be painted ex-

ternally plus the ceilings and wood work are painted.

The first phase of this development sold from plans and despite hiccups in the property market, the quick sale of all but these two remaining units of the 28 units in Phase 2, attests to the popularity of this development and the popularity of Ennistymon as a location.

For full details contact 065 7072833.