Category: Uncategorized

MARGUERITE O’Dwyer died as a result of severe blunt force trauma to the head, while the 90 stab wounds inflicted were a secondary cause.

That was the conclusion reached by State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, who addressed the jury on Tuesday morning.

“This young woman had been the victim of a violent assault, with at least 90 wounds to the head, trunk and legs and at least six blows to the head,” she said.

“This type of injury would cause rapid death and was irrecoverable,” added Dr Cassidy.

She said the majority of the stab

wounds were inflicted after death and the victim had possibly been knocked unconscious by the first Ke) YA

The hazel-eyed young woman had been subjected to 20 stab wounds to the head and neck, including to the cheeks, eyelid, nose and jaw line. Another 64 wounds were inflicted over the front of the trunk and 14 stab wounds to the thighs.

“There was no evidence of any typical knife defensive injuries to the upper arms,” said Dr Cassidy.

She agreed with Defence Counsel Patrick Gageby, SC, that the absence of defensive injuries suggested the young woman had been “completely taken by surprise.”

THE blazing sunshine may have departed but a wave of good cheer ereeted the hundreds of walkers who took to the roads of Liscannor for the annual Burren Chernobyl Walk which took place on Sunday.

This year’s walk, which is the main fundraiser for the Ennistymon based Burren Chernobyl! Projects, attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd to walk and help support the people suffering as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 21 years ago.

“We had a really great turnout and everything went so so well,” said Carmel Mescal of the Burren Cher-

nobyl Project.

“We would really like to thank all of those who turned up for the walk, the people who sponsored them and all of those who contributed badly needed funds for the ongoing work in Belarus.

“The work is ongoing over there. There is a group going out from Lis- cannor later this Summer. The will be mostly doing construction work in Tarasiki, some general structural repair as-well-as the upgrading of a few facilities like showers.

“There is a group from Ennis over there at the moment. There are al- ways new groups of volunteers going over and offering their skills.”

The annual walk is the Burren Chernobyl Projects main fundraiser for the project each year. At present the charity organisation helps to sup- port children at Gorodishche and Chevron as well as adults in Cylb, Tarasiki, Cosovo and Yazouk1.

Besides providing basic care and assistance for the people living in the orphanages, the project is also set to begin a day care programme which will allow children to return to their family during the evenings and spend their days in the institutions.

The walk takes place this Sunday, April 22, leaving from the Liscan- nor Hotel. Registration takes place between 12 noon and Ipm and all are

welcome to come take part.

Meanwhile, counting is well under way following the Annual Dunleavy Walk which took place in Doolin earlier in the month. Gerry and Toni Dunleavey led more than 200 people in the walk which was one of the best supported in recent years.

“It was very successful, the sun shone and there was great fun and commitment from everyone who came out on the day,” said organiser Mary O’Connor.

“The local people were brilliant. We raised a lot of money and there is as much to come in. The Michael Dunleavy Foundation are so grateful to everyone for all the help.”

PATRICK Joseph O’Dwyer was born on July 3, 1985. He was the sec- ond-born child of Paddy and Claire O’ Dwyer, a factory worker and bank official, respectively. His older sister Louise is a graduate of NUI Galway and his young sister Marguerite was studying for her Leaving Certificate at the time of her killing.

Patrick obtained 395 points in his Leaving Certificate, at Ennistymon CBS in 2003.

This secured him a place in Civil Engineering at Galway Mayo In- stitute of Technology. He moved to Galway and stayed in student accom- modation with two other young men from Mayo. However, he dropped out of college that Christmas and re- turned to his home town.

“I did not enjoy my time up in Gal- way. I wanted to get out of there,” he told gardai.

He had previously worked part- time as a labourer, a golf club cad-

die and took up weekend work at the Atlantic Hotel and Coast nightclub in Bseeen

After dropping out of college, he be- gan working with his father at Tyco, Shannon. In June 2004, he took up an apprenticeship as a butcher with Bernard Roughan in Ennistymon. He earned €230 a week and contin- ued to work there, until the killing of his sister.

He enjoyed this work and Mr Roughan told the trial that Patrick was “a great worker,’ “got on well with everyone” and appeared happy on the day of the killing. He planned to open his own butcher’s shop, some WU Seto UOMBO CM RUIADDKoM

“Marguerite had called in often to talk to him. They got on well. He would often give her cigarettes,” he ene m

Patrick had a huge interest in sport and played football and hurling, un- derage, with Ennistymon.

He had a number of friends, mainly from Ennistymon and Inagh, and had

AISA AEc DUDE TOI OTOL

“A few, nothing long-term. They cost a lot of money,” he said, during an interview with gardai.

He had his first drink prior to his 16th birthday and said he would feel “bad” the day after he drank shots or (ere <2 He dabbled in drugs whilst in col- lege. “Hash. When I was in college. Maybe once a week, twice a week,’ he said. The trial heard several incidents which showed that alcohol was his downfall. He enjoyed a good rela- tionship with his parents, the odd ex- ception being a row over drink. On one occasion, in January 2004, he asked an English woman in her 40s for a kiss on the street. She rejected his advances and he hit her and bit her fingers. He was acutely drunk at the time. On another occasion, he became ageressive with his father, after he spoke to him about his drunken be- haviour at a family wedding.

THE — globetrotting Lismorahaun singers return to their home patch this week for a special concert in Lisdoonvarna.

Having just returned from a highly successful outing to Italy, the 100- strong choir will offer a wide variety of choral music – ranging from the old classics to the contemporary, and even a little Polish.

In an effort to entertain the area’s erowing Polish community, the sing- ers will be performing a number of pieces by Polish composer Joreck1, including “The Broad Water’.

The programme will also include songs from Mozart and Vivaldi, as

well as a number of traditional airs and a few surprises.

All proceeds from the performance will go towards helping to fund the Access All programme at St Enda’s Primary School in Lisdoonvarna, Where the Lismorahaun now prac- tice.

“There are a lot of Polish people living in the area and we would love for them to come along,” said John Hehir, St Enda’s principal and mem- ber of the Lismorahaun.

“The music is very lively, it’s al- most like a Clare set except it is sung. There are a lot of Polish people living and working in Lisdoonvarna and in the surrounding area.”

The Access All programme is an

initiative set up to help the school become 100 per cent user-friendly to students by providing things like ramps for people in wheelchairs and disabled toilets.

The Lismorahaun are just back from a hugely successful journey to the Italian town of Pozzeleone. Locals from the north Italian town, which is twinned with Ennistymon, were So impressed with the perform- ance that they will be making the journey to Lisdoonvarna for this Fri- day’s concert.

“It was a fantastic journey over there, we were given a really great reception,’ continued John.

“Archie Simpson has really done something wonderful with the Lis-

morahaun. There was latent talent in this area that he tapped into. We have people who come from south Galway and up from Ennis and Bodyke.”

The concert will take place this Friday, April 27, at 8pm in the Lis- doonvarna Church. Tickets, at a cost of €10, are available on the door or from St Enda’s at 7074231.

DOORA-BAREFIELD native, Martina Molo- ney, is to become the first female County Manager in the history of Galway, it was an- nounced last week.

The 47-year-old mother-of-two began her county council career as a clerical officer in Ennis and was, most recently, county manager in Louth for the last three and half years.

She is also a former director of services with Galway City Council and has some 20 years of experience working for local Government.

Although the appointment was announced last week, Ms Moloney is unlikely to begin work in Galway until later this summer.

She must also be ratified by the elected members of Galway County Council at their meeting later this month and will not be of- ficially appointed in her position until May.

Ms Moloney’s late husband, Jimmy Hick- ey, 1S also originally from the Ennis area. The pair met while they both worked for the county council in Ennis. Jimmy passed away in 1991.

“IT am excited about the challenge of being back in Galway and one of my main aims will be to do my best to help improve the county’s capacity to attract and accommodate new in- dustry,” she said.

“There is new main route through east Gal- way to Dublin, the many issues regarding the N17 and N18 and of course I am familiar with the Claregalway situation.”

While her career working with local authori- ties started out in Ennis, she has since got a lot of experience around the country.

She worked with councils in Limerick City, Donegal and North Tipperary before moving to Galway City and then to Louth.

SHANNON Airport could see an additional 100 extra military flights every month with an expansion of services by Omni Air International, one of several airlines contracted to carry US military personnel for the Pentagon.

While the new services were not ex- pected to start until next month, two Omni Air flights arrived at Shannon on Saturday afternoon prompting calls from anti-war group the Peace

and Neutrality Alliance to call for campaigners to step up their protests at Shannon.

Former Irish Army Commandant and well known anti-war campaigner Ed Horgan said the passage of US troops through Shannon is becom- ing accepted custom and practice because not enough Irish people care about the killing of ‘foreigners’ in places such as Iraq.

News of the expansion in services by Omni Air will, however, be a sig- nificant boost to the airport after the

biggest carrier of US military per- sonnel for the Pentagon pulled out last year.

World Airways shifted its military technical stops to Leipzig, Germany citing economic reasons.

With the loss of World Airways, there has been a dramatic drop in US military traffic at Shannon.

Almost 15,000 more troops passed through the airport in January 2006 than in the first three months of this year combined.

26,817 troops stopped off at Shan-

non on 268 flights in the first quarter of this year, representing a drop of almost 77 per cent on the figures for 2006.

The Dublin Airport Authority, which still governs Shannon, has al- ready warned that Shannon Airport should not rely on the military transit nee nelen

DAA Chief Executive Declan Col- lier said that Shannon’s losses are “only slightly camouflaged by the military transit traffic which is not a sustainable business.”

Shannon has earned an estimated €8m a year for the past six years from US military traffic and its loss- es would be far greater if it did not have the military business.

A spokesperson for the Shannon Airport Authority confirmed that Omni Air are putting a programme of flights through the airport from next month.

This new business is expected to see up to 100 flights a month carry- ing as many as 10,000 troops.

MICHAEL Considine was an ani- mated figure on the Gaelic Grounds sideline on Saturday afternoon.

It was a combination of trying to get his team going, exhorting them to ereater heights and venting his anger at some of the decisions that didn’t go his team’s way.

The latter is something that Con- sidine was thinking about after the game – the injustice done to Clare twice in the first half when they were playing catch-up after Limerick scin- SD UE-lenerea eva

“T’m not making excuses but I thought the refereeing was a dis- grace, said Considine about Mau- rice Condon’s handling of the game.

‘The decisions that went against us were unbelieveable. Gary Leahy was pulled up by the referee after he took a free, while Enda Lyons should have been awarded a penalty. He was defi- nitely pulled back. When those things gO against you it makes it harder. We needed scores badly at that stage but didn’t get them,” he added.

However, the refereeding aside, Considine admitted that it was a very disappointing display by his charges after they play some fantastic foot- ball in the drawn game three days previously.

“We were flat, very flat,” he admit- ted. “The start killed us, to concede 2-3 of a start to Limerick meant we were chasing the game and it was al- ways going to be very hard to come oye) que ueyeemset.le

“But we battled hard and I can’t fault the lads for the effort they put in the game. They got it back to four

points with four minutes remaining which showed the character that’s in this side,” he added.

This character will be needed in spades on Wednesday when they re- turn to the Gaelic Grounds to take on a Tipperary side that went down by 3-7 to Q-10 in their opening round tie in Limerick.

“lve watched the DVD of Tip- perary’s game against Kerry last Wednesday. They are a typical Tip- perary team – they’re big and strong and will be very hard to beat. We know that they will be hard to beat, Tipperary teams always are at under- age level,’ said Considine.

‘“We’re hopeful that the lads will lift it now but it’s crazy that they’re being asked to play a third cham- pionship game in seven days. The GAA have established a committee to look into player burn-out yet they wouldn’t consider putting back this game by a few days.

“But were going to get on with it. We have injury worries that we carried into Saturday’s game, Dav- id Connole has a rib injury while Michael McDonagh has ankle trou- ble. Your midfield is crucial and we ll just have to wait and see how they are on Wednesday.”

Clare’s preparations for the tie started after their defeat on Saturday when they had a pool session in The Bunratty Shannon Shamrock Hotel. “We’ll have another pool session be- fore Wednesday and then take our chance,” said Considine. “If we can get over Tipperary, we have Water- ford to look forward to and we could yet reach a semi-final against Cork. That’s what we have to aim for.”

AS the summer sunshine has been making itself feel very much at home in recent weeks, businesses 1n north Clare have been dusting them- selves off in preparation for the tour- ist deluge that the next few months will surely bring.

One business’ which probably doesn’t need too much of a spring clean however is Kennedy’s Centra on Church Street in Lahinch.

The shop has just been awarded an Excellence Ireland National Hygiene Award for it’s ongoing commitment to hygiene and food safety.

The award, which was presented by Minister of State at the Depart- ment of Agriculture and Food, Mary Wallace, is the highest independent verification of hygiene standards and food safety in Ireland.

“It is very important that such achievements are acknowledged and applauded and so become an incen- tive for others to strive to reach the same high standards,’ said Minister AWE TEE Teron

“These awards acknowledge the ongoing year-round daily commit- ment throughout the Centra stores. The Musgrave SuperValu-Centra eroup has a well-deserved reputation

for high standards as well as being a huge supporter of the Irish food in- dustry with over 75 per cent of goods sourced from Irish suppliers.”

Throughout Ireland the Cen- tra group invests in the region of €350,000 annually in its hygiene programme.

“The Hygiene Mark indicates that a business has the highest standards of hygiene and safety in Irish industry and complies with all Irish and Euro- pean legislation,’ said Martin Roper, Technical Director, Excellence Ire- land Quality Association.

‘The retail market currently leads the field in compliance in the Irish

food sector, so consumers can be re- assured whenever they see the EIQA Hygiene and Food Safety Certificate displayed.”

Centra have a total of 400 stores in the Republic of Ireland, employing 12,000 people, with stores independ- ently run by local owners.

“Being awarded the highest ever number of National Hygiene Certifi- cate awards highlights the fact that the Centra retailer is consistently achieving the highest retail standards in the country. Hygiene is number one when it comes to customer care,” said Donal Horgan, Centra’s Manag- ing Director.

IARNROD Eireann has apologized after commuters were left stranded in Ennis yesterday.

The scheduled 6.45am service be- tween Ennis and Limerick did not operate as planned forcing passen- gers to make their own travel ar- rangements.

A mix up in driver rostering has

been identified as the reason for the no-show.

Passengers were offered a place on a min-bus hired from a local tax1 firm after larnrod Eireann were un- able to locate a bus to bring passen- gers to Limerick.

However, many had already paid for taxis in order to catch a connect- ing train leaving Limerick for Dub- lin. Subsequent train services ran

as normal throughout the rest of the Cr MA ;

A spokesperson for larnrod Eire- ann apologized to customers for any inconvenience caused.

“We do apologise to passengers for what happened with the mix up. It was an unusual situation that I can’t remember happening before.”

He explained a mix up in the roster- ing of drivers was the reason for the

nen p.qnel oy

“It appears there was mix up in ros- ters and that there was no driver there in the morning. Inspectors in both stations contacted both Bus Eireann and local coach operators but weren’t able to get a bus at such short notice.

“They managed to get a mini-bus from a local taxi firm, but by then some people had made their own ar- rangements. That taxi left Ennis at

oer: 100 a

He added there was no further dis- ruption to services during the day.

“It was just the one service in the morning that was affected. Normally we have a back up arrangement in place either with our sister company Bus Eireann or with local operators. But it was particularly difficult to get one at that hour of the morning at such short notice.”

THE massive increase in the local population has paved the way for the establishment of a new creche which is due to open in Corofin in the com- TP OTSMR ets) Oe

The Butterfly Kisses Childcare Centre, which will cater for up to 20 children as-well-as offering an after school care service, will host an open day next Saturday, April 21.

The purpose built facility, which is located in the Laghtagoona Es- tate, will then open for business on Monday, April 30. The créche is owned and operated by Ken and

Olga O’Malley, who are a long es- tablished provider of childcare in County Clare.

“Corofin’s landscape has changed in recent years with many couples opting for a less hectic way of life in this idyllic country setting,” said Olga.

“We believe that the childcare cen- tre will be a valuable asset to the community in supporting its contin- ued development. Great work is been done as we have seen with the recent opening of a public playground.

“We look forward to offering the very best in childcare into the future and supporting the development of

that all important foundation to the future of this community, its chil- elo

The créche itself is 250 square me- ters in size and includes two main rooms, Little Treasures which caters for children up to 18 months and fea- tures a remote viewing sleep room and the Adventure Room which ca- ters for children up to school age.

The project was made possible through the support of a number of agencies including the Clare County Childcare Committee, the Clare En- terprise Board and the Health Serv- ice Executive.

“We are very excited to be involved

with this venture in Corofin, having family in the area. The clear need for such a centre in the community makes it all the more exciting. We are very proud of the way the build- ing has evolved from a blank canvas to what we see now,” said Ken.

“We would especially like to thank local Minister Tony Killeen for his support of this project in his com- munity. We would also like to thank Cronin Nagle Construction for work- ing with us to build such a centre to this exceptionally high standard.”

For more info contact 6831834, 087 6780253 or omalleyken@hotmail. ore) on