The Clare People Archive

CLARE County Council’s payroll costs last year jumped to €38 mil- lion, with the county’s rate-pay- ers contributing €29 million to the council’s coffers.

According to its annual financial statement, the council last year spent €103 million on revenue related items.

The local authority spent €32 mil- lion on wages and salaries. €2.4 mil- lion was spent on “other costs” under the heading of payroll and €4 mil- lion on pensions and gratuities.

The statement — presented to coun-

cillors at yesterday’s May council meeting — also records that €647,000 was spent on “communications”.

The statement shows that the coun- cil’s finances have improved with the local authority’s revenue deficit de- creasing to €2.9 million.

The figures show that the council’s income at the Cliffs of Moher visi- tor was higher than expected. Gate income at €300,000 was higher than 4 rel KerO

However, the figures show that rev- enues at the council’s waste manage- ment facility were €750,000 down on the 2006 estimate.

Reflecting the economic buoyancy

of the county, the council’s figures show that planning application in- come was €700,000 above budget.

The figures show that the coun- cil expenditure on work in progress projects stood at €248 million com- pared to €149 million at the end of 2005.

The main projects contributing to the total are the Ennis by-pass (€175 million), house construction projects in progress (€11 million), Water Projects (€25 million) and Cliffs of Moher (€29 million).

SW ilommieclioelnlmmeevepu sek MmOet:lmmnele council capital debt stood at €83 million at the end of 2006, compared

to €79 million at the end of 2005. The increase related to the final draw down of the loan to fund the Cliffs of Moher project, voluntary housing loans.

The figures show that the council last year spent €26 million on the provision of local authority housing. €67 million was spent on roads. The major element of this was the Ennis by-pass project.

The report states that the largest variance was on roads where ex- penditure was greater than budget by €5.9 million

This reflected mainly the extra grant income in the year.

yesterday that the rel- evant documents had been lodged in the case and that the claim against the council could amount to €20 million.

“Our legal advice states that we have a very good case,’ Mr O’ Regan said.

He added that he did not expect the case to come before the High Court this year.

Mr O’Regan’s company secured a deal to supply GAMA Construction with stone from a quarry in Ruan.

However, the council issued Mr O’Regan with a warning letter in Au- gust 2004 in relation to the expansion of the quarry at Ardcarney, Ruan.

In the warning letter, the council claimed that “there has been signifi- cant expansion of the quarrying area and an intensification of the use of

the quarry and considers that plan- ning permission 1s required for the Clee a ae

The council stated that a number of developments had taken place on the lands and that the council considered that developments to be unauthorised and required planning permission.

In a response, Mr O’Regan’s com- pany absolutely denied that there was any unauthorised development on the lands in question.

The response letter to the council stated, “There has been no expan- sion of the quarrying area in ques- tion, having regard to the historical planning unit, and whether signifi-

cant or otherwise and there has been no intensification of the use of such quarry on such lands.”

Mr O’Regan said that his company did not receive an enforcement no- tice.

He said that the council sent a letter to GAMA and their consultants al- leging an unauthorised development at Mr O’Regan’s quarry, but failed to forward on the company’s response.

As aresult, Louis O’Regan Ltd lost out on the deal to provide the by- pass project with stone and GAMA sourced rock for the project from an alternative quarry locaated in the Ennis area.

ENNIS Chamber of Commerce yes- terday (Monday) had its say in the General Election campaign with the launch of its manifesto.

It outlined issues of concern to the Ennis business community using feedback from its members.

Chamber President Michael Evans took the opportunity to express his disappointment with the level of re- sponse the chamber received from the candidates when the manifesto was sent to them and a meeting re-

quested four weeks ago.

‘To date, we have met with Timmy Dooley, Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Brian Meaney, Pat Breen and Brendan Daly. We have received written re- sponses from Tony Killeen and James Breen as well as commitment for a meeting from Murt Collins.

“As the representative organisa- tion for business in Ennis, we can provide the candidates with a forum for important issues to be addressed. Strong businesses provide guaran- teed employment and are the only sector of society paying rates – both

commercial and water – which in En- nis accounts for over a third of the town council’s finances,” he said. Rita Mc Inerney, CEO added, “En- nis Chamber plans to meet with the four newly-elected Clare representa- tives immediately after the next gov- ernment is formed to emphasis again the issues of the Ennis Chamber manifesto and to receive firm com- mitments to action on the issues.” Among the issues highlighted were Shannon Airport, Ennis hospital, water in Ennis, the bypass, CCTV AVOCGMbOUBeAKinae GA bKes

GREEN Party leader Trevor Sar- gent was in Ennis this Thursday to lend support to local candidate Brian Meaney, even though it would ap- pear the leader remains at odds with the Clare councillor on the issue of American troops using Shannon Airport.

In March last year, Cllr Meaney didn’t win any popularity contests at the party’s conference in Kilkenny when he declared he was not op- posed to the use of Shannon Airport by American troops.

He said at the time that he was nev-

er in favour of “the coalition of the willing” going into Iraq but believed that the armies must stay to help pre- vent a civil war in the area.

This week, when challenged about the economic importance of the American troops using Shannon Airport, Deputy Sargent said, “the Nazis in Germany would have said the same thing.

“I think you have to have a level of respect for human rights which will underpin a sound economic future, because if you accept a low standard of human rights then it quite simply gives the message of accepting low standards in general.

“Our policy is that fundamentally the law has to be upheld. Our oppo- sition to the way American troops were sent to Iraq was based on the fact that it was an illegal occupation. We insist on high standards overall and we do not accept corporate do- nations,’ he added.

Ironically, it was at the same March 2006 conference that deputy leader Mary White proposed that the Green Party be allowed to receive such do- nations. She was defeated.

Deputy Sargent also said that there was a lot of misunderstanding about the Green Party and asked Clare vot- ers to look anew at its policy.

“Other parties paint us into a pi- geonhole that is not correct,’ he said. “I was at a meeting with Brian (Meaney) in Ennis and many farm- ers were attending and were very in- terested in the whole area of energy crops and the need for diversity in farming. That is why the Green Party is very much at one with farmers.”

“They have been let down by many parties in the past and it is not sur- prising that they are sceptical about anybody in politics, but I ask them to look a fresh at the Green Party be- cause our interests tie in very closely with farmers.”

Sargent said he was hopeful of Green success in Clare and even placed a bet in a local bookies, back- ing Cllr Meaney.

A JUDGE has refused to grant bail to an “out of control” young drug addict who has admitted several bur- glary charges, as he feared he would immediately re-offend.

Gerard O’Connor (18), of Chapel Street, Killaloe, pleaded guilty to more than 20 charges, including bur- glary and criminal damage of vari- ous business premises in Killaloe, between September 2006 and Febru- ary 2007.

Garda John Mulvihill told Shannon District Court that the burglaries were for the accused’s personal gain, “to feed his alcohol or drug habits”.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said, “I cannot understand how someone with this amount of charges is still at large.”

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett pointed out that the accused was in custody, having been arrested last

week.

Mr Hassett said his chent “went on a rampage with others and caused serious disharmony. He was stealing, breaking into premises and caus- ing damage at will, until the gardai caught up with him.”

“He has got seriously and heav- ily involved rhe) erat nea since his mid- teens,’ said deTomro) een KO)

He said the accused was “out of con- trol”, smoking cannabis and taking speed, while he was Ko repsew ame B ie! the offences.

“He was, to

some extent, relieved to be caught,” he said.

Garda Mulvihill agreed that the ac- cused did not have a lot of guidance from home and that he had devel- oped a serious drug problem.

Mr Hassett said his client required

treatment aI Bushypark or an equivalent unit, without delay. He said he had been assaulted twice during the past week in St Patrick’s Institution, ““be- cause he is from WeomeOltbe LOM Ae Judge McCa- rthy said he was not willing to release the ac- cused on to the streets “to com-

mit more crime, until I am satisfied there is a place for him in Bushypark and that he is prepared to take that re) e-Nerome

He said he had no doubt but that the accused would re-offend, if granted ey nee

“I have a duty to this man and [| have a duty to society so that it is not affected by this man’s criminal be- haviour,’ said the judge.

“This is the real world. I’ve no doubt if I release this man, he is going to do the same thing again tonight because he needs money for drugs,” he said.

The judge remanded the young man in custody to Limerick prison for a month. He ordered that a Pro- bation report be carried out, with emphasis on residential placement for substance abuse.

AN anti-war activist has been told by a judge that the district court is not an arena for making political NR eet elie

Judge Aeneas McCarthy made the comment in the case of Conor Cre- gan, who 1s facing two charges un- der the Air Navigation and Trans- port Act, arising out of an incident at Shannon Airport in July 2006.

Mr Cregan (34) of Cronan Lawn, Shannon made eight applications at Shannon District Court on Thurs- day.

The accused, who represented himself in court, said he was look- ing for CCTV footage from the date of the alleged incident.

The judge said whatever evidence in the possession of the State should be handed over.

Mr Cregan made a number of oth- er submissions 1n court, which were refused by the judge.

He sought a detailed list of all those refused entry to the airport

and a list of the military traffic which went through, eight weeks prior to and after the invasion of Iraq.

He also sought a detailed list of gardai and airport police personnel who manned the gantry on a par- ticular date and copies of all note- books and disciplinary records of gardai and airport police staff who would give evidence in the case.

Judge McCarthy said he was refus- ing the applications, saying, “This court is not for the purpose of mak- ing political statements. The matter before the court is charges in rela- tion to you. The court is not obliged to give you information on foreign aircraft arriving in Shannon.”

Mr Cregan said he was not endeav- ouring to make a political statement and that the matters pertained to the charges. Judge McCarthy said he had refused all applications on the grounds that they were not relevant to the matters before the court.

The case was adjourned until next month.

ALLOWING a dangerously defec- tive lorry on the road when it wasn’t road worthy was an “accident wait- ing to happen”, according to a judge.

Patrick Buggy (53), a haulier from Kyle, Stradbally, Laois, was convict- ed of a number of offences, after one of his drivers was stopped at Killula, Newmarket-on-Fergus, on Novem- ber 2 last.

He was convicted of being the owner of a dangerously defective vehicle, of having recording equip- ment which was not functioning cor- rectly and having an unlicensed semi oem

The court was told that two tyres on the tractor unit were completely worn and the diesel tank was not properly in place.

Garda John Ryan told the court that the tachograph was inspected and showed the vehicle had been driven at 120 kilometres per hour, when the maximum speed for this vehicle should have been 90kph.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said the vehicle presented a huge danger on the road, driven at high speed with no threads and the diesel tank was not properly secured.

“To send a truck out on the road with those defects beggars belief that a reasonable person could do that. It’s an accident waiting to happen. This was a dangerously defective truck, driven at high speed. It could have caused a major accident and killed people,’ he added.

“There is carnage on the roads. If there was an accident, I don’t know what could have happened. This ve- hicle wasn’t road worthy. It was so unroadworthy the garda impounded it. I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t disqualify him,” said the judge.

He imposed fines totalling €2,250 and disqualified Mr Buggy from driving for six months. He fixed re- cognisances in the event of an ap- peal. He issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the driver, who 1s from Lithuania.

THE Annual Financial Statement for Clare County Council for 2006 shows a positive operating result of om ceueeELetF

The report shows that the result, taken together with the reduction of corporate loan repayments of €0.9 million, reduced the cumulative rev- enue deficit of the council to €2.9 million.

The reduction of the corporate loan is an accounting adjustment required to reflect the principal repaid on the loan since it was drawn down in late 2003.

The council had additional income of €7.2 million which arose primari- ly from the roads and infrastructure area where additional allocations of €4.5 million were received in the year.

Income received from planning applications came in €0.7 million

above budget.

Income from the council’s waste management facility was down €0.75 million as compared to figures anticipated at the council’s half-year report for 2006.

Fire certificate income contributed an additional €0.2 million and water and waste water connection fees con- tributed €0.5 million.

In addition to these figures, €47.9 million was received in respect of rates local government fund and LOTT AIA Yael t-Nuexer

Expenditure on roads was €5.9 mil- lion above the budgeted level. This can be explained due to increased Central Management Charge alloca- tion of €0.5 million and increased county road maintenance of €0.55 million. Expenditure on the water services programme was greater than budget by €0.4 million. This was driven mainly by additional expendi- ture on operational and maintenance

of water and waste water plants and networks.

Development incentives and con- trol expenditure was €0.9 million above budget. Increased numbers of planning applications is reflected in additional income of €0.7 million and also in additional operating ex- penditure of €0.2 million.

In 2006, the gross value of the council’s fixed assets increased by €150.5 million. This related prima- rily to an increase in local authority water and wastewater assets arising from the 2004 takeover of Shannon Town services from Shannon Devel- opment.

The balance sheet also includes an increase in local authority housing stock, Beechpark machinery yard and plant acquisitions. Road projects accounted for 50 per cent of expendi- ture on capital projects, with €6/7 million spent in 2006. The major el- ement in this was the Ennis bypass.

HE REACHED into a brown Dunnes Stores bag and considered what he was going to do. His hand touched a hatchet, he pulled it out of the bag and swung his plan into action. There was no going back and within min- utes Liam Moloney would lie dead, having been butchered by a man he thought he knew.

Anthony Kelly told gardai that a plan to kill Liam Moloney a week earlier did not materialise. However, there was going to be no hesitation on February 11, 2005.

He swung the axe and inflicted 17 blows on his victim’s head, before slashing his throat with a_ knife, at Port House, close to Ruan.

Kelly said there were voices in his head which directed him to kill the WEG ene Melu ioe

“IT could feel this thing building up inside me. I never felt like this before in my life. I felt possessed, I think is the word. Looking back, it was something like it,” he said.

Uncontrollable feelings of anger and rage had built up inside him

over the previous weeks. He believed Liam Moloney was racist. Kelly was married to a woman from Paraguay and he said he took exception to some comments made by Mr Molo- ney. However this assertion about racism was disputed in evidence by two former colleagues of the former Aer Lingus employee.

Kelly told gardai that he believed his victim stored cash in his apart- ment in Ennis. Mr Moloney had re- tired from Aer Lingus in Shannon in January 2002 and had received a severance package of €71,000.

Immediately after the killing, Kelly went to Mr Moloney’s apartment and stole between €500 and €600. He then drove to Shannon and picked up a teenage boy – as arranged – and drove to his home in Waterville, Kerry. The following day he got the unsuspecting young boy to assist him to destroy the evidence.

, by Martin Luther Stites He pleaded “not guilty” at the out- set, after the charge of murder was put to him and also indicated his guilty plea to six other charges. Each day, as he was led in to the courtroom, the book protruded from his pocket. That book remained on the bench in front of him during the were During the majority of the evidence in the case, Kelly looked straight ahead. On the third day of the trial, he turned to the left and gave his full attention as videotapes showing his

interviews by gardai were played to elem LUD MYA

As his barrister Brendan Grehan asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty of manslaughter and not mur- der, he looked straight ahead at him.

He also gazed at the trial judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney, as he presented the charge to the jury and recapped the evidence, occasionally rubbing his face with his hand.

He listened intently throughout the trial and did not show any facial expressions as prosecuting counsel Tom O’Connell described the killing as “meticulously planned, ruthlessly executed and followed by a cover- eee Kelly also showed no major ex- pression of emotion as conflicting evidence of his mental state were presented to the jury. The prosecu-

tion argued that he was not suffering from a mental disorder when he mur- dered his victim, while the defence argued he was and that this dimin- ished his responsibility.

Kelly’s lack of visible emotion throughout the trial continued as the verdict was read out.

As Kelly murdered his victim, his dress sense resembled that of a young man, notably the presence of a baseball cap. One witness who saw him standing near Liam Moloney’s taxi immediately prior to the killing told gardai she believed he was in his BOs

His demeanour during the trial, dressed in a suit, shirt and tie, were more akin to a man in his 50s.

In the body of the courtroom, the family of Liam Moloney sat togeth- er.

Liam’s brothers Fintan and Derry, three of his sons — David, Peter and Shane — and his former wife Eileen listened to the horrific details of how he met his death. Each family mem- ber attended part of the trial, while Fintan, who delivered a harrowing victim impact statement at the end of the trial, did not miss a minute of the evidence.

Fintan and Derry sat behind the media and could have been mistaken for journalists, such was their regular note-taking throughout the trial.

Each morning, the Moloney fam- ily converged outside Courtroom Number One in the Round Hall of the Four Courts. They supported each other, in contrast to the accused who cut a sad, lonely figure, with no family support in evidence.