The Clare People Archive

FATIGUE played a part in an incident in which an off-duty Ryanair pilot crashed a helicopter while taking a family on a pleasure trip, an official investigation has found.

The pilot had already flown the chopper on a return trip from Dublin to West Cork earlier in the day and was due to report for duty in Shannon at 6.15am the next morning.

The Irish Aviation Authority made the findings after an investigation into the crash-landing of the Bell 206B helicopter in a cornfield near Inniskeen, County Monaghan on June 13 2004. On the day, the pilot had expected to go home, but had agreed to fly trips for the sports day at Kilanny because there were so many people queuing for the flights.

A female passenger described how she saw warning lights come in the helicopter before two loud siren sounds and then the engine went quiet. The chopper started wobbling and her children became upset.

The craft was badly damaged in the emergency landing but passengers and the pilot escaped injury. The authority heard that the pilot was just short of his annual flying limit of 900 hours at the time of the accident.

“The wisdom of getting involved with further commercial operations is therefore dubious, particularly when this is done without notifying his prime employer,” the report stated.

The accident report found that the amount of fuel in the helicopter during its final flight was below the minimum required level, a fact the pilot could have established if he had made a calculation based on the number of previous flights carried out.

“The investigation is of the opinion that fatigue may well have blurred the pilot’s judgement and airmanship towards the end of the day,” the report continued.

The pilot, who was not named in the official investigation report, has been identified by a media source as being employed by Ryanair at the time of the accident, although the crash-flight itself had nothing to do with the no-frills airline.

THE death of Peter McCloskey took place just days after a mediation meeting between himself, representatives of the Clerical sex victims support group One In Four and church representatives.

He was abused while serving as an altar boy at the age of 10 in the Diocese of Limerick by Fr Denis Daly, a priest who had been run out of a parish in Sydney for a ‘moral lapse.’ He had served as a priest in Sydney in the 1950s and 1960s and was a supply priest in Caherdavin in 1981.

Following Peter’s death, a meeting between members of his family and representatives of the Limerick Diocese, including Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray, took place on April 23. The sides later issued a joint statement. It was agreed that the sides would “work together” on the issue. However, no further statements have been issued since then.

In the April statement, the Bishop acknowledged that he accepted the truth of Mr McCloskey’s experience of clerical child sexual abuse. He also acknowledged that there was a failure on the part of the diocese to inform itself as to Fr Daly’s suitability for the ministry.

The diocese accepted that the information available at that time should have prevented Fr Daly from taking up ministry in Limerick.

Peter’s mother Mary called on Dr Murray to resign as Bishop of Limerick over the way in which he and the diocese handled the case.

Peter had been locked in a four-year battle with the Diocese after responding to church calls in 2002 for priests’ victims to come forward and tell their stories. His search for the truth saw him visit Sydney in February 2004, where he demanded to see Fr Daly’s file.

THE family of Peter McCloskey says it is still suffering as a result of his death, at his west Clare home eight months ago. In the aftermath of the inquest into his death, Peter’s brother Joseph said, “We are still suffering and are grieving at Peter’s loss. It is very difficult to come to terms with it.”

Mr McCloskey had started a course in Liberal Arts at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, just months before he took his own life.

He had recorded top marks during the first Semester of his course and his family were thrilled with this.

Just weeks before his death, Peter received a letter from Roger Downer, President of University of Limerick, congratulating him on his outstanding academic success in the autumn semester. Peter was awarded a QCA of 3.56 – the maximum is 4 – and he achieved A1 and A2 grades throughout.

He was poet of the week at The White House, Limerick on March 3 2006, with his poem, ‘Would You Like To Be At Sea Tonight?’.He was featured twice on the RTE Radio 1 Sunday morning programme, ‘Sunday Miscellany.’ He read ‘The Walking Machine’ and ‘Corner Boys’, on air.

His brother Joseph said the family was very proud of his achievements.

“We were enormously proud when Peter got a mature students place in Mary Immaculate College,” he added.

Joseph told The Clare People his parents Mary and Aidan are “devastated and grieving at Peter’s loss.”

Mr McCloskey separated from his wife Cathy and moved to west Clare in 2000. He lived there by himself until his death in April.

AN inquest has heard how a man, who had been abused as a child by a priest, wrote ‘goodbye’ notes to his family before he took his own life at his west Clare home.

Peter McCloskey (37), a separated father-of-three, died at Moveen West, Kilkee, on Sunday, April 2 last.

Dr Deirdre Curtin, a counsellor, recalled, in her deposition, that Peter had been referred to her through the Rape Crisis Centre in January of this year. She met him weekly for counselling, over 11 weeks.

She received two text messages from Peter on the evening of April 1, 2006. One of those said, “Thanks for trying to help me. I have to leave you of our contract now. There is nothing more 2 do or say.”

The other message said, “Goodbye millie go Hopper. I have 2 endi.”

Dr Curtin was at a funeral and when she got the messages – which were sent within 100 minutes of each other – she rang Peter’s mobile and left voice messages for him.

“I was concerned for Peter’s safety. The two text messages had alarmed me,” she said.

She rang the psychiatric services in Limerick and then she recalled Peter saying that he liked Kilkee and maybe he was there.

She rang Kilkee garda station and was put through to Kilrush. She was told that two gardaí who were to liaise with Peter were both off duty.

She later spoke to a garda and asked him to check that Peter was okay, given his previous psychiatric history.

Dr Curtin received a phone call later from that garda, to say that Peter had died tragically while he was at home.

The inquest was told he had lived alone in the dormer style two storey house. He was found dead on his couch and a number of goodbye notes, addressed to various family members, were found near his body.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea said, “I’m mindful of the text messages sent by Mr McCloskey. I’m satisfied there was an intent by Mr McCloskey to end his life,” and returned a verdict of suicide.

COIS NA hABHNA, the Clare Comhaltas cultural centre in Ennis, will be one of the main beneficiaries of a €65 million development programme being undertaken by Comhaltas which has designated the Clare venue as one of eight regional centres for the promotion of Irish cultural traditions.

The building on the Gort Road in Ennis is at present undergoing major renovation which will be completed in time for Fleadh Nua 2007.

The old church in Kilrush, which has been donated by the Church of Ireland to Comhaltas, will also benefit as an outreach centre under the Development Programme.

The programme, which is being grant-aided by the Government and supported with buildings from a number of sources, will be the most expansive programme ever for the propagation of cultural traditions in the history of the State.

The initial grant-aid for Cois na hAbhna and Kilrush will be in the region of € 2.5m. The other seven regional resource centres will be based in Dundalk, Dublin (Monkstown and Clontarf), Cashel, Gurteen (Co. Sligo), and Mullingar as well as several outreach centres.

The Programme is rooted in the community and will be sustained and developed by a number of imaginative and complementary projects. It will involve the decentralisation of several Comhaltas elements i.e. education, archives, merchandise and performance outlets. It will be driven by regionally based “meitheal” teams.

Cois na hAbhna development board chairman, Frank Whelan, said the programme would enable them to build on the solid foundation bequeathed by the great men and women of the past.

It was good news for the cultural movement and they looked with confidence to the future. Describing the programme as a huge boost for Ireland’s cultural indentity, Comhaltas Director General, Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú said it would empower the meitheal of volunteers to develop cultural potential at community level, which might otherwise remain dormant.

“The result of the new Comhaltas Development Programme will in time impact on every region of Ireland and throughout the Irish Diaspora. This is an official acknowledgement of the successful and valuable work done by the thousands of Comhaltas volunteers at community level for over half a century,” he said.

CLARE hurling star Gerry Quinn has expressed concern for the fate of the rare ‘Yellow Hammer’ bird in an objection to contentious plans by Meteor Communications to erect a 50 ft mast at Rockvale, Tubber.

The objection lodged by the Corofin auctioneer is just one of 23 separate objections against the Meteor plan. One of the objections includes a petition of 75 names.

The Rockvale Action Group, formed in opposition to the mast, has described it as “undesirable and unnecessary”. They say it will devalue houses and land in the area.

“The area between Lough Bunny and Lough Skearden is important for migrating birds. The rarest bird in the area is the Yellow Hammer and is on the amber list of endangered birds,” according to Mr Quinn.

“If such a development was allowed, could the council guarantee the preservation of the natural heritage just listed? Such a development must contravene many conservation acts and cannot be given the goahead.

“I am appealing on both professional and private grounds. I own a site less than 200 metres from the mast. All property in the environs of such a mast would be seriously devalued and therefore would be a serious injustice to all property owners.

“As an auctioneer myself, I believe a figure for this could be up to 30 per cent within 400 metres of the mast, which I note under the development plan this is a non compensatable ground for refusing such structures. Who is liable to compensation the property owners for this devaluation?

“I have serious concerns for the preservation of two significant monuments Cillin and Boston Castle.”

However, in its own submission, Meteor state, “We have purposely chosen a location that will have the least visual or environmental impact by proposing to locate the structure behind existing farm buildings to screen the structure from the surrounding public roads as much as possible.

“The zoning is classified as a ‘vulnerable landscape’ in the Clare County Development Plan. However, none of the named diverse range of important habitats are applicable in this location as it is on ordinary agricultural land and is not an important habitat.”

“In summary, the proposed location provides the optimum location for the site in order to provide a consistent and contiguous level of service to the Aughrim area and R460 road and surrounding roads whilst minimizing the impact on the environment.”

A decision is due on the application next month.

THE Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Michael Martin has brought before the Dáil, legislation that will bring about the transfer of 40 staff from Shannon Development to Enterprise Ireland by January 1 next.

The move will reduce Shannon Development numbers from 175 to 135 and allow the company to concentrate on securing foreign direct investment for the Shannon Free Zone and promoting tourism in the region.

On unveiling the Industrial Development Bill 2006, Minister Martin told the Dáil: “Shannon Development and Enterprise Ireland are well advanced in identifying the number of posts to be transferred. Shannon Development staff and their representatives are engaging positively with the process and I understand that a strong level of interest is being expressed by staff in transferring to Enterprise Ireland.”

Minister Martin said that the bill provided “a statutory guarantee to the staff who are so designated that their pay, conditions of service and pension arrangements shall not be diminished by virtue of the transfer”.

He added: “The specific activities that Shannon Development will undertake will be selected on the basis of its potential to generate significant economic impact locally, regionally and nationally.

With the more focussed remit that it now has, the company will be in a position to meet the new challenges the region faces.”

In response to the bill coming before the Dáil, Pat Breen (FG) confirmed that Fine Gael supported.

He said: “It is unfortunate that so much time has gone by since the Minister originally made the announcement 16 months ago that he was stripping Shannon Development of these traditional enterprise creation functions.

“The original decision was made in July 2005 amid widespread criticism, and last month Deputy Martin chose to do a part u-turn on the issue and decided to allow Shannon Development to retain its enterprise functions within the Shannon Free Zone.

“Not only has none of the enterprise strategy group recommendations been implemented, but it has taken a year for the legislation to catch up. It shows that enterprise creation in Clare is in a mess.”

THE Government has been urged to set up a special tourism marketing budget for the local authorities of counties in the west of Ireland.

The call came from north Clare County Councillor Martin Conway (FG) for a three-day all-island Tourism Conference which took place in Ireland over the weekend.

“This initiative is necessary in order to create a level playing field between urban and rural tourism in Ireland,” said Cllr Conway in Ennistymon over the weekend. “Recent trends have seen a ballooning of tourist numbers traveling to Ireland on short city breaks, particularly Dublin, while growth has not been as dramatic in rural parts of the country.”

Cllr Conway believes that this trend could be targeted at specific markets and could have a significant impact on tourism in Clare and in the western area generally.

“With low-cost airlines such as Ryanair developing new routes, particularly into Shannon, the importance of marketing in regions where Ireland would not have experienced large tourism traffic is becoming increasingly important.

“Markets such as Italy, Spain, Germany and Eastern Europe have significant further growth potential.”

Conway went on to say that this new scheme could be driven by a tourism development officer and that it would support the new culture of balanced regional development with Ireland and the EU in general.

The weekend’s event was the 18th conference hosted by the Clare Tourist Council, in conjunction with Clare County Council. The annual conference is organised for tourism industry officials, along with members of local authorities, county enterprise boards, partnerships and all public and private bodies involved in the promotion of tourism.

This year’s conference was entitled ‘Promoting Co-operative Tourism Marketing’ and was attended by hundreds of delegates from each of the 32 counties.

Junior Minister, Síle De Valera, officially opened the conference in what will be one of her final official engagements before she steps down as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science on December 8.

Among those addressing the conference were Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Marketing, Paul Keeley; Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher New Visitor Experience; and Eamonn O Neachtain, Bainisteoir Réigiúnach, from an Daingean, who briefed delegates on ‘Cultural Tourism in the Gaeltacht’.

The Clare Tourist Council hosted its first national tourism conference in 1989 and subsequent conferences have addressed a wide range of tourism issues such as tourism and the environment and the role played by local authorities in tourism.

SHANNON Development has announced the appointment of a new tourism officer for the county after a long campaign by local tourist interests for the post to be filled.

Shannon Development Regional Manager for Clare, John Quinlivan yesterday said that the appointment of Siobhan King would give an even greater focus by Shannon Development to the promotion of tourism in Clare.

The scale of the challenge for the new tourism development is underlined with recent figures from Shannon Development’s tourism subsidiary, Shannon Heritage.

The figures show that the region’s tourism operator failed to capitalize on the record growth in passengers at Shannon Airport last year.

According to accounts returned by Shannon Heritage, visitor numbers at the company’s visitor attractions, including Bunratty Folk Park, dropped last year from 629,233 in 2004 to 625,615 last year.

This was against the background of record growth at Shannon Airport where 3.3 million passed through the airport in 2005 – an increase of 900,000 on any previous year.

However, Mr Quinlivan said: “A tourism officer for Clare will help co-ordinate the efforts of bodies such as the Clare Tourism Forum and the Clare Tourist Council. Siobhan is a great addition and will be totally focused on the job of promoting Clare

He said: “It’s estimated that €4 million is spent annually by the tourism industry in Clare in promoting the county and Siobhan’s appointment will only enhance that penetration.”

Mr Quinlivan said that the appointment was tied to Shannon Development’s restructuring and the appointment could not be made before now as a result.

Ms. King has been an employee of Shannon Development for the past 21 years. She first joined the company in September 1985 and has held a number of key positions in the company since that time.

“I am delighted to take up the position of Clare Tourism Officer and look forward to working with everyone involved with tourism in the county. An essential part of the role will be to ensure that Clare maintains and grows its tourism market share, in addition to being a key ingredient in the Shannon Region Tourism portfolio,” said Ms. King.

Ms King will begin her new role officially from January ’07, but will be meeting with key tourism officials over the coming weeks.

FRESH evidence has emerged in the case of a young man from a Clare family, who was kicked to death in London last year.

Wayne Kelly (21) died outside a London pub in April of last year, after he sustained 21 injuries.

He had been celebrating a win in the Grand National at the Welsh Harp Bar in West Hendon when he was involved in a row with bouncers outside the pub.

Three bouncers were later arrested, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) informed his family last June that no charges were to be brought.

It said that post mortem results showed that Wayne died from head injuries sustained in a fall, which they could not prove happened in an assault.

However the Kellys have now been given Wayne’s clothes and discovered blood stains on the back of his jeans and t-shirt, while there were two holes in the t-shirt..

The inquest into his death, which was due to take place this month, has now been adjourned, as further forensic tests are to be carried out on the clothes.

Wayne’s father Martin hails from Clarecastle and his mother Tina (Murphy) is from Cloughleigh.

“The couple has lived in London for the past 27 years, where they have four other children.

The family has pledged to fight for justice for Wayne and have held a march during the summer – attended by 600 people – to highlight their dissatisfaction with the way the case has been handled and have hired a lawyer to help them in their fight.

Another march will take place in the area where Wayne – who was known as ‘Smiley’ – died, next Saturday week, December 9.

“We are not giving up on anything. It is nearly a year and eight months down the line and we still have no answers.

“It is getting worse, but we are going to fight this all the way until we get justice for our son,” his father told The Clare People .

“We looked for Wayne’s clothes back. When we laid them out, we noticed all the blood. There was nothing about the blood in the paperwork.

“This isn’t just a spot of blood. It is a pool of blood.

“There were two holes on Wayne’s t-shirt and it was a brand new t-shirt he was wearing that night. We know Wayne was murdered. Hopefully this will lead to progress in the case,” he said.