The Clare People Archive

THE Kilrush businessman charged with the murder of Limerick bouncer Brian Fitzgerald is to go to the Supreme Court, in an effort to obtain bail, The Clare People can reveal.

Anthony Kelly (49), of Cragg House, Kilrush, is accused of murdering Brian Fitzgerald, at his home in Corbally, on November 29, 2002.

Mr Kelly was arrested in Ennis on October 16 last and later charged with murder. He is currently in custody in Limerick prison, awaiting the preparation of the book of evidence and is due before Limerick District Court again in a fortnight.

His bail application before the High Court last Tuesday was refused, after strong objections from gardaí. Mr Kelly’s solicitor Eugene O’Kelly confirmed to The Clare People that his client would appeal this refusal to the Supreme Court.

He said allegations made in the High Court were without basis and were “wild.”

“The High Court relied unduly on unfounded hearsay allegations,” said Mr O’Kelly.

Gardaí expressed fears for the safety of two main witnesses, if Mr Kelly was granted bail.

“I believe there is a substantial and real risk witnesses will be murdered, even within the confines of prison,” Detective Sergeant Seamus Nolan told the High Court.

The court heard that gardaí believed Mr Kelly and an associate recruited James Martin Cahill (30) and another man to carry out the killing of Mr Fitzgerald. Cahill, who has strong west Clare connections, is serving life in jail for the murder of the security boss and has indicated he will give evidence against Mr Kelly.

Mr Kelly’s sister had offered to pay an independent surety of €75,000 for his release, but gardaí said they would not be satisfied with a surety of €75 million.

Det Sgt Nolan said he feared if Mr Kelly was granted bail, he would take steps to ensure Mr Cahill and another witness Philip Deane, would not give evidence against him.

He said Cahill was terrified he was going to be shot, because of what he had told gardaí and had a minimum of three prison officers with him at all times.

Det Sgt Nolan said Mr Kelly had substantial assets overseas and a car, worth more than €100,000.

He rejected suggestions from Anthony Sammon, SC, representing Kelly, that his client was involved in the furniture business.

‘‘I believe that Mr Kelly’s principal business is the importation of drugs into this jurisdiction, not the furniture business. That is merely a cover for his other businesses. He is regarded as being one of the main drug importers into this jurisdiction,’’ he said.

The court heard Mr Kelly has six previous convictions over a 24-year period, including two for larceny and one for living off immoral earnings.

Mr Justice Paul Butler said he was not entirely concerned about the risk of Mr Kelly fleeing, but he accepted there might be a risk to the lives of witnesses if he was granted bail.

A DAILY service between Shannon and New York is being planned as part of a number of new routes announced this week by Aer Lingus.

The airline will be taking delivery of two new Airbus A330 long range jets next year and it is planning to expand capacity on existing routes to the US and the Middle East with the aircraft. From next summer, the airline’s long haul flights will number 120, an increase of 26.

The Dublin-New York service will operate twice daily and the DublinBoston route will increase from 11 flights per week to two per day with one non-stop service from Dublin and another from Dublin via Shannon.

The Dublin-Los Angeles service will also increase from five flights a week to a daily flight and the Dublin-Dubai service will increase from three flights per week to four.

Making the announcement, Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion said that taking delivery of the new aircraft would mark the first phase of the company’s long haul expansion plans.

He said it gave the airline “the opportunity to develop our presence in the US market and we look forward to a timely decision on the bilateral agreement, which will allow us to take full advantage of open skies.”

Meanwhile, Shannon-based charter, Eirjet, has failed to attract new investment as is to be wound up with multi-million euro debts.

In the last three weeks, management have been trying to get fresh finance for the company, which ran into difficulty earlier this year when an Indonesian leasing deal collapsed.

The deal would have been worth €20 million over three years to the airline. A liquidator is expected to be appointed early this week.

Eirjet was established in 2004 and operated charter services out of Shannon, Dublin, Belfast and Cork.

Their clients included Ryanair and Aer Lingus, but the main business was providing charter services for travel agencies such as Abbey Travel, Falcon, Stein Travel, JWT and Topflight.

The company contacted the Commission for Aviation Regulation in the middle of last month to say that it was unable to fulfil its obligations to the tour operators due to financial difficulties.

The company could not be contacted for comment. But their Website is advising that alternative travel arrangements have been put in place with all tour operators and customers should contact their travel agency for details.

THE need for multi-lingual warning signs and more information for the non-national community about the dangers of fishing off the west Clare coast was highlighted again this weekend following the tragic death of a young father off Doonbeg.

The 27-year-old Latvian man was swept into the sea by a large swell at Blue Pool, leaving his distraught wife and eight-year-old son to look on in terror.

The young family, who have lived in Athlone for two years, were fishing on the ledge when the tragedy occurred.

Clare County Council had destroyed an access route to the area more than 10 years ago, as up to nine people had lost their lives there during the previous two decades.

According to Manuel di Lucia of the Kilkee Marine Rescue Service none of those who died in the Blue Pool had been local, and all had been visitors to the area.

“Non-nationals and visitors to the area who plan to go fishing off the Loop Head peninsula or anywhere along the west Clare coast should seek local advice as to safety,” he said.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn said, “It is imperative that multi-lingual signs are urgently erected in areas dangerous for fishing.”

Sunday’s tragedy followed the drowning of father-of-four Piotr Bedzlowitz the previous week off Tullig near Cross.

The Kilkee Marine Rescue, Kilkee and Burren Sub-aqua Club, the Doolin and Kilkee Coastguards, the Civil Defence and the Garda underwater unit were completing the morning search for the 35-year-old’s body, when at 1.30 pm they were called to the scene of the Doonbeg tragedy. Just 15 minutes later the Kilkee Marine Rescue lifeboat under coxman Kieran Deloughry found the Latvian man’s body. His remains were brought to the Kilkee Marine Rescue Centre where local priest Fr Donagh O’Meara administered the last rites The man’s distraught wife then identified the body before it was removed to the Mid Western Regional Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, the Ennis Lions Club will fly the wife and brother of Tullig drowning victim Piotr Bedzlowitz to Ireland this week.The bereaved family are to visit the site where 35-year-old Piotr was swept into the sea, and meet with the local rescue groups that tried to recover the father of four. The club are also planning a fund raiser to help the two families that lost their loved ones.

THE dominance of Kilrush crime during the recent sittings of the Circuit Court in Clare does not reflect reality, according to a solicitor based in the town.

The overwhelming majority of cases heard over the past month dealt with crime in Kilrush and surrounding areas.

The trend, according to a senior Garda source, underlines the fact that west Clare is “the crime capital of the county.”

During the sittings, two young men were jailed for three years each for arson – one incident occurred near Kilkee and the other in Kilrush – another was jailed for four years for damaging cars in Kilrush. A young man was handed down a three-year sentence for dangerous driving causing the death of two Kilkee girls, at Carrigaholt.

Another man was given a suspended sentence for throwing a block through a neighbour’s home in Kilrush, as part of a dispute.

Two trials that took place during the Circuit Court sittings resulted in acquittals for Kilrush accused.

Superintendent Joe McKeown said the jail sentences handed down at the Circuit Court should remind people that crime will not be tolerated in Kilrush.

“I think it sends out a message to people that if they commit crime and are caught, they will be facing hefty sentences,” he said.

However, Kilrush-based solicitor Eugene O’Kelly pointed out that the trend during these Circuit Court sittings didn’t necessarily reflect reality.

“The recent court list included quite a number of cases from the Kilrush area that for one reason or other got backed up over a long period of time.

“The fact that the cases have come together is more coincidental than proof that Kilrush has a monopoly on anti-social behaviour.

“I accept there are problems, but we should not just look at the court statistics, but at the underlying factors of deprivation, unemployment and social exclusion,” said Mr O’Kelly.

“The gardaí, the social services and Éirí Corca Baiscinn are all working now in a very co-ordinated way to tackle these issues and that is positive.

“Great work has been done in the John Paul Estate in rejuvenating community spirit,” he said.

“I do think matters are improving. There is a decrease in the number of public order matters in the District Court,” he said.

A MOVE by Shannon-based pharmaceutical firm, Schwarz Pharma to shut down production for a three month period last year in response to local concerns over air emissions contributed to an overall loss of €34 million for the company in 2005.

According to accounts filed to the Companies Office, the Germanbased firm suffered an operating loss of €11.4 million following a profit of €5.9 million in 2004.

In March 2005, the company suspended production that could give rise to emissions exceeding the levels in its Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In February of this year at Ennis Circuit Court, the company pleaded guilty to a series of environmental breaches resulting in them being fined €152,350 including costs.

According to a statement accompanying the company’s accounts: “The outgoing year was a year which saw a number of events come together to account for the loss incurred, namely production downtime associated with plant shutdown from March to June of 2005 in order to implement new environmental emissions control systems and a sales reduction from the discontinuance of a number of product lines.

“In addition significant development and launch costs were incurred for a number of new products launched during the year.”

The accounts show that the parent company has contributed €150 million over 2004 and 2005 and that significant investment is needed “to ensure the company has adequate capacity and upgraded infrastructure to manufacture and supply the new products going forward.”

The accounts show that the company’s turnover was down from €42.8 million in 2005 to €35.4 million in 2004 and the cost of sales increased to €38.1 million in 2005 from €31.7 million in 2004.

The overall loss of €34 million is due to €8 million in interest payable and other charges, and €17 million towards a non-operating expense.

The loss of €34 million has resulted in the company’s retained profits of €32 million at the start of 2005 becoming a loss of €2.5 million at year end.

The accounts also show that the numbers employed at Schwarz Pharma reduced from 222 to 180 at the end of 2005 with the staff costs being reduced from €11.6 million to €10.3 million in 2005.

The accounts also show that the value of the company’s intangible assets increased from €377 million from €222 million in 2004.

CLARE Fine Gael is in crisis this week after Deputy Pat Breen embroiled two of his general election running mates in a libel action against a national newspaper.

With just months to a general election, Deputy Breen has instigated legal proceedings against The Irish Examiner arising from critical comments by Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn and Cllr Joe Carey on his tabling of a Dáil question inquiring into the possible early release of convicted sex offender Joseph Nugent.

Last night Deputy Breen failed to respond to calls from one of Nugent’s victims to apologise for tabling the question.

The man, who is now 47-years-old, confirmed he was admitted to hospital because of the stress brought on by the publicity surrounding Mr. Breen’s Dail question.

The Irish Examiner has been told by Deputy Breen’s solicitor, Gearoid Howard, that the article “constitutes a most grievous libel of Mr Breen and that there are no circumstances under which the question tabled by Mr Breen could have constituted a representation on behalf of a paedophile”.

Deputy Breen is now seeking a withdrawal of the alleged libel, an apology, damages and payment of his legal costs.

And in a move that will further throw Fine Gael’s already fraught general election campaign into disarray, Deputy Breen has indicated that he may sue Cllr Taylor Quinn and Cllr Carey as part of his legal case.

Deputy Breen wants The Irish Examiner to set out the basis for their article “in the event that legal proceedings are necessary” and that the “necessary wrong-doers” are identified “so that they may be all sued in the one set of proceedings”.

The sources quoted in the article that are critical of Deputy Breen are Cllr Taylor Quinn and Cllr Carey.

When contacted by The Clare People last evening, both councillors said they had no contact from anyone in relation to the matter and had not received any solicitor’s letter to date.

The paper also attempted to contact Deputy Breen but was unable to get a response.

Calls to party leader Enda Kenny also proved fruitless.

THE father of a murdered Kilrush woman has been warned he may face a jail term if he fails to pay compensation for damage he caused to a neighbour’s house.

Stephen Walsh (56), of Pella Road, Kilrush, admitted damaging a door panel at a house in the early hours of July 17, 2004.

Garda Seamus Gleeson told Ennis Circuit Court the cost of repairing the damage to Raymond Conway’s house was €1,300.

Mr Conway had installed a video camera in the house, which was been renovated, and it showed the accused – and his co-accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons – throwing blocks at the house.

“The two pushed in the gate. Both had a concrete block and a bar in each hand. You could see them throwing the blocks and running out the gate,” said the garda.

Mr Walsh’s barrister Pat Whyms said there has been considerable history between the Walsh and Conway families. The court was told there were allegations of threats on both sides of the dispute.

Judge Con Murphy said the case was very difficult. He said Stephen Walsh went out “deliberately” in the dark hours to a neighbouring house. “This was a vigilante type act with intimidation and gangsterism written all over it,” he said.

He said he was taking into account the accused’s guilty plea and that his daughter was murdered since the offence took place. However he said the accused did not pay compensation and this indicated there was no real remorse.

“This type of act has to be severely frowned upon. I have no option but to sentence him to one year in jail. It would have been higher but for the relatively small amount of repairs,” said the judge.

Mr Whyms then pointed out to the judge that there was “severe provocation,” and asked him to suspend the sentence.

Judge Murphy said, “You cannot, in any town in Ireland, have people taking the law into their own hands. The way to show people are gone past that is to pay compensation.”

Mr Whyms said his client took out a €6,000 loan to pay for his daughter Ann’s funeral last year and he would seek to increase that loan.

The judge said he would adjourn the case and said “if compensation is here, I might well take a slightly more lenient view. I have given a very, very clear indication of the way I am going. This carry-on has to stop.”

A LEADING member of the Shell-to-Sea campaign will speak at a specially organised public meeting in Ennis later this month.

Sean Harrington, who is a brother of Mayo school teacher Maura Harrington, will address the public meeting at the second stage in Glór at 8.30pm on November 23.

Mr Harrington is himself a prominent member of the Shell-to-Sea organisation.

His sister gained national recognition earlier this month when she was hospitalised following an altercation with gardaí at the site of the proposed gas refinery at Bellanaboy in Mayo.

Meanwhile, the award winning Channel 4 documentary “The Drilling Fields” will be shown as part of a Clare Shell-to-Sea fundraising evening, which will take place at the Astor Cinema in Scariff this Saturday from 8pm.

The documentary tells the story of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian man who was hanged along with 8 other men for his opposition to a Shell project in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.

“The main purpose of this evening is to get bums on seats for the international day of protest against Shell on November 10,” said Niall Harnett of Clare Shell-to-Sea.

“There will be busses from all over the country travelling to Mayo for the day and we would be expecting a good turnout in Clare.”

A large number of Nigerians are expected to travel to Mayo for the international day of protest on November 10.

All proceeds from the film evening will go towards funding busses from Clare to Bellanaboy for the day of protest.

THE Minister for Enterprise, Michael Martin moved to conclude talks on the revised mandate for Shannon Development after been told that the continuing uncertainty had given rise to a deep level of concern and frustration, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show.

In July of last year, Minister Martin announced a new mandate for Shannon Development, which removed from the company responsibility for the promotion of the Shannon Free Zone and transferred indigenous promotion functions to Enterprise Ireland. SIPTU firmly resisted the new mandate.

The talks dragged on for months and Mr McElligott wrote to Minister Martin in March to state: “To be frank, there is a deep level of frustration and concern.”

The documents released also show that at a meeting with Minister Martin one month later, Mr McElligott and chief executive, Kevin Thompstone told Minister Martin that “the new mandate provided 95 per cent of what the Board has sought and while it is difficult to assess the SIPTU position, it seemed clear that most staff now wished to move on”.

A note of an internal Departmental meeting on July 27, 2006 stated that during an informal meeting between the minister and SIPTU officials, it emerged that the union was not in a position to deliver any compromise proposal.

“As a result, Minister Martin ordered that the clarification process with SIPTU be regarded as concluded and the mandate implemented.

Later, it was announced that Shannon Development would retain responsibility for the Shannon Free Zone, though no documentation was released as to how the minister arrived at this decision.

FURTHER doubt was cast on Enterprise Ireland relocating 400 jobs to Shannon this week with Enterprise Minister, Michael Martin conceding that it wasn’t possible to say when the decentralisation will take place.

Last February, Minister Martin said Shannon Development would sell a prime 13-acre town centre site for Enterprise Ireland’s new Shannon headquarters. However, in his latest Dail response, Minister Martin admits that no progress has been made on relocating Enterprise Ireland to Shannon.

To date, only 19 existing employees at Enterprise Ireland have indicated their willingness to transfer to Shannon, while an additional 33 public servants have also expressed an interest to move to Shannon, giving a total of 52.

In his Dáil statement last week, Minister Martin said: “It is not possible, at this stage, to say with certainty when the full move of Enterprise Ireland’s headquarters will take place”.

“The agency’s regional development headquarters will be established in Shannon as well as a new unit to work with city and county enterprise boards. It is intended that these will be operational in Shannon by mid-2007”.

“The functions hitherto carried out by Shannon Development under delegated authority from Enterprise Ireland will revert to Enterprise Ireland on January 1, 2007. The transfer of functions will also involve the transfer of a number of staff from Shannon Development to Enterprise Ireland”, he said.