The Clare People Archive

CLARE Green Party candidate for next year’s general election, Brian Meaney, looks likely to garner votes from an unexpected source following a Green Party policy document calling for legislative change to allow for same-sex marriages and legal rights for couples who live together.

While a spokesperson for the county’s leading gay organisation, Gay Clare, stopped short of an outright endorsement of Meaney, he did comment that the Green Party’s announcement would influence gay voters in Clare.

“The Gay Clare group would welcome the Green Party’s release on civil unions,” said a spokesperson.

“We hope that if the Green Party do form part of the next government that this will be included in the programme for government and that it won’t just be used for election purposes.”

With an estimated 3,000 gay men living in the county, the gay vote could be very influential in the outcome of next year’s election. In the 2002 election, Pat Breen was elected with just 4,541 first preference while Meaney himself polled almost 3,000 first preference votes.

“I am not indifferent to the need to introduce legislation in relation to same-sex couples, but it also has to reflect the majority opinion,” commented Cllr Meaney. “We do live in a democracy but, at the same time, that does not mean that the rights of minorities can be trampled on.”

DRUGS seizures in Miltown Malbay and Killaloe over the past five days have been described as “significant” by gardaí in Clare.

Five hundred ecstacy tablets and a small quantity of cannabis, along with a stungun, were seized at an apartment in Killaloe on Friday night.

Some of the haul was recovered in the apartment, and the rest was located outside the dwelling. A man in his 30s was questioned at the scene. The drugs have been sent for analysis and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Meanwhile, €1,000 worth of cannabis resin, a cannabis plant and a quantity of unidentified tablets were seized during searches of a business premises and two homes in Miltown Malbay on Thursday afternoon.

A 22-year-old man was arrested at the business premises and detained at Ennistymon Garda Station. He was released without charge later that night. A file is being prepared for the DPP, while the drugs will be sent to Dublin for analysis.

“This was part of an ongoing initiative, under Operation Anvil, the operation investigating crime and drug-related activity,” said a Garda spokesman.

Both searches were carried out by local gardaí, along with the Clare Garda Divisional Drugs Unit and the Garda Dog Unit from Limerick.

Separately, a man was found in possession of a bag of cannabis, at Twomilegate, Killaloe, on Thursday night. A 19-year-old woman was questioned, after a quantity of cocaine was seized in Sixmilebridge on Saturday night.

SÍLE deValera is looking forward not back, albeit with a bit of trepidation, a tiny bit of sadness but most of all with excitement.

Come the next election, the woman who has dedicated three decades of her life to politics can look forward to fulfilling ambitions of a normal social life and looking at politics with an objective eye.

As the Junior Minister at the Department of Education prepares to step down from her position on December 8, she said that resigning was not as big a decision as deciding not to run in the next election.

The Clare TD told The Clare People that she suggested the step down to the Taoiseach last November when she told him she was not running in the next election.

The former Minister for Arts was first elected to the Dáil 30 years ago.

As she approaches 52 years of age, she has few regrets about the 30 years of sacrifice she has made for her career.

“I would have liked to have gone into more study. I was elected at 22 and maybe if you could plan to go in at 30 you could build a life outside before entering.”

She admitted, however, that her early years in politics gave her opportunities that she may not have otherwise had if she made her way into that career later in life.

Come next summer, she will leave that life behind to fulfil her educational ambitions.

The grand-daughter of Eamon deValera already holds a degree in history, politics and psychology, a higher diploma in history and is a postgraduate in career guidance. She is a qualified psychologist.

“There will be a certain amount of sadness. I have been in Clare for 25 years, and represented Clare for 20 years in February.

I will continue to keep all my contacts in Clare. It has meant too much to me to cut all those ties,” she added.

Minister de Valera laughs as she recalls how some TDs now approach her with a wry smile as they tell her how they envy her life change.

“I look forward to a life I can plan and I am looking forward to privacy. I found it hard to plan a private life. I am very lucky to have friends. I have often promised to meet up and find I can’t at the last minute.

“It (politics) is very tough and I can say that now. It is all-consuming time-wise,” she added.

STACEY Haugh was just 16 when she and her younger brother Karl left their family home and walked to the local chip shop in Kilkee on an October evening, three years ago. There they met their friend Lorna Mahoney (13) for what would, sadly, be their final evening together.

Ennis Circuit Court heard that Stacey’s mother Brigid’s “whole world came to an end,” when she got the dreadful phone call on the night of October 17, 2003.

She went to the scene of the crash. Stacey had died and Karl (now 14) had sustained critical injuries.

“I could not bring myself to go to the mortuary as I felt Karl was going to die too. I was in a state of shock,” were Brigid’s words, contained in her Victim Impact Statement.

Brigid was torn between burying her “beautiful, vibrant” daughter or travelling to Dublin to visit her son, who underwent emergency surgery.

The heartbroken mother remembered her daughter as a teenage girl who loved music, dressing up, cooking and walking.

Brigid has struggled with her life since the tragic accident and she has been left facing a life sentence. “Life has been a struggle since,” she said.

Lorna’s mother Geraldine Mahoney told the court her daughter was a “bright, bubbly, Mammy’s girl, the youngest of five.”

Lorna was “in love with life” and aspired to become a vet.

“Bye Mum. I love you,” were her final words to her mother at 7.30pm that evening. Two hours later, she was dead.

“No doubt Mr Naughton coerced Lorna and Stacey into that car.

“The fear Lorna felt in that car will haunt us for the rest of our lives,” she said,

Mrs Mahoney then addressed Naughton. “Lorna and Stacey asked you to slow down but you chose to ignore them. Why?” she asked.

“What puzzled us was that the accused was granted bail for the second time after absconding the first time. We felt abandoned by the legal system,” she added.

“We have gone from a close knit family to a group of individuals struggling with our grief. We live with the memories because that is all we have left,” she said.

The court heard that the parents of the two girls disputed suggestions that the accused had been going out with Stacey, while his friend had been going out with Lorna.

THE judge who sentenced a young man to three years in jail for dangerous driving causing the deaths of two young Kilkee girls said the accident was “waiting to happen”.

Ennis Circuit Court heard that David Naughton was “rallying around” Kilkee, in the minutes leading up to the tragic crash which claimed the lives of Stacey Haugh and Lorna Mahoney, at Moyarta, Carrigaholt, on October 17, 2003.

Judge Con Murphy said there was “more than ample evidence that this young man was involved in a campaign of dangerous driving. It wasn’t just inadvertence that caused this DAVID Naughton is a young man who has lived “an extraordinary unstructured life,” deprived of family support from a very young age.

His sentencing hearing heard he has had little or no support from his parents who had separated. This was taken into account by the judge, in imposing sentence.

His barrister Martin Giblin said an “apology was not within his range accident, but a campaign of a long stretch of dangerous driving.”

Naughton (18), with addresses in London and Galway, was just one week short of his 16th birthday when he purchased an Opel Kadett car in Galway for €60.

He then drove to Kilkee with friends, picked up Stacey Haugh, her brother Karl and Lorna Mahoney, and headed for Carrigaholt. Naughton was driving, a friend was in the front, while Stacey, Karl and Lorna were in the back of the car.

Naughton overtook a car “very aggressively” between Kilkee and Carrigholt, at a speed of up to 80 mph.

He was unable to take the bend and of social skills,” and “running away was the result of a panic attack he suffered” in the aftermath of the accident.

Mr Giblin said Naughton had always denied driving dangerously, never set out to kill or injure anybody and now accepted he must be punished.

Naughton was born in the UK, where he had spent most of his short life.

He was brought to Westside House, hit a wall at Moyarta, Carrigaholt. The car crossed the road and hit a ditch on the opposite side. The girls lost their lives in the severe impact, while Karl was taken to hospital for emergency surgery. He survived. A short time earlier, gardaí received a complaint that Naughton was driving dangerously, at 60 mph, around the carpark of the Kilkee Bay Hotel.

Naughton told gardaí that he had been travelling at 55 mph and was blinded by lights of an oncoming car. Naughton – who had previously lived in Kilrush – said he had been driving in fields since he was 12.

Prior to the fatal accident, Naughton had no previous convictions. a unit for homeless adolescents in Galway by the social services in the UK, in June 2003, just four months before the accident.

Naughton’s father is from Galway, while his mother has spent some time living in Kilkee.

The court heard that Naughton had claimed he was sexually assaulted by a relative in the UK at a young age and that he had shown “clear signs of suicidal ideas” since the accident.

Mr Giblin said that while the famiThat subsequently changed, as he has since been convicted of a number of offences in the UK. His barrister Martin Giblin, SC, said the two girls asked Naughton to take them for a drive, but according to their families, he pressurised them into getting into the car.

“They weren’t grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown into the car,” said Mr Giblin.

Judge Murphy said the case was “most harrowing” and was on the “graver scale” of dangerous driving causing death. The three year sentence was backed to July 26, when Naughton was extradited from the UK to Ireland. lies of the deceased might believe he had run away to avoid the charges, the reality was he was “incapable of dealing with the stresses of what he had done, because of his upbringing.”

“He lacks the social skills to apologise. He doesn’t know how to do it. He ran away because he couldn’t cope.”

He said it was accepted that a 15year-old should not be behind the wheel of a car. “It’s like putting a loaded gun in his hand. Tragedy is bound to happen,” he said.

Several psychological reports relating to Naughton were presented to the court, one of which stated that he did not receive the necessary assistance from the social services, because he was “moving backwards and forwards” from the UK.

Another report stated that Naughton had a “vivid” recollection of the crash which killed two girls who he referred to as his “friends”.

He has had nightmares about the accident and never intends to visit the location of the crash.

Naughton had a clean record before he fled to the UK, but has since amassed a number of convictions.

His barrister said his behaviour was “post accident reaction for offences he wasn’t in the habit of committing before the accident.”

A 24-YEAR old Clare victim of child sex abuse has called on Fine Gael deputy, Pat Breen to apologise for his “crass insensitivity” in tabling a Dáil question enquiring into the possible early release of a convicted sex offender.

Last week, Deputy Breen caused a political storm after it emerged that he lodged a query into the possible early release of 74-year old bachelor farmer, Joseph Nugent who is due to complete his jail term in February 2008.

In his reply, Justice Minister, Michael McDowell ruled out the possibility an early release given the circumstances of the case.

Deputy Breen came under fire from party general election running mates, Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn and Cllr Joe Carey and in response, Deputy Breen accused them of making a political football out of the controversy.

But the 24-year old sex abuse victim says that Deputy Breen should apologise for the crass insensitivity in putting the question down in the first place.

“Did he not realise the negative impact and message tabling the question sends out to victims of sex abuse? No leeway should be given to sex abusers and instead of asking if this person should be released early, Deputy Breen should be asking for an extension to his sentence”.

“In this case, there were two male victims and the man received concurrent sentences. These sentences should have been consecutive. Why are people like Deputy Breen then asking questions about why they should be let out early?”

Arising from her own case, the 24-year old wrote to a number of Oireacthas members and councillors in Clare and said she didn’t even receive an acknowledgement from Deputy Breen’s office.

She said that she only received responses from Minister for State, Tony Killeen, Justice Minister, Michael McDowell and Cllr Brian Meaney in relation to the letter she circulated.

“I was furious when I read about the Dáil question being asked. The perpetrator didn’t even acknowledge the damage he caused.”

Deputy Breen was unavailable for comment last night. However, last week, he defended tabling the question, stating that he was not making representations on behalf of Mr Nugent and wouldn’t be in favour of an early release in the case.

He said that he was aware that Mr Nugent was a sex offender, but wasn’t aware of all of the facts in relation to the cases.

THOUSANDS of counterfeit DVDs and €3,000 worth of fireworks were seized by gardaí in Ennis in separate operations over the weekend.

An assortment of fireworks were confiscated, during a planned search of a house on the outskirts of Ennis on Sunday morning. A man in his 20s was questioned at the scene and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Gardaí say they believe the variety of fireworks were for sale in the Ennis market for Halloween and are warning that people found in possession of fireworks will be prosecuted.

“Some of these will be sent for analysis to the forensic science laboratory, while the rest will be destroyed,” said a Garda source.

This seizure followed a seizure of €150 worth of fireworks, along with three forged drivers’ licences, at a house in Miltown Malbay last Thursday.

A man was questioned in relation to those fireworks.

Last month, €800 worth of fireworks was seized when a van was stopped and searched in Inagh. Two men, from the Ennis area, were questioned by gardaí. Gardai believe these fireworks were intended for sale in various parts of the county, in the run-up to Halloween.

The existence of fireworks throughout the county in recent weeks has prompted gardaí to reiterate their warnings that fireworks are illegal and dangerous.

“We are warning about the dangers of fireworks. Several children have been taken to hospital with injuries in other parts of the country. We cannot stress this enough,” added the source.

Separately, gardaí swooped on a house in Ennis on Saturday morning and seized thousands of counterfeit DVDs, which they said were to be sold on the Internet, all over the world. Computer records were also seized. A man in his 40s from the Ennis area was questioned at the scene.

The DVDs will be analysed and a file will then be prepared for the DPP.

“We believe a lot of the DVDs were genuine, but many of them were being copied and the copies were intended for sale, via the internet, all over the world. Many of the DVDs are not new releases. We believe collectors were being targeted and they believed they were buying original dvds, when that was not the case,” said a Garda source.

“We will have to examine the DVDs that were seized. This operation was part of an ongoing investigation. All sales were Internet-based,” he added.

THE search for the body of a 35year-old Polish fisherman who was washed out to sea by a freak wave will resume today off the Clare coast.

The man was fishing with a work colleague on Sunday at Tullig, north of Cross village, when a five-foot swell swept them into the sea.

His colleague was subsequently washed back on to the rocks and raised the alarm.

Both men worked in Limerick but did not know each other very well.

Kilrush Superintendent Joe McKeon said that gardaí used their contacts in the Polish community to help identify the man now presumed drowned.

It is believe he was married with four children, and was due to return to his Poland for a visit next week.

Gardaí were yesterday using his passport for identification purposes, but he cannot be named until the Polish embassy opens today.

A day-long search yesterday in dangerous conditions failed to recover the body. The search began early in the morning, but had to be abandoned as darkness fell at 4.55pm.

A pair of waders was found close to the scene of the accident last evening, but they have not yet been identified as belonging to the deceased.

The Kilkee Marine Rescue Service, Kilkee and Doolin Coastguard and the Shannon Coastguard Helicopter were assisted in the search by members of the Kilkee Diving Club from all over Ireland who had been spending the weekend in the Clare resort.

Members of the accident victim’s family are also believed to be planning to come to Clare to assist in the search.

Local people said that while the area would be known for mackerel, Tullig was not regarded as a fishing area.

Member of the Kilkee Marine Rescue Service Manuel di Lucia said the two Polish men would not be aware of the dangers of fishing in the area.

He said that a swell like that, which washed them out to sea, would look smaller from the top of the cliff.

Last July, a 35-year-old father of two from Latvia was taking scenic photographs close to the lighthouse at Loop Head when he lost his footing and fell 80 feet to his death off the cliff’s edge landing on the ledge below.

It is also one year this weekend since three young men lost their lives off the cliffs in Doolin.

GARDAÍ are treating as suspicious

a fire that destroyed the community

hall in Drumgeely, Shannon, on Fri-

day morning.

The blaze at the disused hall broke

out shortly before 9am and despite

efforts by two fire units to salvage the

building, it was totally destroyed.

While gardaí are awaiting the re-

sults of forensics’ findings, they be-

lieve the fire was started malicious-

ly.

“We believe it was deliberate and

we are following certain lines of en-

quiry in relation to it. We have not

yet established the cause of the fire,”

said a Garda spokesman. SHE also expressed anger that he was not punished for absconding and said he had been rewarded for it.

Ms Mahoney said that the threeyear ordeal since the girls’ deaths had left her angry with the legal system.

“It has been three years of frustration. We are angry too that as families of victims, we don’t have a voice. That someone can do this to your family and create this much havoc and the sentence is three years, says to you ‘what was the value of your child’s life?’”

The court was told last Thursday that Naughton didn’t have the social skills to face the families to say sorry and instead apologised to the families

This was the second time the build-

ing was damaged by fire – in August

2001 the annex was burnt but, most

of the hall remained intact.

Friday’s fire has marked the end of

a long and sometimes controversial

history of the building. It has been in

private ownership since 1992 when it

was sold by Shannon Development.

It had steadily fallen into decay un-

til renovations were undertaken over

the past three months.

Locals were concerned that the

hall – which was located between the

blocks of flats and the houses nearby

– had not been used in recent years

and they are now saddened that it has

been lost to the community.

Chairperson of the Drumgeely Resthrough his counsel.

Ms Mahoney said, “I don’t believe youth? Why aren’t his parents or the he is sincere. There is no remorse. We Western Health Board answerable?” are told he had no social skills, but he had plenty of social skills to buy a car the case was very hard to explain to and get two girls into a car who didn’t her other children. want to get into it.

“How much social skill do you need it is hard passing it everyday where to say ‘I’m sorry?’ He could’ve had she should be now sitting the Leaving access to us anytime over the three Certificate. Lorna’s class will be havyears. ing their debs this year and she won’t

“I have an intolerance of him. It be there. would be easier if he had shown remorse, because nobody goes out to do would she be like now? Would she something like that. still be the tomboy she always was or

“There are penalties for people who would she have refined. I know one sell alcohol and cigarettes to people thing that would never have changed under 18, but what about people who and that is her love of animals.” sell cars to minors? Are they not liable for prosecution? idents Association, Beatrice Keville, said the fire marked “another episode in a very long, sad saga. It has been going on for so long now.

“It was originally a hall where everything in Shannon happened, but that changed 14 or 15 years ago,” she said.

Local resident Derek Barrett said Drumgeely residents were sorry to have lost the hall.

“Drumgeely hall was the first thing that was built for the community in Shannon. It was a notable entity. It was a church for some people, others went there to set dance or to discos, while some people played tennis or badminton there. I had my First Communion after-tea there. That was all “Who was responsible for this Ms Mahoney said the outcome of “We live near the local school and “You wonder, three years on, what Shannon had at the time. It was the town centre at one point in time. It is such a shame that it is gone,” said Mr Barrett.

Work on clearing the site got underway yesterday (Monday). Mr Barrett said locals now wanted the area to be cleaned up and made safe.

Local Councillor Tony Mulcahy (FG) has called for the site to be converted into a play area for children.

“It certainly was an eyesore. It would be best for all if it was covered over and grass put in its place now,” he said.

THE mother of one of the Kilkee teenage girls killed in a car driven by a 15-year-old has called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal the length of sentence handed to David Naughton.

At Ennis Circuit Court last Thursday, Naughton – now aged 19 – was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of friends and neighbours, Stacey Haugh (16) and Lorna Mahoney (13) on October 17, 2003.

After the three-year term was imposed, Lorna’s mother, Geraldine broke down in tears, shaking her head from side to side.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the outcome of the case, Ms Mahoney told The Clare People , “I believe that the sentence is not long enough and doesn’t deter anyone from doing the same thing.

“The message seems to be ‘take two lives, you get three years, you’ll be out in two and the State will pay your costs’. The State is saying ‘boyracers, keep doing what you are doing because you are not going to pay’.”

At her home in Kilkee yesterday, Ms Mahoney said the families had been let down by the State in the prosecution of the case.

“There has been a catalogue of blunders. First he was granted bail after absconding from the unit in Galway. He absconds in February 2004 and it takes until June of this year to find his whereabouts, even though he first came before the English courts in September 2004.

“Then the European Arrest Warrant used to extradite him contained only one charge so the charge of driving without a licence, no insurance and no tax, had to be dropped.

“The maximum sentence for dangerous driving causing death is ten years but on the European arrest warrant, it said a maximum sentence of five years. So the judge had to start from five and give time off for a guilty plea and other mitigating factors.

“We would like answers as to who cocked-up, because there is no other description for it. My fear is that the State won’t appeal because it will be embarrassed having its blunders highlighted again. But we need answers and the only way to get those is through an appeal.”

The decision not to impose a driving ban on Naughton was described as by Ms Mahoney as “a joke”.

She also expressed anger that he was not punished for absconding and said he had been rewarded for it.