The Clare People Archive

CLARE’S youngest county councillor has been nominated to the EU Committee of the regions.

Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) will represent the Mid-West region on the nine member Irish section of the committee. If for some reason the East Clare councillor is unable to fulfil his role, Limerick County Councillor Noreen Ryan (FF), will replace him.

The Committee of the Regions (COR) is an advisory assembly in areas of Union legislation and policy, created by the Treaty on European Union.

It is composed of 317 representatives of local and regional authorities from the twenty-five member states.

THE number of couples seeking annulments in the West, including County Clare, is down slightly in the last two years.

While numbers have held in the rest of the country, the western tribunal area, made up of eight dioceses including Killaloe, report a small decrease in the number of people seeking a Roman Catholic annulment over the past two years – a trend that has not been seen throughout the rest of the country.

Each year for the last decade, up to 120 people have requested that their marriages be declared invalid in the eyes of the Church.

Of that figure, just over 50 per cent, or between 60 and 70 couples, were granted their request.

Thirty years ago, four tribunals were set up to cover annulments in the country. Prior to this, every diocese heard its own cases.

The Western region covers Connacht, Clare and Longford.

According to Fr Ray Browne of the Galway Regional Marriage Tribunal, it is almost impossible to determine from what counties in the western area the applications come from.

There is a tendency that when a marriage breaks up, a person moves to another area, often the nearest urban area, which in the case of Clare is often Limerick and outside the Western area.

Fr Browne told The Clare People that annulments referred to the invalidity of a marriage.

He said it was extremely stressful on all involved, as they must go back over the marriage to test the validity of it.

An investigation to discover if the commitment of marriage was entered into with due discretion is often carried out.

“On the wedding day, did each party make a decision and know what they were doing,” explained Fr Browne.

For the marriage to be valid, both parties have also to be capable to “live as husband and wife, day in, day out,” he added. A condition less often investigated is that a party must intend to be faithful when marrying; if this is not the case, the validity of the marriage can be contested. Both parties must also be “open to children”. Couples must also receive a civil annulment, or divorce, to be allowed to marry again.

In 2004, there was an average of 20,000 weddings in Ireland. Up to 4,000 people filed for divorce in the same year, while between 350 and 400 sought an annulment in the same year.

THE number of divorces in Clare has gone up by 40 per cent on last year’s figures.

Figures just finalised by the court service show that there were 111 decrees of divorce issued by the courts. This is in comparison to 79 decrees in the previous 12 months.

All of the applications which came before the court were granted, a spokeswoman for the court’s office confirmed.

The jump in numbers applying for divorce is being reflected in the number of couples who are coming to family law solicitors, a leading practitioner in the field said.

Solicitor Mary Cashin has just returned from a conference in which startling figures were quoted for Britain.

“Research has revealed that almost 50 per cent of marriages there end in divorce,” said Mary.

“We haven’t come to that stage here but in our dealings with clients, we can certainly say that there is a big increase in people seeking divorce.”

Ms Cashin said that once couples meet the criteria of being separated for four out of the previous five years they are opting for divorce.

“Once they meet that criteria, the courts have to give them their decree. And people are opting for that because it is final.”

One company providing divorce services in Clare says that the number of people applying for divorce in Clare is actually much higher than the number of divorces which made it as far as court.

Jim Corbett, Managing Director of Divorce Services in Clare, says that he puts the increase in applications for divorce last year as high as 75 per cent.

Ms Cashin says that she believes that the numbers will continue to increase, with many people opting for the so-called, D.I.Y. divorces offered by non-legal companies.

But while straightforward divorces in which all the issues have been agreed before coming to court may be suitable for this approach, Ms Cashin says she is concerned that some people may be leaving themselves exposed.

“There are far more issues involved than just getting the divorce rubber-stamped. There are issues around property and, very importantly, child access and I would just advise people to be wary.

“When things go wrong, they will end up back in the family law courts and anyone who has been there will tell you it’s not a place you want to have to go back to.”

THE young man who tragically drowned after a kayak overturned in Lough Derg on Sunday had selflessly given the only lifejacket to his girlfriend.

The 26-year-old, who has been named locally as John Buckley from Ballyculhan in Glin, County Limerick, went for a trip on the lake with the 24-year old woman, who is from O’Briensbridge.

Their canoe capsized at around 2.30 in the afternoon and the couple struggled to make land but John was swept away.

The young woman was helped to shore by a man living close to the shoreline who heard her screams.

A rescue service source said that the young woman was suffering from exhaustion and hypothermia but had bravely made her way close to shore when the local man spotted her.

“He heard her and waded in to help her the last part to the shore. She was exhausted and cold but was wearing a life-jacket.

“They had just one life-jacket between them and her boyfriend gave it to her,” the source said.

The alarm was raised by a local person who saw two people in the water near Ogonnelloe, four miles north of Killaloe on the Clare side.

The Killaloe/Ballina Search and Rescue service was called out and they put three teams — a total of almost 20 people — out to help with the search for the missing man.

Divers from the Limerick Search and Rescue unit were also called in, as were Shannon-based coastgurad helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft from the Garda Air Support Unit.

The diving team was brought in towards evening as fading light made it difficult for rescue boats to see anything in the water.

The divers located the Glin man’s body at Two Mile Gate at around 9.15pm on Sunday night.

Rescuers said the couple had brought the canoe to the lake themselves and were not involved in water-based events which were taking place earlier in the day at the University of Limerick Activity Centre in Two Mile Gate.

Divers brought the body ashore and it was removed to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, where a post-mortem was due to be carried out yesterday.

While the dead man’s name has not been officially released, he has been named locally as John Buckley.

The traumatised young woman was treated for shock and hypothermia.

A 21-YEAR-OLD Shannon man was subjected to what Gardaí say was a “frenzied”’ attack in which he was cut in the throat with a carving knife, as he sat at home with his brother and an eightyear-old child.

The incident happened at around 9.30pm on Friday at a house in Cronan Park in Shannon.

According to Gardaí, a 22-year-old man arrived at the house, went into the kitchen and got a carving knife. He then approached the 21-year-old and slashed him across the throat.

Two Shannon Gardaí, who were in the area as part of a separate investigation, heard commotion and pursued the 22year-old as he left the house.

A carving knife was recovered in the area and both the knife and the house were technically examined.

The injured man was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, where his condition was initially described as serious and later stabilised. He is expected to make a full recovery.

The 22-year-old was arrested in a green area close to the house and taken to Shannon Garda Station for questioning. He is understood to have sustained a leg injury, for which he received medical assistance at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis.

He was discharged some time later and taken back to the Garda station for questioning.

He was detained there overnight, before being released without charge on Saturday afternoon.

A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“Both men are known to each other and we are still investigating a motive,” said a Garda spokesman.

“The injured party was within centimetres of having an artery cut and it was sheer fortune that he survived,” added the spokesman.

Gardaí investigating the incident spoke with the injured party, from his hospital bed in Limerick and their investigation is continuing.

THE head of the Clare Garda Division has confirmed that a complaint of physical assault, concerning a Clare Garda, has been received by the Garda Complaints Board.

The complaint has been made by a mother on behalf of her 16- and 17-yearold sons, who cannot be named because of legal reasons, and concerns an incident which took place earlier this month.

In a letter sent to the Garda Complaints Board last week, the mother claims that both of her sons were physically assaulted by a west Clare Garda at 10pm on Wednesday, January 4.

According to the letter, the Garda, who was accompanied by a second Garda, stopped the car of her elder son on the evening in question.

The brothers claim that both Gardaí abused them verbally before asking the driver to step outside of the vehicle.

“They started calling us loads of names like ‘scumbag’, ‘knacker’ and the ‘three stooges’,” said the driver.

“They called me out of the car and called me a ‘thick c**t’ and asked me for my licence and insurance. I told him that I wasn’t a thick c**t, ‘you might be but I’m not’.”

The brothers claim that one of the Gardaí twisted the driver’s hand behind his back and punched him in the stomach before telling him that he was under arrest.

According to the letter, the younger brother then tried to come to his brother’s aid but caught his foot in the gear stick while his upper body was half out the driver side window of the car.

At this point, the brothers claim that the Garda who had allegedly assaulted the driver kicked the younger brother in the face, knocking him unconscious.

According to the older brother, the second Garda then removed his unconscious brother from the car and placed him on the ground, where he began to have a seizure.

“They started to panic after that and told me to ring the ambulance, they didn’t want to ring it themselves,” said the older brother.

“They said that if anything happened to him, it would be my fault.

“They were talking to each other and said, ‘which one will we ring, the squad car, the ambulance or their mother?’”

The injured brother was brought to Ennis General Hospital where he was treated for facial injuries and was held overnight.

“The family have made a complaint,” Clare Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn told The Clare People . “Should the Complaints Board decide that an investigation is warranted, an independent officer will be appointed to investigate the matter.”

Should the Garda be found guilty of assault the Garda Complaints Board can impose sanctions including dismissal, reduction in rank and reduction in pay.

A CLARE businessman accused of failing to comply with an enforcement notice served by Clare County Council will appear before Ennis Circuit Court, after jurisdiction was declined in the district court.

The council is taking the case against Newmarket-on-Fergus supermarket proprietor David Crimmins and Allyco Developments Limited, following complaints about noise emanating from a plant room on his premises at The Green, Newmarket-on-Fergus.

Planning enforcement officer Ann Colleran told Shannon District Court a number of matters are outstanding, since the case was previously before the court last year.

She said a retention application has been received by the council. She added that an enforcement notice had not been complied with and that further information had only been submitted on the morning of last Thursday’s court hearing. A third party, in an adjacent property, had made a number of complaints about noise, she said.

“He didn’t carry out the development in accordance with the plans submitted and there was an unauthorised development of the plant room,” she said.

She pointed out however that a lot of signage on windows and storage of shop trolleys has been regularised.

After hearing from Ms Colleran, Judge Joseph Mangan said he was declining jurisdiction. Solicitor for Clare County Council Rachel Dobson said that declining jurisdiction would not give the third party any satisfaction.

Judge Mangan replied, “I have made my decision,” and adjourned the case until March, for service of the book of evidence.

TWO parochial houses were broken into and an attempt was made to raid a third in north Clare on Sunday afternoon.

A sum of money was stolen from Newquay parochial house, after the safe was broken into. The keys to the church were also taken.

In Ballyvaughan, keys to the church were also taken after intruders gained entry to the parochial house.

Both incidents are understood to have happened between 1pm and 5pm.

An attempt was also made to break in to the parochial house in Ennistymon but the intruders made off emptyhanded after the alarm was activated, at 3.30pm.

“The scenes were preserved for technical examination and we conducted house-to-house enquiries,” said Ennistymon Supt Eamon Dolan.

He said a number of raids on churches took place across the country over Christmas and suggested this may be “copycat crime.”

“We are not ruling out that these may be linked. Three areas were targeted on a Sunday afternoon.

“We are keeping an open mind at this stage and are appealing to anyone who may have seen anything suspicious to come forward,” added Supt Dolan.

A 20-YEAR-old man who resisted arrest has been ordered to stay out of licensed premises and abide by a curfew.

Colin Ogrin, with an address at 19 Carrig Donn, Shannon, pleaded guilty to assaulting a garda and a civilian, on March 21, 2004.

Garda David Buckley told Shannon District Court that he and Garda Pat Morrissey observed the accused punching another man in the face outside Supermac’s.

Both Gardaí went over to him to arrest him. He was extremely drunk, shouted and roared, and was uncooperative, said the Garda. He said they eventually managed to handcuff him and Garda Morrissey sustained an injury in the process.

Garda Morrissey told the court he was assisting Garda Buckley in carrying out the arrest and the accused swung his arms and was “very violent and abusive towards us. He tried to evade us putting handcuffs on him and I injured my left hand.”

The Gardaí managed to restrain the accused after a short time.

Defending solicitor Rachel Dobson said her client was extremely drunk on the night and resisted arrest.

She said he has lived at home with his parents for the past year, having previously worked in the UK.

Judge Joseph Mangan remanded him on bail to appear again in court in March, to allow a probation report to be compiled.

He ordered that a professional report re drug and alcohol abuse be carried out.

The bail conditions include that he abstain from alcohol, stay out of licensed premises, abide by a curfew between 9pm and 9am and that he stay out of Shannon town centre.

MONTHS of study and preparation paid off for Clare’s students this week at the annual Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin.

This year there was a record entry of 1,100 projects, with Clare schools entering 23 projects. In total there were 14 Clare winners out of the 500 entrants that made it through to the final round of judging.

The day was extra special for two North Clare students who were awarded top prize in their respective categories. Mark Sims, a student in Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna, and Declan O’Loughlin, from CBS Ennistymon, were both awarded individual first place at senior and junior level respectively at Friday’s judging ceremony.

Mark’s project ‘Voting patterns – a tale of two counties’, scooped the top prize in the senior section of the Social and Behaviour Sciences Category. The prize represents something of a milestone for Mark. It is the sixth time that one of his projects has taken an award at the competition.

Students from Mary Immaculate Secondary came away from the competition with a total of eight awards and their exploits were the subject of RTÉ’s Nationwide programme on Monday night.

In the technology category Declan O’Loughlin’s entry on improving efficiency in a domestic oil central heating system won first place in the junior section.

The judges were impressed with Declan’s project, which found that by adding a simple modification to the average domestic heating

system he could continue to circulate the wa ter that would normally be left to cool after the burner had been switched off.

In the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences category, St John Bosco Community College students, Stephen Finucane and Liam Kenny’s project on the flow patterns of liquids came second in the junior level. Meanwhile, Jennifer Coote, Ashling Crowe and Marie Culligan from Kilrush Community College finished third in the same category and were also recognised in the Special Category.

The Cry Babies project undertaken by Ciara Deloughrey and Louise Morrissey also from Kilrush finished second in the Social and Behaviour category. In the intermediate section of the same category Cora Commane and Patricia Cusack from Mary Immaculate Secondary School also finished second.

The Display winners from Clare were Evelyn Linnane and Tess McGovern from Mary Immaculate Secondary School and Claire Meade, Michelle O’Brien and Megan Fitzgerald Bradley from St Anne’s Community College.

Special recommendation was reserved for Shona Ni Mheachair, Nicole Ni Chearmada and Cillian O’Buiteach from Ennis Community College for their research on diet drinks. Also commended were Laura Sims, Darren O’Gorman, Kevin Walsh, Christy Storer, Aishling Clancy, Noreen Lynch, Shona Fitzpatrick, Lorraine Stringer, and India Molloy, all representing Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna.

The work of Christopher Walshe, Eoghan Ryan and David Lynch from St Caimins Community School on feminising hormones was also recognised.