The Clare People Archive

FAMILY and friends gathered in Ennis yesterday to say a final farewell to the late Jack Wall, who passed away last week.

Originally from Ennistymon, John Joseph Wall was well known in Clare from his ownership of the Auburn Lodge Hotel and his long association with the Ennis Musical Society.

Along with his wife Anne, Mr Wall ran the Auburn Lodge from 1969 to 1990. He was also the proprietor of the Beehive Café in Ennis.

He served as a gunner with the British Airforce in World War II and lived in California for 10 years before returning to Clare.

Mr Wall, who lived in Ballymaley, was a long serving member of the Ennis Musical Society whose talent was recalled at his funeral service in Ennis Cathedral yesterday.

Friends recalled being enthralled by Mr Wall’s memorable performances for the Society. The service heard that Mr Wall was a man with a commanding stage presence and someone who wore his talent with great modesty.

He played lead roles in numerous productions including

CHARGES against Clare hurler Fergal Lynch were struck out at Ennis District Court last Wednesday, January 2, because of the length of time taken to bring the matter to trial.

Counsel for Mr Lynch (30), Darragh Hassett, applied to the court for the case to be dismissed saying that some of the dates recorded for summonses connected to the case were “factually incorrect”.

Mr Hassett also argued that the incident had taken an extremely long time to come to court, saying that Mr Lynch, who has an address at Dangan in Tulla, is a local school teacher who is well known to the gardaí because of his exploits on the hurling field.

Speaking for the State, Inspector Tom Kennedy, asked Judge Patrick Durcan for 14 days to gather “the correspondence about the case” but this request was turned down.

“This all related to an issue which took place three years ago. I am striking out the case,” said Judge Durcan.

A 48-YEAR-OLD man who choose to give up drink as his New Year’s resolution, was given a month to stay dry by Judge Patrick Durcan at Ennis District Court on January 2.

Kieran Lynch (48), whose address was listed as Quin, County Clare was found drunk and unconscious in Ennis on June 30, 2012. Mr Lynch, who was described Judge Durcan as “footless on College Road”, was discovered by a member of the gardaí at around 4pm in the afternoon of June 30. He was brought to a station in Ennis and released later that night.

Mr Lynch, who has 20 previous convictions all relating to alcohol, said he had attended a number of treatment centres in the past which, he said, had not helped him.

He told the court that he planned to “quit the drinking” in 2013. He also said that all of his previous convictions had been drink related and that he had been “ruined” by booze.

Mr Lynch was asked to take the stand and swore, under oath, that he would “not be in any situations where drinking was involved”.

Judge Durcan adjourned the case until February 6, 2012, at which time Mr Lynch will be asked to account for his sobriety over the pervious month. “I have noted your undertaking and I don’t want to hear from the inspector that you have broken it,” said Judge Durcan.

A CLARE man home on holidays for Christmas hid in a ditch after crashing his sister’s car into a bridge near Mullagh and was banned from driving for six months at Ennis District Court last Wednesday, January 2.

Brian Keane (26), with an address at Kilcolumb in Kilmaley pleaded guilty to obstruction and failing to give information when asked by a member of the gardaí but a further charge, under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, was withdrawn.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that on December 20, 2012, at around 1am Mr Keane drove his car into a bridge near Mullagh – about five miles away from his house in Kilmaley.

The court heard that Mr Keane left the scene of the crash on foot and was discovered by a member of the gardaí “hiding in a ditch”.

Counsel for Mr Keane told the court that the defendant was driving a friend home when the incident took place.

He said that Mr Keane had become distracted and hit bridge.

He also said that Mr Keane was discovered in a nearby field and not in a ditch.

According to the defense solicitor the car involved in the incident – which was owned by Mr Keane’s sister – was written off in the incident but no major damage was done to the bridge.

Mr Keane has had to pay for a new car for his sister.

Counsel for Mr Keane told the court that Mr Keane was a block-layer by trade and had emigrated to Australia four years ago and had been “getting on well” in his employment abroad.

He was home for Christmas when the incident took place.

The court heard that he planned to return to Australia on the following day, Thursday January 3, unless he was prevented by the court from doing so.

The court heard that Mr Keane had a number of different conviction from various dates in 2008, 2006 and 2005.

The most significant of these was a charge of dangerous driving which was reduced to “careless driving” in March of 2008.

Judge Patrick Durcan noted that Mr Keane had a “bad record for a 26year-old” and said that considering that, he had no option but to disqualify him from driving for six months and fine him € 500.

COUNCILLORS in Ennis will next month attempt for a third time to settle on a name for the town’s new € 2.5 million inner relief road.

No decision was reached at yesterday’s monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council on the naming of the road after three votes were taken on the matter.

The matter initially came before the December (2012) meeting but was adjourned to January.

Councillors were asked to choose from a list of 10 possible names – Bóthar an Sean Ghéibhinn (Old Bridewell Road), Phoenix Road, Gaol Road, Old Gaol Road, Braids Road, Muhammad Ali Road and Bóthar na Rince.

Three other suggestions – Slí an Fhionnuisce (Phoenix Way), Bóthar an Fhionnuisce (Phoenix Road) and Ard Fhionnuisce (Phoenix Height) were submitted by TJ Waters of the Ennis / Phoenix Twinning Board.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) and councillors Mary Howard (FG) and Johnny Flynn (FG) proposed that the road be named in memory of Ennis’ twinning with Phoenix. Councillor Tommy Brennan (Ind) and Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) proposed ‘Old Gaol Road’.

Cllr Brennan told the meeting that the inner relief road passed through the former house of the last jailer in Ennis. Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) supported this proposal, saying, “It is no harm for us to go back in history and explain reason why the jail was there. I think it sounds good.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said the road should be named after Muhammad Ali. He said the former world heavyweight boxing champion had brought thousands onto the street when he visited the town in 2009.

Cllr Neylon also suggested that the road be called ‘Bothar na Rince’ to mark its proximity to the site of the former Paddy Con’s dance hall. Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) also proposed Muhammad Ali Road. Cllr Brian Meaney said he would like to see the route named Paddy Con’s Road.

After Cllr Neylon agreed to withdraw his proposal for Muhammad Ali Road on the basis that the legendary sportsman had already been hounoured with a plaque in the Turnpike area of Ennis, votes were taken on three suggested names.

Cllrs Brennan, Coote Ryan, Guilfoyle and Neylon voted in favour of Old Gaol Road. Cllrs Considine, Howard, Flynn and O’Shea voted for Slí Na Fhionnuisce. Cllrs Flynn, Neylon and O’Shea voted for Bothar na Rince.

Councillors agreed to defer the decision for another month.

THE Cliffs of Moher recorded it third highest year for visitors ever in 2012 – and its highest since the recession started in 2007.

According to new figures released by the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience, 873,988 people visited the North Clare tourist attraction last year.

Significantly, the number of fully independent travellers (FIT), or people who did not come to the Cliffs as part of a package or bus holiday, was slightly up on the 2011 figures.

It had been anticipated that FIT figures would dip at the cliffs last year following disappointing numbers as a result of the London Olympics and the Euro 2012.

However, a strong rally in individual visitors in September and October helped boost FIT figures, along with a dramatic 30 per cent increase in the number of Chinese visitors coming to the site.

FIT numbers are especially important for the Clare tourism industry as they are much more likely to stay in Clare as part for their holiday, while other visitors usually travel to the Cliffs from Dublin, Galway or Kerry.

There was further good news in the coach visitors sector, with an increase of 17.7 per cent in the number of people visiting the Cliffs of Moher by bus as part of a package holiday.

According to Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Experience, 2012 was the Cliffs’ third highest years for visitors ever, behind 2007 with 939,772 and 2006 and estimated 911,876 visitors.

“We are delighted with the 2012 visitor number performance at a time when the wider tourism sector across Ireland and the world has experienced considerable difficulties.

“This achievement is a tribute to the staff of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience and the agencies that have made considerable investments in developing the attraction during recent years,” she said.

“The challenge for us now is to explore new and innovative ways of attracting visitors to the Cliffs of Moher.

“Despite experiencing a second successive increase in visitors last year, we remain almost 7 per cent below the attraction’s peak year of 2007.”

Overall, the 2012 figure of 873,988 last year was almost 65,000 visitors over the 2011 numbers.

DO NOT resort to moneylenders. That’s the stark message to people facing financial pressures this January. As Clare families face into the toughest financial weeks of the year, financial advice groups have warned that illegal money-lenders should be avoided at all costs.

Twenty years after it was set up to counteract illegal money lending in West Clare, MABS (Money Advice and Budgeting Service) has asked families under severe financial pressure not to opt for this form of shortterm loan.

By the end of 2012, numerous financially-stressed families in Clare had turned to unscrupulous money-lenders, who would charge huge interest rates and threaten them if they did not pay up. As these lenders are not legal, organisations such as MABs cannot negotiate with them on behalf of the person taking the loan.

People are particularly vulnerable to this type of lending at this time of year and Paul Woulfe from Clare Citizens Information said this is leading to worry and depression.

“Many people parked their problems and money concerns coming up to Christmas so the next few months are going to be difficult.

“People also borrow on the run up to Christmas and add to credit card and store cards debt which adds to the problem now,” he said. “There is help out there as long as people do not panic,” he said.

EAST Clare has been identified as one of Ireland’s hotspots for UFOs (unidentified flying objects) with four separate sightings recorded in 2012.

According to new figures released by the Aerial Phenomena Research Association of Ireland (APRAI) there were two separate sightings in the O’Briensbridge area, one in O’Callaghan’s Mills and a fourth just over the Tipperary border in Cragg last year.

With further sightings in Loop Head and on Aughinish Island in North Clare, the Banner County was identified as one of Ireland’s busiest counties for UFO activity in 2012 after Dublin, Cork and Kildare.

The first two recorded UFO sightings of last year took place in O’Briensbridge on January 7 and February 6, with a third sighting recorded at Kilbaha North, close to Loop Head, on March 3.

A fourth sighting was recorded on Aughinish in North Clare on May 29 with the final sighting recorded at Killuran, just off the R465 in O’Callaghan’s Mills on July 24.

A spokesperson from the APRAI declined to give any specific information on the nature of the Clare sightings or to identify who reported the incidents.

According the the founder of the UFO Society of Ireland, the late Betty Meyler, the Burren landscape has an effect on UFO activity.

Speaking to The Clare People shortly before her death in 2010, Ms Meyler said that the unique geographic landscape of the Burren seemed to attract UFOs.

A short video of Clare’s most famous UFO, recorded in sky in the Inagh area in March 2009, has been viewed almost 20,000 times on Youtube.

IN HER first interview since being released from prison, Ennis woman Sharon Collins has protested her innocence of the crimes she was convicted of and spent nearly four years in jail for.

The 49-year-old, who was socialising in Ennis over the Christmas period and is believed to be planning to move back to live in her native town, has stated publicly that she hopes to find out who framed her for the crime of trying to have her partner PJ Howard and his two sons Niall and Robert murdered.

“You just have to try to be dignified and hope that eventually you will be able to prove that it wasn’t you,” said Collins in an interview in a Sunday newspaper.

“It is so elaborate and there is so much. I couldn’t imagine doing that for starters – but if you could try to put yourself in the position of somebody who did that?

“Well you wouldn’t leave that sort of trail. It’s just too much. It’s just too much. It wasn’t me. That’s all I can say to that. I didn’t leave that trail behind me. I just hope someday I will be able to prove who it was,” she added.

In November 2008, Collins was was jailed for six years after a Central Criminal Court jury found her guilty of soliciting a man to murder PJ Howard, and his two sons, Robert and Niall Howard, on August 15, 2006.

Collins, who was accused of using the internet handle “lying-eyes98” to investigate the hiring of a hitman on the internet, was also found guilty on three counts of conspiring to kill the three men.

Her trial heard she tried to hire Egyptian-born Las Vegas poker dealer Essam Eid to carry out the killings. While sentenced in November 2008, she was convicted in July 2008, and was held in prison from that date.

In late 2011, Ms Collins lost an appeal against the conviction with the court rejecting all 23 grounds of her case, but she was granted temporary release after serving three years and nine months of her sentence ahead of the completion of her sentence in December.

Ms Collins has revealed that she is now concentrating on her career, with two books on her story now in the pipeline, while a movie deal is also in the offing as several shows in the US fight to secure her first television appearance.

WEST Clare landowners will not receive any financial payments if fracking is allowed to take place in the Clare Basin.

That is according to Clare Fracking Concerned, who say that Compulsory Access Orders will be used to give companies, such as UK-based Enegie Oil, access to lands rather than Compulsory Purchase Orders. The group also said yesterday that a change to the County Development Plan to ban fracking – which was unanimously voted in be councillors earlier this year – should go ahead, even if it would have little or no legal standing.

“The change to the development plan should go ahead no matter what as it was voted on unanimously by all the public representatives in Clare,” said Clare Fracking Concerned spokesperson, Róisín Ní Gháirbhith.

“However there are far more important things that people in Clare need to be aware of. Farmers will not benefit financially [from fracking], but rather there will be Compulsory Access Orders served to them that will allow Enegie Oil to access their land for free.

“The shale gas in Clare is also shallower than other places – it is only 700 meters down. This greatly increases the chances of our aquifers and waters being polluted by fracking fluids and methane gas.”

Earlier this year Donegal County Council began the process of changing its County Development Plan to include a ban on fracking. According to Director of Services for Planning at Clare County Council, Ger Dollard, a similar move in Clare could create a “false sense of security” for people opposed to fracking in Clare.

“The council is fully conscious of the issue and the genuine concerns expressed by the elected members. We are aware from media reports of proposals for changes to Donegal CDP but such media reports also refer to the legality of any such moves. The council’s view is that the CDP as presently drafted is strong in terms of environmental objectives and these can address and deal with any issues arising on the process of fracking,” said Mr Dollard.

“There is little point of inserting something into the County Development Plan [CDP] that won’t legally stand up and would only serve to create a false sense of security for all involved.

“The national question regarding fracking has first of all to be determined, at which point the council will then be able to conclusively decide if it has any role in the process and if so how should that role be handled within the CDP on a basis that will stand up to legal challenge.”