The Clare People Archive

A ROMANIAN brother and sister who were caught with 25,000 cigarettes between them at Shannon Airport almost two years ago have been fined. Dafina Danila and Eugen Danila both with addresses at Lower Sherrod Street, Dublin 1 appeared at Shannon District Court on Thursday, charged with offences contrary to the Finance Act (2001).

The court was told that Ms Danila was stopped at Shannon Airport on November 7, 2009, with 13,800 cigarettes in her possession. The value of the cigarettes was € 5763.57. The court heard that the offences carry a fine and potential prison sentence.

Mr Danila was charged with having 12,200 cigarettes in his possession on the same date at Shannon Airport. The value of the cigarettes was € 5095.33.

The court was told that the maximum number of cigarettes allowed to a person returning from Tenerife is 250. The pair, who have no previous offences, were on their way back from Tenerife. State Solicitor, Martin Linnane, told the court that Ms Dafina has said that the cigarettes were for personal use. He said that in order for one person to consume over 13,000 cigarettes for personal use, they would have to smoke around 36 cigarettes every day for a year. Judge Joseph Mangan remarked that you would need a “spare chimney to get through that (amount) in a year”.

Judge Mangan said that a person who is returning from holiday may bring back a “moderate” amount of cigarettes for personal use.

However he added that there are other times when a person brings back cigarettes for the purposes of a more sinister application. Mr Linnane said he was not aware that this was the case. Judge Mangan imposed a fine of € 350.

A FARMER who was verbally abusive to a garda and told her ‘you won’t take my land’ has been handed a one month suspended sentence.

Ger Neylon (50), whom the court heard has an address at Main Street, Tulla, appeared at Shannon District Court (sitting in Ennis) on Thursday.

Mr Neylon was charged with public order offences arising out of an incident at Sixmilebridge on April 22 (2010).

Insp Tom Kennedy said the accused was in an intoxicated state when he was noticed by a garda.

Insp Kennedy said that he became verbally abusive to the garda, to such an extent that he was arrested. He said that the man told the Garda that “you won’t take my land, you c***”.

Insp Kennedy said that Mr Neylon repeated the comments to the garda. The court heard that Mr Neylon is a single man, who has 57 acres of land, but is in receipt of farm assist payments.

Solictor for the man, Jenny Fitzgib- bon, made an application on behalf of her client for free legal aid.

She said that her client had been on the way home from a wedding in Limerick and had received a lift as far as Sixmilebridge. She said that it had been his intention to hitch back to Tulla.

She said it had been a ‘“long wedding’ and that her client could not recall the incident in Sixmilebridge. She said he realised that this is no excuse and that he wished to completely apologise.

Mr Neylon said, “I’m sorry. I apologise.”

Judge Joseph Mangan refused the application for free legal aid, saying that the man owned 57 acres of land.

He said the accused had missed a previous court date and now expected the state to pay his legal bills.

He said he was not impressed by the man’s behaviour, adding the comments, as described by Insp Kennedy, “speak for themselves”.

He handed down a one month suspended sentence and ordered that the accused enter a bond to be of good behaviour.

THE Irish tourism industry is being strangled by the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system preventing the creation of thousands of jobs in the sector, the Director of the Shannon College of Hotel Management, Mr Philip J. Smyth has said.

In his keynote address at the 60th anniversary of the college last Friday, Mr Smyth said that Sunday trading has become a “write off” for many operators in the industry because of the JLC. Under the JLC, minimum terms and conditions of employment in the catering sector above and beyond the national minimum wage are set, including premium payment for weekend and overtime work.

He said that Shannon College is the only third-level college/institute in Ireland with a 100 per cent graduate employment rate. “The concept of having to protect workers in the tourism sector is outdated and the sooner we abolish the JLC, the sooner we will begin creating jobs and fulfilling the enormous potential of the industry,” he said.

Mr Smyth told the gathering of over 200 guests that the prospects for growth in the industry are being hampered by a lack of national pride in service delivery. “As a population, we do not have a sense of service to match our wonderful sense of hospitality,” he said.

Congratulating the Shannon College of Hotel Management – a subsidiary of the Dublin Airport Authority – on its 60th anniversary, Director of Shannon Airport, Ms Mary Considine said its dedication to excellence has been nothing short of remarkable and that the college “has made an enormous contribution to the hotel industry here in Ireland and, indeed, globally”.

“To think that today, in such a challenging global economy, graduates from the college not only enjoy a 100% employment rate but are essentially headhunted by some of the world’s leading hotel groups speaks volumes for the standards that the college continues to deliver,” she said.

Since the first class of 18 students joined Shannon College in 1951, the college has grown to accept 100 students each year. It now offers two level 8 degree programmes (BBS and BComm) in business studies and international hotel management. It currently has 400 students enrolled, 200 of them Irish and the other half from 25 countries across the globe. Current students are undertaking professional work placements in 100 hotels across 16 countries worldwide.

A “HANDFUL” of sites in the Ennis area have been identified for a potential new town library.

Earlier this year, Clare County Council sought expressions of interest from the public in their efforts to identify a site/existing completed building for the re-development of the main public library and head quarters for Clare library service in Ennis.

The council was looking for a site of 1,600-1,800sq metres or alternatively an existing building with a floor area of up to 4,000 sq metres.

Speaking last week, County Librarian, Helen Walsh said there had been a good response to the appeal. “We wanted to see what was out there. We didn’t want to be overloaded so that’s why we were specific in the notice.”

She explained that any new site would have to meet a specific set of requirements in order to secure government funding. A new site, she said, would have to be in close proximity to local schools; be located in Ennis town centre and have sufficient space for parking. She said that a “handful” of sites have emerged and will now be further examined.

The current De Valera library building has been in use since 1973 but is now considered too small for the population of the town.

Ms Walsh said that the “size and history of Ennis demands that it have a good civic building”.

She added, “Some of the library buildings that have been built up and down the country over the past few years have been fantastic, award standard. That’s the kind of building we would be looking at. It would have to be a building for the future.”

Ms Walsh said that a site would have to be acquired before any approach could be made to the Department of Environment for funding.

She explained, “Any big capital projects like that, they would have to be built within a year. There could be no overrun into the next budget.”

The Post Office field had previously been identified as a potential site for a new library building. However, Ms Walsh said that the field “did not present as a site this time around”.

IRISH shoppers are clearly gasping for a taste of Clare after water produced and bottled in the Banner County became the best-selling product of its kind at one of Ireland’s largest retail stores.

Clare Spring Water, which directly employs 15 people and a further 11 through sales, was set up in 2009. Managing Director, Paul Connellan told a meeting in Ennis last week that Clare Spring had become a bestseller at Dunnes Stores over the past 12 months.

Mr Connellan recalled the company’s success at a meeting organised by the Clare branch of Network Ireland. Mr Connellan said that LEADER funding of € 200,000, secured through the Clare Local Research Company, had been hugely important in the establishment of Clare Spring Water.

Mr Connellan said the company, which produces water at its € 4.2 million plant in High Street, Lissycasey, has sought to ensure its competitiveness through careful control of costs and efficient waste management.

The company made history last year by becoming the first ever to produce a biodegradable plastic bottle, an innovation that helped it win an annual contract to supply 14 million bottles of natural spring water Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.

He said that research into the area of plant-based plastics had led to the development of the biodegradable bottle. He added that the Schipol contract had given “tremendous confidence” to the company, which also exports bottled water to the UK. He said, “Foreign markets are interested in what’s evolving and changing and innovative”. Mr Connellan said the company had received a “lot of goodwill and local support”.

THE final decision on whether Tulla will be home to a major nursing home project this year will be delivered by An Bord Pleanála within the next month.

The Clare People has learned that the planning appeals board decision on the application by John and Ted Nugent to build the nursing home in the east Clare town that would cater for up to 30 patients will be handed down on June 16 next.

The application for the 26-bedroom development together with living complex comprising of four semidetached one bedroom units and four two-bedroom units was originally lodged with Clare County Council in December 2009.

A number of objections to the de velopment were lodged, with Noreen Hickey from Cork saying “the proposed development contravenes the new HIQA standards with are underpinned by legislation” and the it “outside the existing town zoned area which contravenes the planning regulations of Tulla”.

Conditional permission for the development was granted by Clare County Council planners was granted last December, with Director of Service Nora Kaye saying that “the proposed development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity, would not be prejudicial to public health and would otherwise accord with proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

The appeal to this conditional permission was lodged with An Bord Pleanala in January of this year.

GARDAÍ are investigating an incident in which an elderly woman was robbed in her home in Feakle on Friday. A man selling clothes called to the woman’s house at around 1.30pm. While in the house, he stole money from the elderly lady’s handbag, before leaving in a red car.

The man is described as tall with dark hair, of slim build. He is believed to be in his 50s and clean shaven. He was wearing a black suit and spoke with a foreign accent. The man, believed to be from India or Pakistan, was driving a red car with a yellow number plate on the back. Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have seen the car to contact them.

Meanwhile, gardaí in Kilmihil are investigating an incident in which the Vodafone compound at Lack West was broken into, after the lock on the gate was cut. 200 litres of diesel and a Wilson generator were stolen.

In Killaloe, a suspicious fire is being investigated by gardaí. The car, which was parked on Radharc na hAglise on Convent Hill, caught fire in what are described as suspicious circumstances at around 3.30 on Sunday morning.

The theft of a car in Ennis is being investigated by gardaí. The grey coloured Fiat Punto hatchback was stolen from Park Avenue in Ennis town between 10pm on Wednesday and 8.30am on Thursday. Also on Wednesday night, two youths were seen running from the Tobarkeel area on the Drumcliffe Road, after a portaloo had been set alight. Both were in their late teens.

In Kilrush, the theft of lead from the roof of the library on O’Gorman Street last weekend is being investigated, while gardaí are investigating an incident in which four car tyres were slashed outside a house on Hector Street last Thursday. And in Sixmilebridge, the theft of two cast iron gates from the gateway of a private house at Castlecrine, Sixmilebridge last Wednesday, is being investigated. Gardaí across the county are investigating a number of burglaries over the past week. Houses in Kilkee, Quin, Kilmihil and Shannon were targeted. A licensed premises in O’Briensbridge was broken into in the early hours of last Tuesday. The cigarette machines containing cigarettes and money were stolen.