The Clare People Archive

AN Ennis man who is studying horticulture was un-successful in his attempts to grow a cannabis producing plant, a court has heard.

Rory Mythen (25), with an address at Fergus Manor, Ennis, appeared at Ennis District Court on Friday charged with the cultivation of a cannabis plant.

The court heard that when Gardai entered 18 Fergus Manor in August 2010, they discovered the plant along with a small amount (value € 20) of cannabis.

Solicitor for the accused, Daragh Hassett, told the court that his client and his girlfriend had co-operated fully with Gardaí. He said the canna- bis had been for his client’s personal use. He added that the plant discovered by Gardaí “was on its last legs” and would not have been able to produce cannabis.

He said the “ultimate irony” of the incident was that Mr Mythen’s area of expertise was horticulture.

Mr Hassett told the court that his client, who has no previous convictions, had purchased cannabis seeds over the Internet. He said his client had been accepted to study horticulture at college and that cannabis “no longer plays a part in his life”.

Judge Joseph Mangan ordered that the man and his girlfriend make a donation of € 200 to the court poor box. He dismissed the charges under the probation of offenders act.

A COURT has heard allegations that a man threatened to kill his brother-in-law at Shannon Airport last week.

Martin Joyce (20), of St Patrick’s Mews, Clarecastle, is accused of threatening to kill Michael Ward, at Shannon Airport, last week.

At Ennis District Court on Friday, Detective Sergeant Kevin O’Hagan applied to remand the accused in custody. He said the alleged incident was of a serious nature and he said that gardaí believed witnesses may be interfered with if bail was granted.

Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said that her client and his family went to the airport last week by bus en route to a pharmacy in Shannon.

She said he was at the airport with the purpose of getting a cab to the town centre.

The accused told the court that he was talking to another individual at the airport when Michael Ward approached and started “mouthing off”.

He said he did not go to Shannon to cause trouble. He denied making any threat to Michael Ward.

“He’s my brother-in-law,” he told the court.

He denied suggestions that he was acting in an aggressive manner at the airport.

Ms Godfrey applied for bail on behalf of her client.

“My client could not have gone down to Shannon with the expectation of meeting the Wards.

“He was looking for a taxi in the vicinity of the airport,” she said.

She said her client has a constitutional right to bail. However, Judge Joseph Mangan refu

sed bail and remanded the accused in custody for a week. He said he was making this decision based on the State’s evidence and also based on the gravity of the charge before the court.

AN ENNIS man has been charged with assault causing harm arising out of an alleged incident in the town last December. Patrick Francis Doherty (32), of Bay 1, Ballaghboy, Quin Road, Ennis, is accused of assault causing harm, at Rocky Road, Ennis, on December 23, 2010. He is further charged with criminal damage at Ashline, Kilrush Road, Ennis, on December 24, 2010. A garda that he arrested the accused that morning at Ennis Court house and charged him. The accused did not reply to charge after caution, the court heard. Defence solicitor Daragh Hassett sought an adjournment until next month. Inspector Michael Gallagher told the court that the DPP has directed that the case be dealt with in the district court. The case was adjourned until next month.

CLOSE to 550 people turned up in the early hours of Saturday morning to see dawn break over the Lees Road sports and amenity park in Ennis at a walk aimed at raising greater awareness of suicide.

The ‘Darkness into Light’ walk and run, organised by suicide crisis centre Pieta House, got underway at 4.30am with participants following a 5km route through a forest path lit by electronic candles. The walk finished at around 6am as the sun began to rise.

Coordinator Tom McEvoy hailed the walk as a great success and said Pieta House plan to hold the nationwide event on annual basis in Ennis.

He said, “We’re weren’t sure what kind of turnout we would have but it went beyond anything we could have anticipated. No wind, no rain and a fantastic dawn.”

There was an early start for many of those who took part with participants traveling to Ennis from Kilrush, Miltown Malbay and Scariff to make the 4.30am start time. And according to Tom, some of those who walked and ran, did not get any night’s sleep beforehand. “We had people who came straight from night clubs, people who were at the Rose of Clare. We had one man who ran in his suit and black tie. We had a massive cross section of the community taking part.” The opening address was delivered by Tom, while there was also contributions from Pieta House member, Noleen Devlin and Ennis Parish administrator Fr Tom Hogan. One participant described the walk a “very emotional occasion”. Tom, whose brother died as a result of suicide in 2007, said there was a positive response to the event. He said, “The first runner to complete the course, Frank Landy, said he’d done a lot of 5km and 10km runs but that this was the most memorable event he said he’d taken part in. He said normally he’s used to dodging runners but this time he was dodging trees.” Tom also thanked all participants and volounteers.

A QUIN man is spearheading a novel venture aimed at finding the best ideas to create employment.

The Ideas Factory is the brainchild of Niall Chandler (28), a former Ennis-based personal trainer who has turned his hand to trying to find so lutions to Ireland’s jobs crisis.

Niall, who holds a masters in international business, started work on the project last November.

“It started out as a website but that developed into bringing people into one room to focus on ideas,” he said.

The Ideas Factory 100 held their first meeting in Shannon on April 29, bringing together recent graduates from different backgrounds to kick-start the initiative that has been backed by the business network group, Atlantic Way and Westpark, Shannon.

Niall explained that the aim is to gather 100 of Ireland’s graduates and out-of-work professionals from all disciplines to brainstorm, share and generate ideas, with the intention of creating businesses and employment.

The meeting centered on creating a unified vision for the Ideas Factory 100 and proved that there is a definite appetite for this kind of initiative. The graduates from different disciplines came from Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry and Tipperary. The next meeting takes place on Friday, May 13 in Westpark Shannon. Niall said there has been an enthusiastic response so far to the project.

He explained. “The first meeting was mainly about trying to create a unified vision for the group. The next meeting will be to figure out how we go about brainstorming. You can’t just look at a blank page. We can take it step by step.”

Niall said the meetings are not just being held for the “craic” and that the aim is generate ideas that will help lead to the creation of jobs within a specific timeframe.

Participants so far have ranged in age from 24 to 42 and according to Niall, come from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds.

“We have engineers, people from agriculture, a couple of business graduates, a woman who was let go from Boston Scientific, so there are a lot of different ideas,” he added.

For further information or to express your interest in coming to the next meeting, contact Niall Chandler – niall.chandler@gmail.com

CONSTRUCTION work on a new multi-million euro pier in Doolin will not begin before this summer as had been previously hoped. Works will now not now begin on the pier, which is expected to brings hundreds of tourism and construction related jobs to North Clare, until the end of September at the earliest following a request for planning clarification from An mBord Pleanála.

The national planning authority has been asked to decide whether the Part Eight planning permission, which was granted by Clare County Council in March, will require a Foreshore License to be granted and an Environmental Impact Statement to be carried out.

According to documents lodged with An mBord Pleanála last week a decision on this case will not be made until September 16 of this year – meaning that it now unlikely that any construction work will take place in 2011. The documents also named The West Coast Surf Club as the active applicant in the planning case. The surf club, which is one of Ireland’s oldest surfing organisation, is opposed to the development of the pier in its current location as they believe it will have a negative effect an a number of world class local waves. More than 5,000 people have signed up to an online campaign to “Save the Crab Island and Doolin Point” waves.

The development was granted planning permission after a protracted planning process earlier this year.

Speaking after planing permission was granted, County Engineer Tom Tiernan said that tender process for the development will be started in a matter of weeks with the construc- tion work not likely to be finished until 2012. It is not yet clear how the latest planning delay will effect the overall project or the 2012 date set for having the pier up and running.

The original planning permission for the pier came before last December’s meeting of Clare County Council but a decision on this was deferred by the County Manager, Tom Coughlan, to allow for more public consultation to take place.

ONE OF the legends of traditional music in Clare was laid to rest in Doolin on Thursday when “Uncle Jerry” – John Joe Lynch – heard his final tune at the Holy Rosary Cemetery in Doolin.

Jerry, who has been synonymous with the great Kilfenora Céilí Band for more than seven decades, passed away last Tuesday, May 3, on the day before his 77th birthday. Jerry’s father, who was also christened John Joe, was a fiddle player and a founder member of the Kilfenora Céilí Band in 1907. After beginning his musical life on the mouth organ Jerry, influenced by the late great Joe Cooney, took up they accordion in his teenage years, before joining the Kilfenora’s officially in the late 1940s.

He was a member of the band during their famous three-in-a-row AllIreland successes in the 1950s and was the inspiration behind the current band repeating the same feat in the 1990s.

After collecting the third All-Ireland title in Ennis in 1956 Jerry, like so many others of his generation, moved to New York in the early 1960s where he worked on construc tion. He returned home in the 1990s and became the link between the old Kilfenora Céilí band and the modern band.

Jerry’s siblings Noreen and PJ were also in the band over the years as were his nephews Pat and John.

He gained the name “Uncle Jerry” because of his relationship with his nephew and current band leader John Lynch, and also to distinguish him from his nephew, the popular singer also called Jerry Lynch.

“Jerry was a wonderful character but he was also the last link between the great band of the 1950s and the modern band. He was always there to share his knowledge with us and was happy to share tunes with us or with anyone that he played with,” said current band leader John Lynch.

“He played music right through his entire life – he kept playing while he was in New York and was still playing. He started on the mouth organ but switched to the accordion because of the influence of Joe Cooney. This would have been unusual as everyone in the house would have played the fiddle but the band needed an accordion player at that time.”

Jerry’s influence on traditional music in Clare was immense – he helped to preserve the great heritage of tunes from earlier times and also the repertoire he learnt on his travels and from other great musicians such as Jimmy Shand.

He is survived by his wife Betty and daughter Tara as well as his wider family and many friend in Clare and all over the country.

GOING back to education has the ability to become a life changing experience and become the agency for new job opportunity in the county, the co-ordinator of the ground-breaking programme training programme that operated throughout the county over the last nine months has claimed.

Speaking to The Clare People ahead of this Thursday’s finale to the 2010/11 Labour Market Activation Programme operated by Clare VEC, Rita McCarthy has said that the continuation of the programme would be a huge boost to providing job opportunities for hundreds of people across the county.

“In the current climate, when you listen to doom and gloom every day, back to education courses are key,” said Ms McCarthy. “The Labour Market Activation Programme covered a wide range of area and at different locations around the county and represented an opportunity for people,” she added.

The courses included outdoor recreation studies, renewable energy, heritage studies, health and community care and the catering and hospitality sector.

“Doing these courses have helped people make changes in their lives. They see a way ahead – this programme has made a difference to a lot of people,” said Ms McCarthy. “If you’re without work, you still have to do something, you still have to get up and get through the day.

“To have programmes like this in place for people is of huge benefit and gives people new hope. It gives structure to their day for a start, while also providing opportunity and ideas for new businesses, for work,” she said.

“We have a government jobs initiative coming out this week and we would hope that there will be funding for the Labour Market Activation Programmes under that. This was a special fund that was put aside for the government to generate training and education opportunities for people. It was strictly for unemployed people.”

SCHOOLS days are about to become dramatically different for the pupils of Barefield National School as they prepare to open a new 16classroom school later this month.

Construction work at the school has now finished and the final touches are being put on a large eight-classroom extension, six special education teaching rooms, a general purpose and sports hall and the refurbishment of six classrooms built in 1995.

According to the school principal, John Burns, the new extension will be of great benefit not just to the pupils and staff of the school, but also to the wider community in Barefield.

“Ultimately, this is a gift to the children in our care and so we are absolutely delighted with this news, both for the current and future generations of pupils,” he said.

“The parents, teachers and children deserve this opportunity as they have always shown the enthusiasm and goodwill to respond positively regardless of circumstances.

“Crucially they and the whole local community had already shown their commitment and foresight in having the local contribution for this project at the ready when the time arrived.”

The Chairperson of the Board of Management, Ronan Connolly, said the new extension was the culmination of a committed campaign to provide the best possible facilities at the school and he expressed his appreciation of everyone who had been involved in bringing the project to fruition over the years, including the Parents Association, the Board Of Management, parents and teachers.

The school-going population has grown rapidly in the area in recent years and the new classrooms will help meet the needs of the growing area into the future.

The school has grown from a fourteacher school in 1984 to today where it employs a total staff of 40.

The extension and refurbishment work was completed by local contractor Martin Fitzgibbon and Company along with architects Simon J Kelly and Partners.

The new school will be officially opened at 2pm on Sunday, May 29. A full programme of events are planned for the opening starting with a mass, celebrated by Bishop Kieran O’Reilly.

THERE have been calls for Clare County Council to provide more water taps at Drumcliffe and other public graveyards in Ennis. According to Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG), taps are needed to assist elderly people visiting the graves of loved ones.

There are currently two taps provided inside the main gates at Drumcliffe. Cllr Mulqueen told yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis west electoral area, that taps should be located further up the graveyard as elderly visitors often had to fill and carry five litre containers of water from the entrance. He said that at a time of the year when temperatures were on the rise, the current situation was unacceptable.

In his response, Eamon O’Dea, Senior Executive Engineer, said that the likelihood of vandalism and a lack of funding meant the council was not currently proposing to provide taps.

“I would not envisage the provision of additional watering points due to the issue of water conservation and vandalism of taps away from the gates. The current taps have spring closure mechanisms on them and have been vandalised in the past,” he said.

“If there is a particular need at a burial ground then the provision of a watering point can be looked at on an individual basis and assessed accordingly.”

Town manager Ger Dollard said taps in the graveyard had previously been the subject of vandalism.