The Clare People Archive

THE closure of Orchard Lodge and Gort Glass has nothing to do with pa- tient care, and everything to do with a nursing Crisis.

That is according to the Psychiatric Nurses Association representative Denis Meehan who maintains that nursing staff predicted this crisis six months ago.

“We saw this coming last May and brought it to the Labour Relation Commission,’ said Mr Meehan.

There are currently vacancies for 37 nursing staff in the Clare mental health service, he said.

‘A further five nurses are to leave the service before the end of the year.”

‘The service 1s run as much as pos- sible on overtime,’ he said.

Mr Meehan said that even with the closure of the rehab units in Ennis and Kilrush there will still be a shortage of nursing staff in the Clare mental health services.

He maintains that the policy being enacted by the HSE is not going to

solve the problem, but merely move it around.

Mr Meehan also refuted comments that the closure of the two units was part of the process of community liv- ing.

“There is no outreach team in west Clare or talks of one,” he said.

This week the HSE maintains that the review of mental health services in Clare is taking place against a back- ground of a 21.3 per cent decline in the number of nurses working in the Clare Mental Health services between

January 2008 and the current national moratorium on recruitment.

The closures of the two units – Or- chard Lodge and Gort Glas – are also part of “a need to respond to the com- plex requirements of specialized serv- ices to patients in accordance with best practice in modern health care”’.

“Our engagement with the staff as- sociations is further informed by a requirement to submit a management proposal to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC). The referral to the LRC was made by the staff associ-

ations following what they described as managements failure to recruit psy- chiatric nurses for the Clare Mental Health Services.

“At a meeting of the LRC held on Thursday September 24, 2009 under the chairmanship of Mr John Agnew, all parties agreed that management would come up with a proposal to ensure the continuing safe delivery of services in the context of existing resource constraints. The next LRC is scheduled for November 23, 2009,’ the HSE said.

THE CASE OF a 29-year-old man who admitted sexually assaulting four of his cousins over 10 years ago will not be finalised for a year, as he continues to receive treatment.

The accused, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the victims, pleaded guilty to 14 charges at Ennis District Court.

He admitted eight charges in rela- tion to one cousin; three charges in relation to another; two charges in relation to another and one charge in relation to another cousin.

The incidents occurred between 1995 and 1996 when the girls were aged between eight and 10.

The accused was a teenager at the nb eelon

The case initially came before the district court a year ago and was ad- journed to last Friday.

Counsel for the accused, Mark N1- cholas, BL, told Ennis District Court on Friday, that his client had pleaded ean iA

He said that a preliminary report from the Grenada Institute had been presented in court a year ago and an updated report was now available.

He said that while there was no

minimising what had happened, the report was “very positive.”

He said there had not been any in- cidents prior to or after the offences before the court.

Mr Nicholas told Judge Leo Malone that the issue of compensation had been addressed and €26,000 had been accumulated.

“The real tragedy in this 1s that it has divided a close family and that 1s irreparable,” he said.

Judge Malone said he sympathised with the victims and said he had read the reports from the Grenada Insti- tute and the probation service.

He said it was in the accused’s fa- vour that he was very young when the offences were committed and said it appeared that he 1s addressing his difficulties.

‘Because of the content of the Gre- nada Institute report, I am not going to finalise the case today. I need to be satisfied he has carried out all the treatment available to him and that he is not a danger to others,” said the judge.

He adjourned the case for a year and ordered that the accused con- tinue to attend the Grenada Institute and remain under the supervision of the probation service.

A MAN who dropped a packet of ec- stacy tablets to the ground at Ennis Garda Station almost nine years ago was yesterday jailed for 18 months.

Peter Burke (30), with an address at Glenanail Drive, Riverside, Galway, was convicted of possession of ecs- tacy for the purpose of sale or supply, in February 2001.

Sergeant John Brennan told Ennis Circuit Court that a car was stopped in Clarecastle on the evening of Feb- ruary 1, 2001 and the two occupants

were taken to Ennis Garda Station.

As the two were being taken from a car at the station, the accused dropped a package to the ground.

This was retrieved by gardai and it was found to contain 595 ecstacy tablets.

The market value of the tablets at the time was £5,940 (€7,500). Burke was arrested and detained overnight at Ennis Garda Station. He was charged the following morning.

However, he subsequently left the jurisdiction and went to the US. He returned in 2008 and on his return to

Ireland, he contacted gardai. He was then re-charged with the original of- oe

Sgt Brennan explained to Judge Carroll Moran that Burke had been returned for trial to the circuit court when he left the country.

Defence counsel Michael Collins, BL, put it to Sgt Brennan that his cli- ent was “not the main man in the op- eration.” Sgt Brennan replied, “That was our information at the time.”

Mr Collins said that the accused was “facing the music for these of- fences at this stage.’ He said there

were unusual features in the case “such as the accused absconding and going to the States and when he re- turns he immediately goes to gardai because he wants to face up to his responsibilities.”

Judge Moran said it was an aggra- vating factor that the accused ab- sconded, having been returned for trial to the circuit court. He said the accused was carrying a sizable quan- tity of ecstacy tablets.

However, he noted that the accused had pleaded guilty, was not the main player and has succeeded in kicking

his drug habit.

The judge said that a 10-year sen- tence could be imposed for posses- sion of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply, where the value exceeds Ja men OeL OF

“He had over half that threshold,’ he said.

“This could not be considered a minimalist case,” said the judge.

“Even having regard to all the fa- vourable matters, I’m compelled to impose an immediate custodial sen- tence,’ he said and jailed Burke for 18 months.

A 13-MONTH jail term has been imposed on a Kilrush man who as- saulted two gardai in separate inci- OLAS

Martin Burke (27), of St Senan’s Terrace, Kilrush, admitted assault- ing Sergeant Lavin; assaulting Garda Greg Gander; and criminal damage, arising out of various inci- eae

Garda Conor Flaherty told Kilrush District Court that the accused was arrested for public order offences on O’Curry Street, Kilkee, on Novem-

ber 30, 2008.

He was taken to the garda station. Handcuffs were removed from him at the public office.

He said that Burke refused to stand up to be searched. He was then re- strained and handcuffed and brought to a cell.

Gda Flaherty said that Burke was very abusive to gardai.

He became very violent and punched Sgt Lavin on the left shoul- Cloe

Defending solicitor | Eugene O’Kelly said his client was “so drunk he was unable to sign his own

name”.

‘He didn’t know what he was do- ing.

“No intention to assault Sgt Lavin had formed in his mind. He was completely out of it.”, Mr O’kelly explained

Garda Greg Gander told the court that the accused was highly abusive at Market Square, Kilrush, on June BEEN e

He was taken to the garda station, where he punched the garda to the stone

Garda Keith Hughes told the court that Burke broke windows on Crot-

ty’s pub and Central Sports in Kil- rush on March 27 last.

The total cost of the damage amounted to €2,250.

Mr O’Kelly, referring to that inci- dent, said his client told gardai, “My head isn’t right. I need to get help.”

Mr O’Kelly said that Burke’s grandmother had just died and he was very troubled as a result.

“He had no reason in the world for breaking these windows. It was some cry for help.

“Mr Burke needs help. He’s unfor- tunately far too regular a visitor to this court,’ he said.

Mr O’Kelly said his client would be willing to move out of Kilrush.

“He 1S sincere when he 1s sober, but unfortunately when he is drunk, matters get the better of him,’ he STH em

The court heard that Burke has 56 previous convictions.

One of those was for arson, for which a three-year sentence was imposed at Ennis Circuit Court in 2006.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed sentences totalling 13 months and fixed a bond in the event of an ap- peal.

A BUILDER who demolished a house without planning permission has been told he has “blatant disre- gard for court orders”.

The comment from a judge was made in the case of Patrick Costello, who has been convicted of failing to comply with an enforcement notice.

In court last July, Mr Costello, of Shannon Road, Sixmiulebridge, said he was in debt to the tune of more than ©3.6 million.

Last December, Mr Costello was fined €1,500 and ordered to pay €1,800 in expenses for an offence under the Planning and Develop- ment Act, after a court heard he de- molished a house without planning

permission at Main Street, Sixmile- bridge, in 2006.

Ann Colleran, an enforcement officer in Clare County Council’s planning section, told Ennis District Court on Friday that Mr Costello was convicted of failing to comply with an enforcement notice, in De- cember 2008.

“There has been non-compliance with that order,’ she said.

She said that the council had re- quested Mr Costello to reconstruct the house he had demolished with- out planning permission.

Ms Colleran said that an inspec- tion was carried out on February 19 last and the works had not been car- ried out on that occasion.

She explained that when the house

was demolished, damage had been caused to the adjacent house.

Defending solicitor Jenny Fitzgib- bon said she was not calling any witnesses. Judge Leo Malone said the matter was proven.

Rachel Dobson, solicitor for Clare County Council, said the maximum fine open to the court was €508 per day, which amounted to €135,128.

Ms Fitzgibbon said her client is currently not working and is living off donations from his parents.

“He has no savings. Everything that they have is tied up at the mo- ment,’ she said.

The judge said that the demolition occurred in 2006, which is almost four years ago. “There were birds showing in the attic of the property

next door. It’s really serious,’ said the judge.

Ms Fitzgibbon pointed out that she has only been on record for her cli- ent since June of this year.

“I should really impose a prison sentence on your client for his bla- tant disregard of court orders,” said the judge and imposed a fine of €2,000, giving him two months to pay. He also ordered him to pay €2,500 in costs. A bond was fixed in the event of an appeal.

Meanwhile, the judge also refused to extend time for an appeal of the case from December last year. In making the application, Ms Fitzgib- bon said Mr Costello was not rep- resented when the case came before the court 11 months ago.

“He was unwell and left the court. We appreciate our application is out of time. I’m asking that the appeal be dealt with,” said Ms Fitzgibbon.

However, Ms Dobson said that ap- plication would be opposed.

“This came before you almost a year ago. He left the court,’ said Ms Dobson.

She said that a notice of appeal was not filed until July of this year, after another summons was issued.

Ms Fitzgibbon said her client ap- preciated that. She said he has re- ceived medical attention and “has a lot of medical conditions.”

However, the judge refused to extend time to appeal and said Mr Costello could appeal that to the cir- LED Lmerel bya

VARIOTAS SPECIALS

A KILRUSH Town Councillor has called on the Minister for Commu- nications and Natural Resources to look to the future by integrating the ESB Power Station in Moneypoint with renewable energy resources.

Fine Gael Councilor Ian Lynch claims that the future of energy and the economy of west Clare is in bio- energy, specifically energy derived from seaweed.

“When we think of green energy the vast majority of us will think wind and wind farms but there is no doubt that Kilrush is located in a prime position, due to its geologi- cal location and the current national erid infrastructure at Moneypoint, to maximise several of our natural resources such as wind, tidal, hydro and on the rare occasion solar en- ergy, he said.

‘“T want the minister to go one step further, I want the minister to think outside the box use initiative and diversity to ensure the future of all those currently employed at the sta- tion but also to firmly grasp the pos- sible opportunity that Kilrush has to

offer in becoming not only a national leader but possibly a European lead- er in the production of biofuel thus creating an opportunity for Kilrush, west Clare and possibly for the econ- omy to regenerate and strive.

“The production of biofuels has reached advanced stages through the global industry of green energy. The production of biofuel from seaweed and algae presents Kilrush with an opportunity to make its mark and en- sure its future,’ said the councillor.

“The cultivation of algae and sea- weed for harvesting and converting into bio fuel is advancing at a rapid rate. The potential of this as a fuel of the future is astounding and the possible benefits are immense to the local and national economy,’ he ex- je e-Nelexen

Algae naturally absorbs carbon and is currently being used in several coal burning plants through out the world as a filtration system he added.

“Filtering carbon dioxide using such a method will eliminate the need to develop the Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) facility at Money- point, the 235km pipeline, 50km of which would be under the sea, and

the storage site at Kinsale which is put at about €3 billion and over the 25 year lifetime of the plant,’ he added.

‘Harvested seaweed and algae can then be processed in to meal and bio fuel providing not only a system of reducing CO2 emissions, it produc- es employment in the cultivating, harvesting and processing process which in turn offers two additional new industries creating meal product and a biofuel product, not to men- tion the return of seaweed collection from our local beaches creating em- ployment and adding to the tourist potential of these attractions.”

“The cultivation and harvesting process can both take place at sea adding an additional advantage by ensuring that the new industry pros- pects is not competing with farm land as with the traditional wind farm method but it also allows the current lands at Moneypoint to be maximised as a possible dock land for the export of these new products,” he explained.

THE county final against St Senan’s Kilkee was only a few seconds over and Micheal McDermott was al- ready casting an eye into his crystal ball – rather than dwell on the signifi- cance of back-to-back championship triumphs he preferred to talk more about Munster.

That meant Dromcollogher-Broad- ford – the team that brought the cur- tain crashing down on Kilmurry’s unbeaten year that December 7 day in The Gaelic Grounds.

“Tt will take very little motivation to get our lads ready for a game against Drom-Broadford,” he said.

How right he was, something that was hammered home in decisive fashion over this hour of football.

“Yes they’re worthy Munster cham- pions but we felt that we left it behind us in The Gaelic Grounds last year,” said McDermott seconds after this 0- 11 to O-5 victory.

“We wanted another crack at them and knew all week that there would be no better motivating factor for us than to have them a here in Pairc

Naomh Mhuire.”

Cue Kilmurry’s most impressive championship display since last year’s demolition job on St Senan’s Kilkee in the county semi-final.

“People say that we didn’t play well in the county semi-final, that we didn’t play well in the county final. People can say what they like, but the Monday week after the county final we went out and destroyed a top- quality University of Limerick side.

“That night I said to Gerard (Mc- Carthy) and to Martin (Cahill) that ‘we’re getting right for this game against Drom-Broadford on Sunday week. We knew that this perform- ance was in us — it was a tremendous performance by everyone out there. They all produced.

“It was the best 60 minutes of the year — what better day to do it than a Munster championship game in our home ground against the Munster champions.

“It was a very strong wind and the one thing I told them was not to be thinking that they had to hit score after score quickly. It was a case of concentrating and then whenever the

scoring opportunities came it was a matter of taking them.

‘They took enough of those chanc- es in the first-half to give us a good lead. When we played in the Munster final we didn’t take our chances and that was the difference between the two sides.

“The most important was not to concede a goal in the second-half — we achieved that and the most sat- isfying thing was once we sucked them into a battle we knew we’d be able to turnover ball and get our own chances.”

It means that Kilmurry now go on the road to Stradbally in two weeks time – in what will be a repeat of the 2004 Munster final that went to a re- play in Tipperary Town before Kil- murry won the day.

‘Tough assignment,’ was McDer- mott’s initial reaction. “Waterford club football is very strong. We’re under no illusions as to the task fac- ing us down in Waterford. We’re up there to be knocked after beating the Munster champions. We have two weeks to prepare and try to get to a Munster final.”

DESPITE Whitegate’s agonising loss there was still one very happy Clareman in Cusack Park on Sun- day afternoon. It was Sean Hehir, the former Clare and O’Callaghan’s Mills legend who trains the South Liberties side.

“T think we had most of the run of play today. We could have had a bigger score too if we had converted all our chances. Of course I’m not taking away from Whitegate’s per- formance, but I feel we probably just edged it. They are a good team and a good club and I thank them for a great match,’ said Hehir after his team’s victory.

“We barely got through today and we barely got through our county fi- nal but in the end we do our best and so far that has been good enough. Next day we’ll be up against a very classy Douglas side and it will be a very different story. Who knows hopefully our luck will continue.”

His team will certainly have to 1m- prove significantly if they wish to capture this Munster Intermediate ti- tle based on today’s match, but when the improvement and the voyage they have conquered so far is taken into consideration, this again could be yet

another challenge that they can over- come in 2009.

Hehir spoke about all these great hurdles his team have faced and how they have leaped over them with great success. “When I got in- volved with this club first there was so much history I did not understand and know about. They had been in a number of county finals but had lost every time.

“There was a great frustration amongst everyone involved and that did not disappear until we finally became county champions this year. The sense of relief that can now be felt is unbelievable and I think it may act as a catalyst for future success. Hopefully starting with a Munster Kens eae

South Liberties left Ennis on Sun- day with smiles all around. They, like Whitegate, have had a fantas- tic year. Unlike Whitegate they still have a chance to mould it into an even greater year.

Who knows, maybe the extra Clare influence they have stolen this year might just push them into the path of victory once more.

THE multi-million euro package to assist Dell employees who lost their jobs earlier this year came a step closer in the last week as the Em- ployment Committee approved the proposal.

Last September the President of the EU Commission José Manuel Barroso announced that the Com- mission had approved an application from Ireland for assistance from the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF).

The grant of €14.8 million would help 2,400 redundant workers in the computer industry in the mid west to find new jobs.

The application however also re- quired the approval of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

Last Thursday at a meeting in the European Parliament, the Em- ployment Committee approved the proposal to grant assistance to the former Dell workers.

Member of the Employment Com- mittee and the only Irish member of the EU Globalisation Fund Working Group, Ireland North West MEP- Marian Harkin, said that the work- ing group took the decision to ap- prove the Dell application following a response from the EU Commis- sion to a number of questions posed by the group.

“It is absolutely crucial that former

Dell workers have access to this fund as soon as possible and that nothing further delays the procedure. It is an expression of solidarity and support from the EU to those who lose their jobs through globalisation and at least it gives a ray of hope to those considering their future plans.

“IT have worked hard within the working group to ensure support for the Dell workers and I am very pleased with the progress so far,” said the MEP for the West, includ- ing Clare.

The mid-west application relates in total to 2,840 redundancies in total, of which 2,000 were in Dell Com- puters and 840 in eight of its sup- pliers and downstream producers. Dell represented 1.7 per cent of the total employment in the mid-west region, a region where unemploy- ment before the Dell redundancies was already higher than the national average.

The total estimated cost of the package is almost €©23 million, of which the European Union has been asked to provide EGF assistance of €14.8 million.

There have been 27 applications to the EGF since its creation in late 2006 for a total amount of over €154 million, helping some 33,300 workers.

The Dell application is the first re- lating to computers. The only other Irish application was for Waterford eee