The Clare People Archive

A POLISH worker, who so im- pressed his Irish employers that they gave him a second job, will have to leave the counrty in disgrace having been caught handling a stolen hand- bag in the same hotel where he was employed.

Ennis District Court heard that Lu- kasz Tobera, with an address at St Brendan’s Road in Lisdoonvarna, se- cured a job with The Cliffs of Moher Hotel in Liscannor.

His solicitor said that Tobera’s em- ployers were so impressed with his hard work that they gave him a sec- ond evening job in a pub which they owned in the town.

But on his first night off – July 29 – the court heard, Tobera got drunk

and was found in the toilets of the hotel, rifling through a stolen hand- leet

He pleaded guilty before the court to handling stolen goods, one ladies handbag, €130 in cash and cheques to the value of €1,100.

His solicitor told the court that the accused “saw the handbag on the floor and took it in full view of the owners. There was no prospect of his every getting away with it. He came here to make a better life for his wife and children and now he has lost his job and will have to return to Poland.”

All the property was recovered, the court was told. After hearing that the Polish man had no previous convic- tions here or in Poland, Judge Joseph Mangan fined him a total of €500.

A COUNTY Clare priest has spoken up in court for a young teenager who broke into his home.

Mountshannon parish priest Fr John Jones’s home was broken into and a coinbox stolen, on June 9 last.

A 17-year-old boy pleaded guilty in relation to that – along with eight oth- er charges – at Scariff District Court on Thursday.

The accused, who cannot be named because of his age, is facing nine charges arising out of alleged inci- dents on the border between Galway and Clare.

He is accused of entering a build- ing in Mountshannon in April with the intention of stealing beer and ATER eel ore

He is also charged with stealing a ladies handbag and child’s backpack, at Fossabeg, Scaruff, in June.

He is also accused of possession of an offensive weapon.

Sgt Joe Fallon told the court the ac-

cused replied “guilty” when eight of the charges were put to him, while he replied “not guilty” to the other stb axon

Defending solicitor James Nash told the court his client was pleading

guilty to all charges.

Superintendent Tony Kennelly said there was no parental control and the accused was living in very poor con- Chis Keys tse

Mr Nash said, “It is a good thing that this 1s coming to a head. On one side society needs protection.”

Judge Joseph Mangan said he was seeking a probation report.

Supt Kennelly said he was applying for bail with conditions attached.

Fr Jones then addressed the court and said he has known the accused for a number of years.

“I have always found him very forthright, friendly and respectful. I’d be very hopeful he could be a law abiding citizen,’ said the priest.

Judge Mangan granted bail to the accused, on a number of conditions. He will re-appear in court later this year.

A YOUNG man who assaulted a bar owner in Scariff has been handed a three-month suspended jail term.

James Walsh (26), of Waterpark, Scariff, pleaded guilty to assault- ing Michael Rogers, at Rogers’ bar, Scariff, in October 2006.

The owner of the pub, Michael Rog- ers told Scariff District Court that that accused invited him outside.

Mr Rogers refused and the accused lunged at him.

He said he pushed him twice and refused to leave the pub. He eventu- ibaa

Defending solicitor SsaN bs Loughnane said his client had en- tered a guilty plea to assault.

He said that while there had been an assault, the victim didn’t actually suffer physical injuries and Mr Rog- ers agreed with this.

“While Mr Walsh isn’t without his failings, he is a hard working young man. He hasn’t been in any pub in Scariff since. He is at a very impres-

sionable stage of his life,’ said the solicitor.

Judge Joseph Mangan heard that the accused has a number of previ- ous convictions.

Addressing Walsh, the judge said, “You have two drink driving convic- tions. You have a criminal damage conviction. You have a public order conviction and now you have an as- sault conviction. Do you have an al- cohol problem?”

The accused replied, “No.”

The judge said, “You have five drink related convictions and you don’t have an alcohol problem. Is that what you are telling us. Do you have an alcohol problem?”

Walsh then replied, “Yes.”

The judge said, “It 1s about time you told us.”

Judge Mangan jailed Walsh for three months and suspended the sentence on a number of condi- tions. These include that he abstain from alcohol, attend for counselling and sign on weekly. He fined him €1,500.

A YOUNG man painted obscene eraffiti, “Bitch, it’s not over,’ on the home of his former Art teacher, a court has heard.

Kevin McNamara (18), of White- gate, faced several criminal damage charges relating to the incident in Tuamgraney on August 9 last.

He admitted painting graffiti on the teacher’s house, her car and a car and public house in the immediate vicinity, while the footpath was also painted.

‘Bitch – it’s not over. You’re f***ed, you bitch, you called me fat,” were the words painted on windows of his former teacher Ms Mary Rouine’s home. Crosses were painted on cars in the immediate area.

The total amount of the damage caused in the spate of crime amount- ed to €2,300.

Garda Gerry Slattery told Scariff

District Court the damage was simi- lar in all cases, but was more severe in the case of Ms Rouine.

Mary Rouine told the court her house was vandalised in the early hours of the morning.

Asked by Judge Joseph Mangan did she know why, she said, “No. I would have taught him this past year.”

Another of the victims Martin Whelan – a neighbour of Ms Rouine – said a big cross was painted on the windscreen of his car and paint drib- bled along the bonnet.

Asked by the judge why he was tar- geted, he replied, “Not a clue. Obvi- ously they were passing my house.”

Garda Slattery said he solved the crime after receiving information that the accused was in town that night.

He said he spoke to a number of people who were with the accused on the night. They confirmed he had been in town, but the accused took

responsibility for all of the damage. “It seemed to be focused against Mary Rouine alright,” said the garda. Defending solicitor James Nash said the accused was drunk and claimed he didn’t know what premises had

loess MOEA ONE-RXerOR

“There was a fair trail left. There was paint sprayed all along the road. It was pretty basic stuff,’ he said.

He said the accused had just com- pleted his Leaving Certificate. Ap- plying for an adjournment, he said his client should be given the oppor- tunity to “make recompense”.

Judge Mangan adjourned the case and ordered the accused to stay away from Scariff and Tuamgraney.

He ordered him to abstain from al- cohol, sign on weekly and abide by PCIE CANA

“I expect that the question of com- pensation will be finalised. I expect to see receipts for compensation,” said the judge.

‘I won’t say expect the worse if the conditions are complied with. [ll say, expect the next best thing,” said Walon LU COh Xen

THERE were few complaints from Clare afterwards but understandably, team manager Colm Hanly was won- dering how and why so much injury time was played.

“What in the name of God was all that injury time about? We were two points up and to have to go through that much injury time? I couldn’t tell on the sideline what all the time was for. Not to be unsporting, but I just can’t figure that out. But in fairness to Derry they kept going and going and got that bit of luck at the end.”

It’s been a long journey through the season for Clare and with the end in sight, the final roadblock was the one that caused the real pain.

“That’s the way it goes. That’s sport, you can’t legislate for that kind of thing. You work and you work as hard as you can and not to get the reward is painful but I’m sure we’ll be back. It’s literally as bad as you can get. These players have been phenomenal all year. They’s been so comitted, so dilligent at every train- ing session. There isn’t an ounce of energy left from anyone, they left

everything out there. It was just that bit of luck. We always just asked them for work rate and we got more work rate than anybody could have expected. I’m still trying to get my head around the end of the game, but I’m extremely proud. Fair enough we came up short but on the day we were the better team. They performed out- standingly well.” ;

Derry’s joint-manager Padraig O Mianain, who runs the team with his wife Susan, 1s gracious and forward- looking even though his side have just clinched victory from the shark’s mouth.

‘This is the third time we’ve played Eee A-UCmioteh BNO Mm aon anything in it. These two teams have been very evenly matched and it was was a great game of camogie out there today. A great advert for the game. I feel that the likes of ourselves and Clare are closer to senior division that many of the teams in our own division and I don’t know what Croke Park can do to accommodate us. If we could get into the top division and play the top teams that would improve us no end. We need to play better teams to progress and the dis-

play of camogie out there shows that there’s good camogie in both teams. We’re not too sure what the system is right now. Whether a team have to win twice to move up. Look at today. There’s nothing between these teams so either of us could stay perpetually down in the juniors. So I’d make an appeal to change the structure be- cause now we need to look at getting these two teams senior.”

The Derryman also felt that late on, the game was slipping from his side.

“The way we addressed the game all year, we put ourselves in a posi- tion to compete but at that level, you just need a bit of luck. To be honest, When our full-forward caught the ball at the end, it was 50/50 if it was a penalty. I wouldn’t have criticised if it hadn’t have been given. I thought that was the chance gone. But to get it with the last puck of the ball was unbelieveable. We know what it feels like. We lost the final last year by two points.”

THE FINAL whistle comes in the ninth minute of injury time and Croke Park is an ocean of emotion. Clare bodies drop to the floor, shat- tered, exhausted. Derry are whoop- ing and ecstatic.

In the tunnel beneath the Hogan Stand, just as Claire Doherty, the Derry captain climbs the steps to ac- cept the trophy, a Derry man appears with two bottles of champagne. He’s bouncing up and down. “I told ye I’d get some bubbly if we won,” he says to Doherty as she ascends the stand.

Once the formalities have been done with on the field, Clare begin to file in one by one, nosing slowly for the comfort of the dressing room. Faces are winced. Eyes are watered and tears stream down the cheeks of the majority.

You scratch your head and wonder when the old stadium saw such a late goal to steal an All-Ireland final and the best reference point is Seamus Darby’s effort for Offaly against Kerry back in 1982, almost 25 years to the day.

A quarter of an hour after that de- vestating Derry goal, Clare captain

Deirdre Murphy walks towards the dressing room.

She’s just played 38 minutes of immaculate camogie and has been Clare’s rock for the entire second eee

She stops to take in some air and to run her thoughts over what has just happened but the sequence of things just don’t make sense.

Clare lead by two seven minutes into injury time. It looks like she’s going to bring All-Ireland silverware back home but 90 seconds later, eve- rything has changed.

“It’s so hard to explain,” she says.

“When the referee called for a throw- in and they didn’t get clean possession from it, I thought we were in a great position. But when the ball came out, they got it and got that goal.”

Her own goal nine minutes from the end had looked like the score that would catapult Clare to the win and their first All-Ireland junior title in 21 years.

At that stage, they led by three points and were in control all over the field. But Derry still had those couple of goals in reserve.

It’s the second that will be re-run in Clare minds though and in the

corridor of the Hogan Stand, those wounds were just being dealt with.

“Inside in the dressing room, we’re still trying to come to terms with it. But the bottom line is, everybody on the panel worked unbelievably hard to get here and did everything that could have been asked of them today.

“We’re proud of how we played, but the way it finished in the end 1s a huge disappointment for us. What can you say?”

Deirdre wanders off, back to the dressing room to the only people that can understand.

ONE of Clare’s newest traditional music festivals came of age this weekend as music classes were added to the ever-expanding programme.

For the first time in its five-year his- tory, the Ellen (Nell) Galvin Trad1- tional Music Weekend hosted classes in tin whistle and bodhran with Karen McInerney, fiddle classes with Vincent Griffin, flute classes with Paddy O’Donoghue and set dancing classes with Mary Murrihy.

The festival to honour the talented Moyasta woman opened on Friday night.

The local legend that was Nell Galvin was born in Ballydinneen,

Knockalough on March 1, 1887.

She learned to play the fiddle un- der the blind piper Garret Barry. Nell was the first Clare woman to broad- cast traditional Irish music from RTE radio, known at the time as 2 RN.

THE HSE is facing criticism for not upgrading the mid-west’s Sexual As- sault Treatment Unit (SATU) – leav- ing it the only region in the country without a full time dedicated unit.

Last week the health service an- nounced that it was expanding its SATUs by opening two new units in Galway and Mullingar.

The HSE failed, however, to give

the same privileges to the mid-west which already has a part-time SATU in Limerick servicing the county as well as Clare and Tipperary.

The service for victims of rape and sexual assault began operating in February 27, 2006.

By the end of that year it had helped 31 people, a number that has now esrown to 66.

According to a report into the first 10 months of its operation, eight peo-

ple from Clare were sent to the unit by gardai from Clare. Four of those using the service in that period gave a Clare address.

The service includes access to emergency contraception, referral information on screening for sexu- ally transmitted infections and rape crisis counselling.

Prior to February 2006 sexual as- sault victims were forced to travel to Cork for such a service.

In 2004 14 people from Clare were forced to make the arduous journey south, while eight people from the county travelled to Cork for the serv- ice in 2003 and again in 2005.

Despite its use the unit in the mid- west 1s now to be overshadowed by a full-time, new service in Galway.

As aresult doctors appointed to the new Galway unit will receive pay deals and nursing back up not avail- able to the Clare and Limerick GPs

working with the service.

In the Midwest, Shannondoc pro- vides the call-out facilities for the service when a victim is referred by the gardai.

The Mid Western Regional Hospi- tal Limerick provides use of a desig- nated clinic room located in the Out Patients Department. The Limerick Rape Crisis Centre, a confidential service, provides a crisis response to victims of recent sexual assault.

POOR grain price offers by Glan- bia have resulted in IFA President Padraig Walshe seeking a meeting with Glanbia Chief Executive John Maloney to discuss the “derisory”’ sums.

The IFA President said, “Glan- bia’s on account prices of €170/t for barley, €180/t for wheat and €185/t for oats (at 20 per cent moisture ex- clusive of vat) are derisory and this move is clearly designed to under-

mine the market for green grain by €15 to €20/t.”

Mr Walshe said, “It is clear that the timing of the announcement by Glan- bia and a number of other co-ops 1s designed to dampen farmer expecta- tions at a time when competition for green grain has intensified.”

“Glanbia’s offer is all the more ri- diculous considering that their own managers are being authorised to compete for grain and do deals far in excess of their current price offer. In the last few days, up to €190/t and

€210/t has been paid for green bar- ley and wheat respectively collected ex farm (at 20 per cent moisture, ex- clusive of vat), as the main harvest gets into full swing.”

“It is clear that Glanbia is now try- ing to recoup a drying and handling margin of over €50 per tonne from wheat based on current market val- ues, a 66 per cent increase on last harvest. This is totally unacceptable. Based on current import values, the benchmark off which Glanbia sup- posedly works, green wheat off the

combine is worth €200/t and green barley €185/t (at 20 per cent mois- ture, exclusive of vat).”

“Where farmers cannot achieve a minimum price of €185/t for green barley and €200/t for green wheat off the combine, they should now consider a number of other options. They can tip and auction the grain, retain ownership of the grain and do a deal on drying and storage, which is available from €14/t (excluding weight loss), or trade the grain direct farm to farm,” he added.

PREPARATIONS for the forthcom- ing National Ploughing Champion- ships began this week with the com- mencement of the layout construction of the site in Tullamore, County Of- faly. The championships, which will be held between Tuesday, September 25 to Thursday, September 27 are anticipated to attract in excess of 150,000 visitors and therefore exten- sive planning is needed in order to provide suitable facitilies and ameni- ties for the expected crowds.

Such is the scale of the annual event that planning for the following year’s event begins just days after the pre-

vious year’s competition finishes. Currently the organisers are in the process of laying 13 kilometres of trackway throughout the site and the pegging of the 800 exhibitor stands, which will take up a massive 60 acres of the impressively sized demonstra- tion area.

Colour coded free car parks take up 350 acres with the actual ploughing competitions demanding up to 200 acres to accommodate the various finals involved. Six KVA generators will also be on site with a staggering 20 kilometres of cables required to power 30 floodlights and 600 power points throughout the site.

As well as these facilities approxi-

mately 500 staff, mostly volunteers are necessary to make sure the three day event runs smoothly, including 200 stewards from every county in Ireland and 110 judges and supervi- SOrs.

Visitor’s appetites are also catered for with 22 catering units selling a vast array of foods including organ- ic, asian, specialised coffee bars and traditional Irish as well as 4 bars, 7 confectionary shops and several ice cream vendors.

An estimated 200,000 gallons of water are also required which further highlights the extent of the organisa- tion involved.

There are also numerous activi-

ties for those who want to take their minds off the competitions with the Land Rover Terrapod off road experi- ence, the first Irish Stihl Timbersport series and the Austrian Schuhplatters as well as the regular exhibitions such as livestock, machinery demonstra- tions, forestry village, motor show, bio energy village, education and business centre, a tented trade area and various entertainment events go- ing on all around the site.

This year’s championships will be opened at midday on September 25 by the guest of honour, President McAleese with the National Garda Band in attendence for the opening ceremony.