Some regional news in brief
Attempt to flush away drug foiled
A court heard yesterday that gardaí foiled a cocaine dealer’s attempts to flush more than €30,000 of the drug down the toilet. At Ennis Circuit Court, Det Garda Stephen Ryan described how after gardaí entered the home of Gerard Delaney (23) of Inis Eagla, Shannon, on August 22nd, 2007, Delaney was flushing the cocaine packed in a plastic bag down the toilet. Det Garda Ryan reached his hand down into the toilet bowl and retrieved the plastic bag.
In court, Delaney pleaded guilty to the sale and supply of €34,061 of cocaine along with heroin and MDMA. Delaney also pleaded guilty to two offences where he robbed a total of €1,415 in cash from two Shannon stores on March 9th, 2008, by brandishing a nine-inch knife. Judge Raymond Fullam sentenced Delaney to two years for the drug dealing offence and two concurrent sentences of two years for the robberies. Delaney was arrested for the drug dealing just seven months out of jail after serving two four-year sentences for burglary and the sale and supply of drugs.
Archaeology anniversary at UCC
A series of lectures and events is taking place at University College Cork this year to mark a century of archaeology as an academic discipline there. The events planned include a conference on Viking and Medieval Cork in April and a photographic exhibition in October on the excavations conducted by UCC, writes James Edwards.
Lectures will be delivered by leading international archaeologists on a wide range of topics connected to the research interests of the university’s archaeology department.
The programme will be launched this evening with a lecture by Prof Klavs Randsborg.
Search for man at Cliffs of Moher
A search will resume today in Co Clare for a man reported missing in the vicinity of the Cliffs of Moher on Tuesday.
The alarm was raised after a man was reported to have fallen into the sea. A search began involving gardaí and the Coast Guard. The man, thought to be 38 and from Dublin, was last seen in the vicinity of the cliffs.
Gardaí at Ennistymon are leading the search for the man. It is not thought foul play is involved.
Planning refused over sewerage
Ennis Town Council has admitted to An Bord Pleanála that over 1,000 houses have been refused planning permission in the greater Ennis area since last May due to the absence of a sewage treatment plant to cater for the new homes.
Yesterday, Ennis-based architect Michael Leahy described the situation “as a crisis”.
“In the new Ennis development plan, there is a prohibition in place on having temporary treatment plants and in the context of there being no public sewerage infrastructure to accommodate new houses, that is madness,” he said.
Mr Leahy said if the council does not provide an interim solution until the new plan is in place in 2012-13, “housing construction in Ennis will grind to a halt”. Mr Leahy is part of Ennis Forum, made up business people frustrated at the level of service provided by Ennis Town Council.
The admission by the local authority was made during a submission to Bord Pleanála on an appeal by Cluid Housing against a decision by the council to refuse planning to its apartments on Carmody Street.