The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

The threat of pickets from 0700 hrs this morning at the Moneypoint power plant in County Clare have been lifted pending ongoing talks at the Labour Relations Commission between the ESB, the TEEU and subcontractors ZREand Lentjes.

The dispute is over the non payment of 200 Polish workers employed by ZRE who were sacked last Friday following six weeks without pay.

The workers have finally received an emergency welfare payment of €250 after unions made an appeal to the Taoiseach.

The marathon talks which got underway early yesterday morning have now adjourned for the night and will resume again on Friday.

Julie O’Niell, one of the most senior civil servants within the Department of Transport, was given the full support of the Transport Minister Noel Dempsey after she admitted her part in the communications cock-up surrounding the withdrawal of Shannon’s Heathrow slots by Aer Lingus.

But this is a very serious case of “not doing ones job properly” which warrants more than just a “sorry” to the boss. The people who will be most affected deserve at least an apology and at most, for Ms O’Niell to step down from her position.

The full story can be found here.

Media resources:

Man in CCTV footage is the accused, Garda tells Court – Breakingnews.ie

A Garda has told the Central Criminal Court sitting at Cloverhill that the man in CCTV footage of an area near a house in Pineview Gardens is Gary Campion.

Garda Darragh O’Sullivan claimed in court that he could identify Campion in three different pieces of CCTV footage.

Gda O’Sullivan said that he could identify Campion from footage of a man walking in Pineview Gardens at approximately 2030 hrs on November 28th. He also identified him from footage of a man getting out of a taxi at approximately 0100 hrs.

A third piece of footage showed two men pushing a motorcycle while a third tried to start it before it drove off. Gda O’Sullivan said that the driver of the motorcycle was wearing similar clothing to Campion. This footage was recorded at 0120 hrs on November 29th.

Under cross-examination from Conor Devally SC, representing Campion, he denied that he based his identification of Campion and said that he had sufficient knowledge of him to make an identification.from the footage shown. He did however admit that he was working from a limited list of possibilities considering the location the footage was recorded.

The trial goes into legal argument tomorrow and will continue on Tuesday in front of the jury of 12 men.

The application didn’t wasn’t even put forward for consideration at the Airport Co-Ordination Company’s conference in November.

The UK company responsible for handling the scheduling of Heathrow slots has sent a big fat PFO to the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance and Astraeus Airlines, rejecting their application for Heathrow slots for Shannon.

In a statement released this evening, Mayor of Clare and ACA member Patricia McCarthy said “The application for slots was an option the Alliance felt had to be pursued, as part of its ongoing efforts to retain services between Shannon International Airport and London Heathrow. Regrettably we accept that the door has been firmly closed on this application and we would like to express our gratitude to Astraeus Airlines for its support.”

There is still the matter of this intergovernmental agreement between the Irish and British Government in relation to these slots.

If the UK based Co Ordination company is allowing these slots to be moved out of the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland, then they are not doing their job properly.

Michael O’Leary was in town today announing a new Ryanair service to Alicante from Shannon and also a twice daily service to Dublin. At the same time he said Aer Lingus’s transfer of its Heathrow slots to Belfast was a precurser to it also withdrawing its transatlantic services. Aer Lingus operates a year round service from Shannon to New York, Boston and Chicago and says its committed to continuing that service until at least next October.

Speaking about the new services out of Shannon (some of which are as a result of other routes being pulled) he stated….
“Ryanair’s low fares are delivering record growth for Irish Tourism on 135 routes from seven Irish airports,” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary.
“In two weeks time, Ryanair will open eight new routes from Shannon, including its first domestic service from Shannon to Dublin. “This new route will allow passengers from the mid-west to avoid the nightmare of traffic on the N7 and the M50, with 40-minute flights for less than the cost of a gallon of petrol.
“Ryanair’s 31 Shannon routes will deliver two million passengers to Shannon in the coming year, generating a visitor spend of €350m and supporting 2,000 local jobs.”

More on his comments about Aer Lingus pulling the transatlantic route later..

Nine members of Limerick County Council have threatened to stay away from Council proceedings until the next election if a Fianna Fail councillor does not apologise after they claimed he branded one of them as a “fascist.”

The walkout by Fine Gael councillors happened after and exchange in relation to last weekend’s “Save Our Slots” rally which was held in Limerick City Centre.

Addressing the council, Fianna Fail councillor Michael Collins stated that he was livid, claiming that Fine Gael councillor Cormac Hurley chose to boo John Creegan as he spoke at the rally.

Councillor Hurley denied this claim, but admitted that he simply vented his anger at Fianna Fail TDs failure to vote against the Government motion on Shannon.

Collins denies calling Councillor Hurley a fascist, saying that he simply likened the booing of Deputy Creegan to “a fascist rally.” He said that such a thing hadn’t been seen in Limerick in 20 to 50 years.

Yeah, like they booed Adolf at Neurembburg…

Speaking to the Limerick Leader (County Edition) Councillor Collins said “He called me a fucking bastard and asked me to step outside”

After Councillor Collins refused to retract his “facist” comment, Councillor Hurley told the chair that if the comment was not retracted, he and his party colleagues would walk out of the chamber.

Chairman, Councillor Sheehan claimed that as he did not hear the comment, he could not insist on it being retracted.

Subsequently, Cllrs Cormac Hurley, Patrick O’Donovan, Mary Jackman, Jerome Scanlan, Tom Neville, John Sheehan, David Naughton, Jim Houlohan and Mary Harty, all left the chamber.

Councillor Scanlon is quoted in the Leader as saying that if a public apology is not forthcoming, then the Fine Gael representatives will not return to the council chamber, even if it means they have to stay away until the next local election in 2009.

The dripfeeding from the Irish Examiner in relation to the rot within the government in relation to the withdrawal of Shannon’s Heathrow slots continues.

What is fast turning into an ugly little advent calander with surprises being revealed every day, it now appears that Bertie Ahern’s secretary knew of plans to move the Heathrow slots from Shannon to Aldergrobe in Belfast.

The paper reports however that on July 27, when the information became known to him, he was not sure whether or not it was a full or partial withdrawal of the slots which was about to happen.

Here is the story.

Members of other unions working at the Moneypoint electricity plant in County Clare will support a picket being placed at the plant, should it happen at 0700 hrs Thursday Morning.

The process of shutting down the 900MW power plant will take 24 hours.

Meanwhile, talks between the ESB, Lentjes, and ZRE as well as TEEU representatives are ongoing at the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin.

The latest information to emerge from the LRC as reported by RTE News is that there has been some talk of an interim payment to the 200 Polish workers who have not been paid for six weeks.

However the prospect of them getting all of what they are owed seems tonight is unlikely.

However it is understood that the other outstanding issue of job security for the workers has not been resolved.

Lentjes has already hired another subcontractor and the jobs occupied by the 200 Poles have now been allocated to British workers.

Simple soloution. ESB should fire Lentjes.

0100 hrs Strike action by unions at Moneypoint has been deferred for 24 hours pending ongoing talks at the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin.

Marathon talks which began at 1400 hrs today have been adjourned for the night and will resume in the morning.

Media resources:

Taxi-driver gives evidence in Limerick bouncer shooting case – Breakingnews.ie

Murder trial hears from taxi drivers – Irish Times

“Help me, I’m being shot” neighbour heard – Irish Independent

Murdered bouncer shot for €10,000 contract, court told - Irish Independent

The Central Criminal Court, sitting at Cloverhill in Dublin has heard evidence from a number of Limerick taxi drivers who were working on the night of 28th and morning of 29th November 2002.

Taxi driver Jim Treacy gave evidence that he picked up a fare from Limerick City at approximately 0100 hrs and was asked to go to Pineview Gardens in Moyross.

Mr. Treacy described his customer as being 18 or 19 years old and wearing dark clothing. The man paid him for the fare with a €50 note.

The court heard how he had had a conversation with the man. He told Conor Devally SC, defending Gary Campion, that he was sure the man had sat in the front of the taxi as due to a hearing problem, he would not have been able to talk to him were he in the back seat.

Another taxi driver, Darren Cooney, told the court that he was dropping a customer off in Corbally between 0410 and 0450 hrs when he saw a motorcycle with two passengers coming towards him at speed.

He told the court that the front passenger on the bike was crouched down and he did not get a look at him, however the second was sitting upright and he could see that he was wearing a white or light grey helmet with the visor down.

He said that as the bike passed him, the second passenger looked into the taxi. He described this man as having “navy brown” eyebrows.

Luke Keogh, a third taxi driver, gave evidence that he was on his way home from Limerick City to Castletroy at 0410 when he spotted a fire in a laneway on the Dublin Road. He could not stop to look as there was traffic behind him.

After stopping off at a filling station to purchase cigarettes, he returned to the fire and saw that it was a motorcycle.

“The back wheel and the exhaust gave it away.” he told the court. After calling the fire brigade, he continued on his way home.

Christopher Kelly told the court that he was sent to pick up a fare at Mannings House, opposite Dillons Garage on the night of the shooting at 0410 hrs

He also said that he noticed a flame at the back of the garage but did not stop.

He said that when he arrived, he realised he would have to turn the car around to get back. When he did this a young man had come out. He asked to be taken to Pineview Gardens.

The court heard that the passenger this time had considered visiting a relative in hospital. However reconsidered and continued to Pineview Gardens.

Mr. Kelly also mentioned that when he asked the base operator what the fare would be and got the reply of €5, he queried this as it seemed cheap, and received the correct fair of €10.

The court was shown CCTV footage from St. John’s Hospital from November 28th, where Gary Campion was identified.

These funds will go some way to providing students with the skills that they now require as part of their educational development. I will work to ensure that further such funds will continue to be made available in the future. – Trish Forde-Brennan, Green Party spokesperson for Limerick.

Here is the full list of how the 30 chosen Limerick schools benefited. Thanks to Trish for the list.

Colaiste Mhichil, Sexton Street, – €8,000
St. Mary’s Boys National School, Island Road, – €3,000
Mhuire Naofa Cailini, Muire Naofa – $3,000
Salesian Secondary School, Fernbank – €6,500
St John The Baptist Boys National School, Pennywell – €2,500
Presentation Secondary School, Sexton Street – €6,000
Corpus Christi National School, Moyross – €5,500
Maria King Presentation Primary, Sexton Street – €4,000
Ardscoil Mhuire, Corbally – €5,500
Scoil Lile Naofa, Kileely – €2,100
St Munchins G N S, Ballynanty – €4,000
Galvone National School, Kennedy Park – €3,500
Our Lady Of Lourdes National School, Rosbrein – €4,000
Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Janesboro – €4,000
Southill National School, Southill – €2,500
St. John’s Convent, Catherine Place – €5,500
Scoil Iosagain, Shraid Seasan, €€,500
St. Nessan’s Community College, Moylish Park – €6,500
Scoil Mhainchin Buach, Shelbourne Road – €2,500
Colaiste Chiarain, Croom – €10,000
Coláiste Ióasef, Kilmallock – €2,600
Desmond College, Newcastlewest – €7,000
Scoil Naomh Mhuire, Abbeyfeale – €2,500
Scoil Ioseph Naofa, Kilfinane – €2,500
Scoil Aine Naofa, Rathkeale – €4,000
Ballylanders National School, Kilmallock – €2,500
St Michael’s National School, Sexton Street – €2,500
Gaelscoil Sheoirse, An Cnoc Theas, – €3,000
Scoil Na Mbraithre, Doon – €2,500

And the grand total for Limerick – €126,700