The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

Criticism of Bishop Donal Murray’s inaction in the face of child sex abuse complaints mounted yesterday. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, Bishop of Dromore John McAreavey stated: “All I can say is that any bishop today around whom there are serious questions in relation to the care and protection of children has serious questions to answer. I’m sure Bishop Murray is reflecting on that – I know that he has taken the view that he should remain but I think he will be thinking very seriously about that. I’m not sure I can say more.” Significantly, McAreavey also asserted that if he was facing the criticism that Murray now faces, he would himself resign from office.

McAreavey was speaking on Sunday Sequence, BBC Radio Ulster’s weekly programme that deals with religious affairs. The complete programme may be listened to here.

In other reaction from Northern Ireland, Derry priest Michael Canny conceded that the reputation of the Church was “in tatters”. “The issue is now one of trust, and that is why it will take the rest of my lifetime as a priest to build up that trust again, because the trust and confidence in the Church has been broken on a fundamental level.”

Meanwhile, speaking yesterday on RTE’s The Week in Politics, Willie O’Dea said that Murray should examine his position. “I know Donal Murray personally and I have always had a very good relationship with him, and I find him a decent man. I must say that I am bitterly disappointed to read what I have read in the Murphy report. [...] I am sure Donal Murray, who is a person who would think deeply about these things, is examining his situation at the moment and he will make the appropriate decision.”

On Saturday evening, Murray maintained that he had not acted wrongly. In a statement read at masses in the Limerick diocese, he reiterated: “I never deliberately or knowingly sought to cover up or withhold information brought to my attention. There were, as the report notes, occasions when roles/responsibilities were not clear or where I did not have full information concerning cases in which I was asked to become involved.”

A full account of the criticism Murray received in the Murphy Report may be found in our previous post.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny yesterday called for Bishop Donal Murray to resign.

The Irish Times quotes Kenny as saying: “This is another appalling litany of shame. Apologies here are not good enough. This is a case where men protected guilty men. This is where those in authority knew what was going on.” He insisted that people who were in positions if authority and knew what was going on should no longer continue in such positions.

Meanwhile, Labour justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte stated that Murray should not remain a patron of any schools. In a statement on the Labour website, he declared that “whether any such Bishop should remain as a patron of a school or otherwise continue in the management or supervision of education or health provision for children is a matter for the State. Therefore where a Bishop has been directly implicated in the Murphy Report, he should have no role as a school patron.”

The Irish Times also reports that Mary McCloskey, mother of the deceased Peter McCloskey (background at Bock the Robber), repeated her calls for Bishop Murray’s resignation, and quotes her as saying: “I am very, very disappointed with my church. I wonder how long I can stay with it.”

In an interview on Live 95FM yesterday, Murray maintained that he does not intend to resign, and defended his handling of the various incidents he is criticised for in the Murphy Report. “The question whether I remain on as far as I am concerned is a question for the people and priests of Limerick,” he said.

The report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, published yesterday, includes particularly scathing criticism of the Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray.

It concludes that Murray was aware “for many years” of complaints and suspicions of child sexual abuse (page 6), and concludes in usually blunt language that Murray dealt “badly” with complaints he received (page 13), “inexcusably” failing to investigate a number allegations (page 14).

Despite these failings, The Irish Times today reports that Murray “insisted he does not intend to resign over his role into how the abuse was handled”.

As Bishop of Limerick, Murray previously received harsh criticism for his handling of the case of Peter McCloskey. McCloskey committed suicide in 2006, two days after clashing with Murray and Diocesan legal representatives. He was abused by Fr Denis Daly of Caherdavin as a ten-year-old boy. More information may be found in his mother’s statement and at Bock the Robber.

Excerpts from the report include:

So far this week only one story has dominated local media, The Floods. With the ESB scheduled to release more water from Parteen weir the situation is only going to get worse. For anyone living in an area at risk from flooding the advice being issued is

Advance Preparations:
. Be prepared to evacuate your home or business. Protect yourself, your family and others that need your help.
. Have warm clothing and wellingtons ready . Have medications to hand (if needed). Make a list of children’s essentials that you will have to bring with you if you are evacuated.
. Put sandbags at any openings where the water could gain access.
. Move your car to high ground if possible.
. Have your mobile phone charged. Keep a list of emergency numbers close to your phone.
. Listen to all public alerts issued by the Local Authority or emergency services

Actions to take if being evacuated:
. Turn off gas and electricity.
. Disconnect cookers, washing machines, dishwashers, etc., connected by rigid pipes to prevent damaging the machine and the pipes.
. Store any electrical items upstairs or above flood level.
. Co-operate with emergency services and local authorities.
Close off the flow valves on propane tanks, oil drums, or other fuel containers that supply your home through pipes and fittings.
. Move valuables and other items to safety. Place them above the flood level or upstairs. (It may be preferable to routinely store such items safely upstairs or on high shelves).
. Roll up carpets and rugs and place them out of harms way.
. Empty furniture that cannot be moved and put the contents upstairs.
. Raise furniture that cannot be moved elsewhere on bricks or blocks.
Move these pieces away from walls to assist the drying later. If pieces are too difficult to lift weigh them down with a heavy object to prevent them floating and causing damage to windows, etc.
. Remove curtains if there is time, if not tie them over the curtain rail.
. Remove cabinet doors and internal doors if time allows, if not leave them open.
. Unplug any exterior electrical connections such as outdoor lighting, pond pumps and filters

Over 100 homes were evacuated in the region and with flood waters expected to rise this number is sure to increase. Added to the risk of infection and disease are new reports of  rats and other “vermin” making an already bad situation much worse.

As Ireland saw their world cup dreams shattered last night in Paris, the crisis surrounding Justin McCarthy and his selection team deepened last night.

4 more high profile names have withdrawn from the Limerick Senior Hurling squad leaving next years Limerick panel looking very “green” indeed. As reported in the Limerick Leader, the latest to quit are Brian Geary, Donal O’Grady, Seamus Hickey and Wayne McNamara joining Mark Foley, Stephen Lucey, Niall Moran, Damien Reale and James Ryan in their absence from the Limerick squad.
At this point it looks like the writing may be on the wall for Justin. Whatever happens Limerick Hurling will be worse for it and the long suffering fans will not be looking at 2010 with any kind of optimism.

The family of a lady whose car was hijacked last week are offering a reward for the safe return of their missing dog Jess who was in the car when it was stolen.

When the car was hijacked in Palaskenry last Thursday, there were two dogs in the car, a male and female schnauzers.

The female dog was recovered in Crecora on Saturday, but Jess, the male remains missing.

Jess (pictured) is described as 20 inches in height and is salt and pepper colour.

Anyone who has either seenJess, or who may have rescued him can contact Dan on 085 1740599 or 087 9775775

One story on the local papers caught my eye this week. The Limerick Leader carries the story of 233 complaints being received by Limerick City council concerning local authority housing. Arising from those complaints, just one person was evicted.

At a meeting of the city’s joint policing committee, housing official Donal Moore informed those present that a total of 233 complaints have been received to date in 2009. 185 of the complaints had been resolved. Arising from those complaints over 300 people,  have been interviewed by council staff during investigations of the complaints.

Mr Moore outlined the breakdown of statistics arising from those complaints

• 22 tenants were issued with written warnings
• 25 received verbal warnings about their future behaviour.
• 9 local authority tenants were served with notices to quit (8 surrendered their keys to the council)

and just one lone tenant was served with an eviction and exclusion order.

In my humble opinion, Limerick city housing is a ticking time bomb. There appears to be no co-ordinated strategy around housing and re housing people. The provision of rent supplement and the desire by under pressure land lords to rent to just about anybody is resulting in an increase in anti social behaviour in previously “quiet” areas of the city.

Limerick City council is taking a tough line on anti social behaviour with 4% of complaints this year resulted in notice to quit. Against that, the Supreme court is currently ruling on a Dublin case where a family is appealing an eviction order for anti social behaviour. As regeneration moves forward there is a genuine fear in Limerick city as to how the re housing of certain people will affect and impact their estates.

I drove by the Gaelic Grounds this evening and could swear that I heard the strains of “Nearer my God to Thee” coming from within. With continued unrest in the Limerick Senior hurling squad, has the band has struck up that fateful tune for Manager Justin McCarthy?

A quick recap for those not afflicted with the pain of being a Limerick hurling fan. Sporting Limerick has not been very successful in hurling over recent years/ decades. Our county boards solution to this problem has been to change managers with alarming regularity. Richie Bennis, Joe McKenna, Pad Joe Whelahan, David Keane, Eamon Cregan have all come and gone since 1997 and yet no All Ireland has come to visit us. Each year has seen highs and lows and each year has seen some kind of PR disaster played out in the papers. Selection issues, rows with the county board, drinking etc. has been a common end to Limerick’s season.

Enter Justin McCarthy, fresh from being ousted by the Waterford Senior Hurling Panel to bring hope to the weary. However last year our season ended in abject humiliation at the hands of our next door neighbours, Tipperary.

Limerick fans, used to the soap opera type affairs that have dominated the senior team in recent years must have been pleasantly surprised that everything was quite and peaceful after the drubbing by Tipp. That was until this week, when Limerick Hurling has once again hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

In Justin’s “Night of the Long Knives” 12 senior squad members were culled. Once again Limerick Hurling’s version of X Factor is being played out in the media. Rumours abound of other senior players withdrawing and players meetings. Added to that a statement by current county board chairman Liam Lenihan apologising for the way the culled players have been treated adds an extra dimension to the story.

Hurling is an amateur sport and judging by the fiasco playing out on our newspapers around this latest disaster is also administered by “amateurs” in Limerick. However Justin wants to put his squad together or cull players , it should never be played out in public like this. Someone needs to manage this from a PR point of view and ensure that Limerick hurling suffers no more damage. As the row rumbles on and he said she said stories fill local papers, the only loser in this will be hurling. The onus is on the county board to manage this in a more professional manner.

Limerick Hurling needs to stop providing more entertainment off that field that it does on it. The county board need to sort out its communication, its PR and ensure that Limerick returns to being a competitive focussed squad again. Will this happen with Justin McCarthy at the helm, only time will tell.

The documentary, “Ireland’s Crime Capitals” broadcast on TV3 on 29th October retransmitted the claim that Limerick was once Europe’’s murder capital despite the fact that the claim had been debunked over twelve months ago. In fact, Limerick has never been the murder capital of Europe.

The original claim was furst used by the Irish Independent, but was quickly proven to be false.

The assumption was reached by the paper after they calculated that in the period of 2007-2008 there were seven murders in Limerick per 100,000 people.

Limerick City has a population of 60,000 and not all of the murders in that period happened in Limerick City.

Last year, the the makers of More 4 news were forced to issue an on-air apology for touting the same claim, along with a claim that 16 people were murdered in Limerick in 2008.

During a debate at the University of Limerick in 2008, Councillor Diarmuid Scully explains where the Independent came up with their figure:

No. Please. I will take you in a minute but this is very important. What has actually happened is that the Sunday Independent took the crime statistics for the Limerick Garda division, population 175,304 people. They then divided it by the population of Limerick city according to the census, 52,560, and came up with murder rate out of all proportion to reality. That’s like taking the situation whereby when that poor lady, Patricia Furlong was murdered in Glencullen in County Wicklow and saying, “There’s been one murder in Glencullen with a population of 467. Therefore Glencullen has a murder rate of 214 per 100,000 people. That makes Glencullen the most dangerous place in the world.”

Further criticism of the programme has emerged after the Sunday Tribune reported that footage of children vandalising a car which featured in the programme was actually filmed in Dublin several years ago.

The paper also reports that there were even more innacuracies in the documentary, however, these were removed prior to the programme being broadcast.

Viewers were promised by the show’s host Donal McIntyre, that there would be interviews with the perpetrators of the crimes in Limerick, however, the closes he came to this was to feature a YouTube video from members of the McCarthy Dundon family which was uploaded to the internet last Summer.

A number of complaints are to be lodged with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (who took over the job of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission on October 1).

The results of 18 other complaints against TV3 in relation to another show, PlayTV, a late night interactive quiz show, are unknown as their publication has been delayed.