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 Judge Sean O’Donnabhain, in Cork Circuit Criminal Court, has remanded three people on continuing bail, following their guilty pleas, which contributed to the tragic death of a Cork teen.
The now deceased teenager, Mr Alex Ryan, aged 18, of Liscahane, Millstreet, Co Cork, became violently ill at a house party held at St Patrick’s Terrace, Green Street, Co. Cork, on January 19th last. Mr Ryan unfortunately died from cardiac arrest having ingested a psychedelic drug which deprived his brain of an adequate oxygen supply; according to a Cork Coroner’s Court inquest held in June of this year.
The three individuals remanded on continuing bail are named as:-
Mr Ruairí Maher, aged 22, with an address at Ballycurrane, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Latter had pleaded guilty previously to conspiring with another to handle drugs, namely “N Bomb” or “Smiles” (Sold illegally as an alternative to LSD or Mescaline), for sale or supply.
Mr Harry Clifton, aged 29, with an address at St Finbarr’s Place, Proby’s Quay, Cork who pleaded guilty to four charges contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act, included possession of Cannabis, “N Bomb”, DMT (Known as “Businessman’s Trip”), MDMA (Known as Ecstasy), all for sale or supply, on January 18th last.
Miss Jessica O’Connor, aged 20, with an address at Rosebank House, Ballyhar, Killarney, Co Kerry, who pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiring with another to possess a controlled substance, namely “N Bomb”, for sale or supply in Cork city also on January 18th last.
Sentencing has been set for Wednesday next (November 23rd).
 The State Pathologist has been notified following the discovery of the body of a male, in his forties, found dead with what is understood to be stab wounds at a house in Co Tipperary in the early hours of this morning.
Gardaí have arrested a woman in her mid-forties in relation to the incident, after the body was discovered at a residents at ‘The Maltings’, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, shortly after 2.30am.
The arrested female is being detained at Nenagh Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Gardaí in Roscrea were alerted to the incident in the area this morning and attended the scene, where a male suffering apparent stab wounds was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gardaí have preserved the scene and are currently investigating.
Former INLA Commander and once prisoner at Portlaoise maximum security jail, Mr Dessie O’Hare, once known as the ‘Border Fox’, is to fight extradition from Northern Ireland over his alleged role as the leader of a gang accused of the imprisonment of a Dublin family, a Belfast court has heard today.
 Mr Dessie O’Hare Mr O’Hare, now aged 60 and who was once the most wanted man in Ireland, (IR£100,000 reward was offered for information on his known whereabouts), is accused in the Irish Republic of six separate crimes, including violent disorder; an act of grievous bodily harm; threats to kill and three counts of false imprisonment.
Early this morning, Mr O’Hare was detained at his home in Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh, in connection with these charges. His alleged offences relate back to June of 2015 and an incident which occurred at Garters Lane, Saggart, in Co Dublin.
Today he appeared before Belfast Recorders’ Court, flanked by prison guards, to justify the first stage of a bid to have him transferred to the Irish Republic. Lawyers representing Dublin’s High Court were granted bail on the grounds that he could abscond; resulting in a decision to remand Mr O’Hare into custody, to appear before the court again next Friday. Mr Declan Duffy, aged 43, a co-accused, with an address at Hannover Street West in Co. Dublin, has already been remanded in custody here in the Republic and a full hearing has been listed for next month.
Mr O’Hare, was a former Irish republican paramilitary, who broke away from self styled ‘Irish National Liberation Army’ (INLA) leadership in Belfast, to set up his own group, the ‘Irish Revolutionary Brigade’.
Possibly he is best remembered for his kidnapping of the late Dr. John O’Grady, from his home in Cabinteely, Co. Dublin on October 13th, 1987. Mr O’Grady, readers may recall, owned a dental surgery in Ballsbridge and was never the intended victim of this O’Hare led gang; who had mistaken his home for that of his father-in-law, the high-profile millionaire and medical entrepreneur Dr. Austin Darragh. (Alas Dr. John O’Grady died in September of this year).
Intensive Garda detective work traced the kidnappers to a location in Cabra, Co. Dublin and a shoot out ensued. One Garda detective was later seriously wounded, however Mr O’Grady was rescued, minus two little fingers which had been chopped off using a hammer and chisel, before same were sent to Carlow Cathedral. In a follow up telephone call to Gardaí, informing them of what was to be found in the Cathedral, Mr O’Hare stated: “It’s just cost John two of his fingers. Now I’m going to chop him into bits and pieces and send fresh lumps of him every fucking day if I don’t get my money fast.” The O’Hare gang themselves escaped from the Cabra location in a hijacked car, which was later found in Dundalk.
Mr O’Hare later resurfaced again in Dunleer, Co. Louth, where he allegedly fired shots into a chip shop during an altercation with his wife; while two members of his notorious gang were arrested near the town of Cahir, here in Co. Tipperary. Some three weeks later, on November 27th 1987, Mr O’Hare was himself arrested after a car, in which he was a passenger, attempted to drive through an Irish Defence Forces check point near Urlingford, on the Tipperary / Kilkenny border. Following a fire-fight, in which his car driver; named as Mr Martin Bryan, was killed. Mr O’Hare was shot eight times as he resisted arrest and one Irish Army soldier was wounded during this same incident.
At a subsequent trial at the Special Criminal Court, Mr O’Hare was convicted of possession of firearms with intent; unlawful imprisonment and wounding with intent, before receiving a 40-year jail sentence. He staged a ‘dirty protest’ in a wing of the prison in 1998, following the Good Friday Agreement, before being transferred to Castlerea Prison on December 8th 2002, in preparation for his release under the same agreement.
He was first granted temporary release from prison in November 2003, following his attendance at a weekend long course on ‘Conflict Resolution’, in Glencree, situated in the Wicklow Mountains; latter an Irish Peace and Reconciliation Centre dedicated to transforming violent conflict. He was later granted periods of temporary release in November 2004 and in March 2005.
However in November 2005 he was returned to Portlaoise prison after he was caught with a mobile phone and a bag of pills, while returning to Castlerea prison from temporary release, thus jeopardising his chances of release under licence. Following a new High Court bid in April 2006 he was granted extended temporary release, and later the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) issued a statement that Mr O’Hare would no longer be arrested on suspicion of his involvement in up to 30 unsolved killings, since these alleged offences pre-dated the Good Friday Agreement.
 A €1,500 fine and a two-day Closure Order has been imposed on Marlstone Investments Ltd, latter a company pub owned by former 2010 ‘Tipperary Hurler of the year’ Mr Lar Corbett. Same was imposed at Thurles district court yesterday following a conviction brought by the Revenue Commissioners, contrary to Section 79 (2) of the Finance Act, 2003.
The conviction was in relation to 23 bottles of counterfeit vodka, latter seized at Lar Corbett @ Coppingers, No.4, Parnell Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Making her decision, Judge Elizabeth McGrath stated that Mr Corbett, who holds two All-Ireland senior medals, had been an honest and fair witness, but concluded that there had been a lack of a proper scrutiny regarding stocktaking at the related premises.
Mr Corbett, a nominee of his company Marlstone Investments, had denied breaching Revenue legislation by having 16.1 litres of spirits for sale at his pub on January 29th 2015, without having paid the tax appropriate.
Mr Corbett took the stand in court yesterday and was shown one of the seized counterfeit bottles together with a genuine bottle of Smirnoff vodka, to which he stated that he could not tell either items apart from each other.
He named his wholesaler and off-licence from where he purchased the vodka for his licensed premises, prior to the seizure, stating that he had since changed both suppliers.
Under cross-examination, he fully accepted all responsibility in relation to the day to day activities at his premises and believed he had taken all necessary steps to ensure that no counterfeit stock was sold but admitted that he did not have a proper recording system at that particular time ensuring the full tracking of stock purchased.
Judge McGrath pointed out that licensing laws expect a high standard of care from all license holders and the manner in which they operate their premises, which included the standard of care applying to the issue of the supply of alcohol dispensed. She confirmed that a defence of ‘due diligence’ had failed to be established and this being the case, she therefore had no option but to convict, despite there being no previous convictions.
The maximum fine under current legislation remains at €5,000, while the penalty also includes a mandatory closure order for between two and seven days.
 The Garda Representatives Association (GRA) has unanimously rejected a final Government deal, put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission, claiming the continued focus on allowance hikes had failed to meet Garda demands.
The proposed new deal had been centred on the restoration of a €4,000 rent allowance and a 15-minute ‘at parade’ allowance for officers, which would have allowed Garda income to be increased, while technically not breaching the Lansdowne Road Agreement and thereby avoiding the avalanche of comparable pay claims expected to arrive courtesy of other Public Sector Union members.
In order to allow this new agreement to be activated, however, the Government had also sought to further extend Garda hours.
Last night the AGSI accused the Government of circulating misinformation, stating that contrary to statements from Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe and Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty, it was dealing with the Workplace Relations Commission on a once-off basis only.
The GRA Executive Committee were fully briefed on the Government’s new deal earlier today, in the late evening and following an open discussion between committee members, just before 10.00pm tonight, same confirmed that the new proposals had been unanimously rejected on the grounds that an over-stretched Garda force were being asked to work increased hours before rest days and some increases promised could not be fully introduced until 2018.
There now remains the option of the Labour Court to intervene in this serious dispute; however the GRA must wait for an invitation. Now with no resolution on the immediate horizon, all rank and file Gardaí and middle ranking Garda Officers will carry out their threat to withdraw their services for the next four Fridays of this month.
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