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 County Tipperary Radio Ltd, trading as Tipp FM radio station has apologised in the High Court to two retired Garda Sergeants over false allegations made by a contributor.
Tipp FM has also agreed to pay damages & discharge legal costs in the case of Sgt Sean Sherlock and Sgt Tony Quinn, both whom were formerly stationed here in Thurles, Co Tipperary.
The action arose out of defamatory comments made by a contributor live on air, during a programme broadcast on December 5th, 2008. The contributor had insinuated that both sergeants had perjured themselves in High Court proceedings and that they had been guilty of misconduct.
Mr John Trainor SC, representing both retired sergeants, told Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne that the case had been settled on the basis of the apology, which was to be read in court.
Tipp FM acknowledged that the allegations were groundless, defamatory, wholly wrong and ought not to have been the subject of the broadcast. The station also acknowledged and confirmed that both Sergeants were men of the highest calibre and reputation and had at all times served their community in the highest possible traditions of An Garda Síochána.
Tipp FM also acknowledged that the public broadcast had caused serious personal and professional damage to both men’s reputations and caused both men and their family’s considerable personal distress.
Former Eurovision singer Mr Chris Doran, who represented Ireland unsuccessfully in the Eurovision Song Contest in Turkey in 2004, was one of seven men and one woman brought before a special sitting of Carrick-on-Suir district court, following a row in Sean Kelly Square shortly after 9.00am in the town on Friday morning last.
The eight accused were named as Bernard Cawley, Woodvale Walk, Fethard, Co Tipperary; Michael Sweeney (Snr) and Michael Sweeney (Jnr), Elm Park, Clonmel Co Tipperary; John Paul and Thomas McCarthy, Pinewood Drive, Clonmel, Co Tipperary; Chris Doran, Tramore, Co Waterford; Lee Ahern, Heywood Close, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and Addey Ahern, Pinewood Drive, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
All eight individuals face one charge each of violence or threatening to use violence & were granted free legal aid by Judge Kevin Staunton, having been remanded on their own bond of €500 each. All have been ordered to appear in court again on July 4th next.
Of the eight accused, seven have addresses in Clonmel & Fethard in County Tipperary and one has an address in Tramore, Co Waterford.
Chris Doran, who won the ‘You’re A Star,‘ competition featured on RTE in 2004 and who represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul that same year with a song written by Westlife’s Brian McFadden, entitled “If My World Stopped Turning,” has been ordered to reside at his own apartment in Tramore and to observe bail conditions including a strict curfew between the hours of 11.00pm & 7.00am nightly.
Subject to a file being prepared for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the court heard that other charges may be pursued in relation to this same incident.
 Nora Owen, Michael Lowry, Michael Noonan, & Former Taoiseach John Bruton visiting Thurles in better times. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny has once again ruled out a request to the Moriarty Tribunal to examine the financial transactions of Independent North Tipperary TD Michael Lowry, following the recent controversy that has become publicly labelled “The Lowry Tapes.”
The Lowry Tape Narrative
On Feb 24th, the Sunday Independent published a transcript of a phone conversation that reportedly took place between North Tipperary TD Mr Michael Lowry and a Northern Ireland land agent, Mr Kevin Phelan. The reported taped conversation which was recorded from a date back in 2004, had been recorded without Mr Lowry’s knowledge and during a time when the Moriarty Tribunal was investigating Mr Lowry’s financial relationship with a businessman Mr Denis O’Brien.
This facet of the tribunal were then enquiring into whether Mr Lowry had interfered in the awarding of a second mobile phone licence in 1995, while he then served as Minister for Communications in a Fine Gael led government. Land agent Mr Kevin Phelan, who appears to have been involved with both business men, refused to travel from his home in Northern Ireland, to give requested evidence at this enquiry.
Early in 2013, following a disagreement with Mr Lowry, Mr Phelan reportedly conveyed this taped conversation to a journalist M/s Elaine Byrne, which the former claimed was this same recorded phone conversation, the transcript of which was later published by the Sunday Independent.
A recording of the Independent TD discussing a sum of £250,000 ( Sterling ) now emerged on this tape recording, released after the tribunal had already issued its final report.
Labour Party TD Kevin Humphreys who works for the constituency of Dublin South East, believes that the present Government, of which he is a member, should now ask the Moriarty Tribunal if it had already assessed this sum referred or if this was new money, not previously examined. While Mr Kenny said he understood fully Mr Humphrey’s concerns, he would not reopen the tribunal to deal with this new issue, stating that Gardaí were examining it, but it wasn’t for him to comment further or indeed reopen the Tribunal in question.
The present Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan stated last month that detectives must fully engage with “a key witness,” before a decision could be taken regarding whether Mr Lowry had indeed any case to answer.
Deputy Lowry has claimed that the payment discussed in this taped conversation, was indeed fully tax compliant.
Photo courtesy G.Willoughby
 Hayley Glavin. Missing Missing Tipperary Teenager
Gardaí are desperately trying to find the whereabouts of a missing South Tipperary girl.
Miss Hayley Glavin, 17 years old, has been missing from her home in Ardfinnan, Cahir, Co Tipperary, since last Bank Holiday Monday evening last.
Miss Glavin is attractive, estimated to be 1.7m or 5ft 7ins in height and has long brown hair. (Click on image for higher definition.)
When last seen she was believed to be wearing a white hooded jacket with a black stripe, a green tracksuit bottoms, with a green T-shirt and black shoes.
Anybody with information on Miss Glavin’s known whereabouts are asked to immediately contact Cahir Garda Station on Telephone No 052-7445630, or the Garda Confidential Line Telephone No 1800-666-111, or indeed any Garda station.
Please help find her by sharing on all Media.
Update: Great News everyone, Ardfinnan girl, Miss Hayley Glavin, was located this afternoon safe & well. A big ‘Thank You,’ to all who shared our status.
 Gardaí here in Tipperary are continuing their investigation into the violent death of 52 year old Mr Bobby Ryan, Boherlahan, Tipperary, latter who had been missing since the Friday morning of the June bank holiday weekend, back in 2011.
The remains of Mr Ryan’s body were discovery on Tuesday afternoon last in a 10ft deep, sealed, disused slurry tank on a farm at Fawnagown, Co Tipperary.
Following the completion of a post-mortem examination at Waterford Regional Hospital by the Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar, Gardaí officially upgraded their inquiry into Mr Ryan’s death, to that of a murder investigation. It is understood that Mr Ryan suffered a horrific beating which led to his death, and because of the condition of the located remains, identification was necessary using the dental records and DNA comparisons from family members.
The separated father of two had left his partner, Ms Mary Lowry, latter a widow with three young sons, at her home in Fawnagown, Co Tipperary, just after 6.00am on the Friday morning, June 3rd in 2011 & was due to continue to his place of work at Killough Quarry here near Thurles. His family were alerted when he failed to arrive and Mr Ryan’s abandoned Citroen van was found some hours later abandoned in Bansha Wood on the outskirts of Tipperary town. Numerous subsequent searches of the region by Gardaí & volunteers, together with emotional appeals to the public for assistance had proven fruitless.
Ms Lowry’s husband, Martin, had died of cancer in 2007 and the farm was later leased out to a farmer, Mr Pat Quirke. Gardaí were alerted after Mr Quirke discovered decomposed remains in a sealed underground slurry tank, hidden by undergrowth at the rear of Mary Lowry’s home.
Mr Ryan during his lifetime had worked as a part-time Disc Jockey at weekends and was well known across South Tipperary by the stage-name, “Mr Moonlight.”
One male suspect, who was stated to have been obsessed with Ms Lowry, is seen as possibly central to continuing Garda investigations into Mr Ryan’s disappearance. As part of ongoing investigations, Gardaí are examining CCTV footage from a secretly installed security system, which Ms Lowry had introduced at her home following a recent robbery. Gardaí will also mount an operation next week in a bid to jog the memories of people who may have been in the area on the morning of Mr Ryan disappearance.
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