NEWS ROUND-UP
Careless driver in Sligo court
A Dublin resident who overtook traffic, forcing an oncoming vehicle to pull in tight to a wall, had a charge of dangerous driving reduced to careless driving at Sligo District Court this week.
Vlad Joasnu Greccio, Clonsillagh Road, Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty to the latter charge that happened at Cashelgarron, Grange, on January 25 last year.
Sergeant Derek Butler read out a witness statement from a driver which said the defendant’s van was behind the witness in a line of traffic behind a tractor at Henry’s. The witness was driving from Sligo in the direction of Grange.
The defendant’s van pulled out and the witness thought it was going to strike the on-coming van.
But, the latter avoided a collision by pulling in tight to the wall at Henry’s at Cashelgarron.
The defendant drove on to Grange and the witness followed him and confronted him in the Supervalu car park, the court heard.
The witness asked the defendant if he realised that “he could have killed people” and he shook his head in agreement. The witness then reported the matter to gardaí in Grange.
On looking at photos Judge Kevin Kilrane said “it probably is dangerous driving, and one could imagine the frustration of the defendant driving behind a slow-moving tractor”.
Defence solicitor Gerry McGovern said the 22-year-old was laid off from work due to Covid and he had no previous convictions. There was no allegation of speed.
Judge Kilrane fined the defendant €300 on the lesser careless driving charge.
Had €5 of MDMA at Mall
A Co. Donegal man has been given the Probation Act after admitting possession of drugs, at Sligo District Court. Dylan Reilly, 24, of Roisin, Maghery, Co. Donegal, was found in possession of €5 of MDMA at the Mall, Sligo, on March 4, 2019. He had no previous convictions.
Gardaí make three arrests
Three men will be appearing in court having been arrested by gardaí in two separate incidents over the weekend. On Saturday evening gardaí in Sligo town received a report of a stolen vehicle.
Gardaí have said that it is believed a house was left unlocked and an intruder had entered and stolen car keys, and subsequently the vehicle. Following investigations by gardaí in Sligo the stolen vehicle was located in Kinlough, within a few hours of the initial report.
Gardaí have said that a man was arrested and detained at Ballyshannon Garda Station. He has since been charged with burglary and unauthorised taking of a vehicle and will appear before the local courts.
The other incident occurred in west Sligo.
In the early hours of Sunday morning two men were apprehended by gardaí from Enniscrone and Ballina.
They were found trespassing at a house under construction in the Kilglass area.
The men have been charged to appear at Sligo District Court in the coming weeks. Gardaí have said that they appreciate the assistance of “the eagle-eyed residents in the Kilglass area who assisted greatly in the apprehension of the two suspects”.
Keep children home, school tells parents
A primary school in Sligo had this week to tell parents of pupils in one classroom to keep their children at home because of a lack of teachers. The decision had to be taken by the principal because they couldn’t get a substitute teacher.
The situation arose at Carn national school, which is between Grange and Cliffoney, on Tuesday.
The situation was highlighted yesterday, Wednesday, by Sligo-Leitrim TD Martin Kenny who said that the number of teachers off because of Covid-related issues had taken up the entire surplus of substitute teachers that would normally be there.
He said that the threeteacher Carn national school was looking to get a substitute teacher because there are two teachers out this week.
Deputy Kenny said the school went through a list of 45 substitutes.
“They couldn’t get anybody and they ended up having to contact parents telling them not to send their children to the class on Tuesday,” he told Ocean FM. He said this was a “new departure”.
“In most situations schools would always be able to find somebody to take over but we find now that this is a problem not just in Sligo and Leitrim but in fact nationally.
“There is a huge problem trying to find substitute teachers because many of them are taken up in the normal situations where people are off because of pregancy and other situations. But we also have Covid and that is having an impact as well because many teachers are off due to being in a vulnerable situation or whatever. It has taken up the entire surplus that would normally be there.” Deputy Kenny said he had been on to the Department of Education “to see if they could relax the rules around final year student teachers and others who may be able to fill that role so that there would be an effort made to get an adequate pool of people who would be able to substitute in primary schools when a crisis like this arises”. He said it was not appropriate that any school would have to send a class home.
“The principal has told me that she was there for 15 years and it is the first time she had to tell parents to keep their children at home due to a substitute issue, so this really needs to be dealt with,” he said.
No Covid-19 patient in Sligo hospital
On Monday and Tuesday nights there was no Covid-19 patient in Sligo University Hospital.
There was one suspected case but it is the first time in months that there has been no confirmed Covid case being treated in the hospital.
There had been two Covid cases in the hospital up until Sunday.
However, the incidence rate of Covid in the county, which had been going down, rose slightly in the last week.
In the latest case figures released on Tuesday evening, which are up to midnight on Monday, the number of cases in Sligo over the previous 14 days was 21, up from 14 at the same time last week.
That also pushed the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 to 32, up from 21.4 on the same day last week. However, Sligo still has the second lowest in the country after Kilkenny. The national incidence rate is 113.
Pepper sprayed during arrest in Ballisodare
A Ballaghaderreen man who threatened a garda while resisting arrest has been told to come up with €400 by June or face jail.
Tom Ward, 24, Glenard, Lung, Ballaghadereen, told garda McNulty: “I know you. I know where you live, and we will deal with this another day.”
Father-of-two Ward also had to be pepper sprayed as he violently resisted arrested in Ballisodare.
He pleaded guilty to using threatening and abusive behaviour at Woodbrook Heights, Ballisodare, and intoxication on February 28 last.
Sergeant Derek Butler told the court that gardai got a complaint about excessive noise at a house in Ballisodare. When they got there the defendant was drunk and resisted arrest and had to be pepper sprayed.
Defence solicitor Tom MacSharry said the defendant, who had two previous convictions for theft, wanted to apologise publicly. He was living in Ballaghaderreen. Ward said he was “very sorry, I don’t really drink, I drank too much, it is not me”. Sergeant Derek Butler asked Ward what he was doing driving across country when there were restrictions due to the pandemic. “Do the Covid restrictions not apply to you?” asked the sergeant.
“I have not been out of my area,” said Ward. He apologised for threatening Garda McNulty after agreeing with Sergeant Butler that his words were threatening to the garda.
Judge Kevin Kilrane said this was not Ward’s first time before the court.
Ward said he wasn’t in court since 2019.
“Do you want a bouquet of flowers for that?” asked the judge.
The defendant said he was finishing off a community service order.
Judge Kilrane fined Ward €400 and told him he would be jailed if he did not have the cash in court on June 17.
The intoxication charge was taken into account. Meanwhile, in a related case, 22-year-old Bernie Ward, Elm Gardens, Ballytivnan, who was with Tom Ward in Woodbrook Heights in Ballisodare, pleaded guilty to identical charges at the court. Sergeant Butler told the court that both Bernie and Tom Ward were drunk.
Bernie Ward tried to pull Tom Ward away when the latter was being arrested. He began shouting and challenging gardaí to fight and he too, had to be pepper sprayed, the court heard.
A fixed penalty notice for a breach of Covid regulations was issued.
Defence solicitor said the defendant had apologised and had made an early plea.
He had previous convictions for public order and theft offences.
The defendant was a 22-year-old married man He had too much to drink. Judge Kilrane fined the defendant €300 for using threatening and abusive behaviour and took the intoxication charge into account.
Crash disrupts traffic on N4
Gardaí and emergency services were called to deal with a traffic collision on the outskirts of Sligo town on Friday evening.
The crash occurred on the inbound side of the dual-carriageway on the N4 close to the Summerhill roundabout. Traffic was disrupted for a time as the road was restricted temporarily down to one lane until the vehicles involved were cleared and the lane was reopened shortly after 8pm.
Engineering and tech expo online
The Sligo Engineering & Technology Expo at IT Sligo will take place on this day week, Thursday, April 29, from 10am to 6pm.
Now in its seventh year, the 2021 Expo will be a virtual experience due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The event is free to attend and available to view at www. itsligo.ie/engineeringexpo/. The expo, which is sponsored by healthcare company Abbott, offers potential engineering and computing students the opportunity to interact with leading engineering and technology companies from across Ireland and will also display projects from IT Sligo final-year students. More than 100 final year students will be showcasing projects that are the culmination of their education at IT Sligo. These include autonomous vehicles, social robotics and even a wheelie bin washer. The students will be joined by 16 industry leading companies demonstrating the cutting edge in engineering and technology and highlighting the career opportunities available.
Carphone Warehouse is closing shops
It was announced yesterday, Wednesday, that Carphone Warehouse is to close its 81 stores in Ireland with immediate effect, resulting in 486 people losing their jobs.
The company has a store in Sligo at the Quayside shopping centre.
The company said the changing way customers buy mobile devices was the reason for the decision.
Stores offering mobile services have remained open during the lockdown but Carphone Warehouse said footfall has reduced significantly. A statement from Dixons Carphone said it has made the difficult but necessary decision to close Carphone Warehouse in Ireland in line with its decision to close all standalone Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK in 2020.
Enniscrone toilets to be open for May
The news that public toilets in Enniscrone should be open for the May bank holiday weekend has been described as “very welcome”.
There was criticism last summer of the public toilets in the resort not being open. At a meeting of Ballymote-Tubbercurry Municipal District, Councillor Joe Queenan asked for an update regarding opening and management of public toilets in Enniscrone and Easkey. Acting director of services Emer Concannon told him that in Enniscrone a contractor had been engaged to carry out electrical works at the public toilets at The Hollow. Improvements were also planned for later in the year at the toilets beside the pier.
She said that tenders had been received for the daily maintenence of the toilets in Enniscrone and discussions were taking place with the preferred tenderer.
“It is hoped to have the toilets open for the May bank holiday weekend,” she said. She said that the Easkey toilets were being maintained by Easkey Community Council. Cllr Queenan said the news that the toilets in Enniscrone were going to be open for May was “very welcome”. He complimented the council on getting someone to operate the toilets. Cllr Queenan said that there were going to be a lot of tourists coming to Enniscrone this year and he said that last year they had got criticism about the toilets not being open. He also referred to what he called recent comments on radio about vehicles (camper vans) not being welcome in the town. Cllr Queenan said he was disappointed by those comments and he said he wanted to make it clear that “Enniscrone was an open and welcoming town to all visitors”.