More news in brief
A man who went to prison for 94 days last year because of his opposition to the onshore Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo pleaded guilty at Belmullet District Court yesterday to fraudulently claiming social welfare on a number of dates between 2002 and 2004.
Philip McGrath (46), Rossport South, Ballina, used a PPS number belonging to his brother, Martin, in order to claim unemployment assistance.
Anthony Gavin, an inspector with the Department of Social and Family Affairs' special investigation unit, based in Ballina, told Judge Mary Devins that the total involved was €7,664.57. No payment had been received in respect of the amount.
The accused had obtained the money while working on a number of construction sites in Galway and Mayo.
Alan Gannon, defending, told the court McGrath was a very small farmer of very limited means who had suffered health problems, in the form of depression, from the year 2,000 onwards, and had been treated for this.
Mr Gannon said his client had used the money to pay for a gall bladder operation for his wife and, due to his present poor circumstances, was not in a position to make restitution. Judge Devins fined the defendant a total of €2,250 and ordered to him to pay €500 towards the cost of the case.
Net trapped basking shark
The monofilament net which led to the death of a female basking shark last weekend in Brandon Bay was most likely illegally "fixed" across a headland to trap wild Atlantic salmon, according to the region's fisheries board.
Basking sharks, the world's second largest fish, have arrived in great numbers off the Kerry coast and their arrival is seen as a herald of good weather.
However, like dolphins and turtles, they are vulnerable to the near transparent nylon netting, now banned for commercial salmon fishing at sea. On Sunday a young female was found entangled in a net on the beach at Cloghane .
Poaching is expected to step up in the next few weeks as tens of thousands of salmon arrive unhindered for the first time in years on the Cork and Kerry coasts with the ban on commercial salmon drift netting at sea.
South Western Regional Fisheries Board (SWRFB) officers had inspected the 80-yard monofilament net which trapped the basking shark in Brandon Bay and it was similar to other illegal short nets used by salmon poachers seized by fishery board officers in the Kerry area over the two weeks, SWRFB chief executive Aidan Barry told a board meeting in Macroom.
Last September, fisheries officers found up to €70,000 worth of untagged Atlantic salmon in a freezer in Co Kerry. However, the DPP has said a prosecution would not be sustainable.
Tribute paid to late law society chief
Tributes were paid yesterday by judges, barristers, solicitors, court staff and gardaí to the late Gerrard McCarthy, a former president of the Southern Law Association who died suddenly while on holidays in France last week. Judge Uinsinn Mac Gruairc led the tributes at Cork District Court, praising the late Mr McCarthy for his professionalism as an advocate. Mr McCarthy is survived by his wife, Patricia and children, Alison, Killian, Olivia and Robert.