[caption id="attachment_69656" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Leitrim’s retiring County Librarian, pictured in front of a portrait of Sean Mac Diarmada, one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. "]
WEXFORD WIFE BEATEN IN FRONT OF DYING HUSBAND
A woman who assaulted her sister in-law in front of her dying husband is to be assessed for community service on the orders Judge David Anderson at a special sitting of the district court last week.
Dolores Purdy, age 38, of Peppards Castle, Kilmuckridge, was charged with assault after an altercation at 2 Wells, Ballyedmond on March 9, 2010 between her and her sister-in-law Linda Purdy.
The Gorey Echo reports that the court heard how the now deceased Patrick Purdy, the victim's husband and defendant's brother, was dying of cancer at the time of the assault, and had just received a wheelchair from his occupational therapist.
Linda Purdy gave evidence that when his sister Dolores and his daughter Tara visited the house that afternoon, he was eager to show them the new chair.
Mrs. Purdy told the court that the defendant repeatedly swore, and said she didn't want to see the wheelchair. Mr. Purdy insisted on showing the chair however, and asked his wife to open it up properly.
The court heard that the defendant told her niece Sharon, Mr. Purdy’s daughter, that she would "effing kill her" for telling her to shut up and look at the wheelchair.
Mrs. Purdy then said that when she bent over to open up the wheelchair, the defendant grabbed her by the hair, pulled her hair and began to kick her in the face. "It happened so fast,” said her daughter Sharon. “She just pounced on her like an animal. It should have never happened, a dying man sitting in the chair."
The court then heard that it took Mrs. Purdy's daughter Sharon, and her sister Philomena, to drag the defendant off of her and remove her from the house.
Garda Michael O'Grady of Oulart Garda Station told the court that Sharon Purdy reported that her mother had been assaulted, but did not want gardaí to come to the house. The family had previously told the court that they did not want the dying man to be upset further.
In his assessment of the case, Judge Anderson said that he did not think the force used to remove the defendant from the house was justifiable. He did however say that he was satisfied that the injuries sustained by Mrs. Purdy were caused by the defendant and that they were "unjustifiable."
Judge Anderson asked the defendant's solicitor Mr. McCarten O'Gorman "what on earth possessed" his client to act in such a way?
O'Gorman said that the defendant had no previous convictions and that the incident was entirely out of character for her.
MEATH RESIDENTS TELL OF ‘NIGHTMARE’ ESTATE
Angry residents of the Maudlin Vale housing estate in Trim have voiceed their anger at the dangers of living on their unfinished "deathtrap" estate, the Meath Chronicle reports. They told this week of "nightmare" surroundings like exposed ESB cables, 10-feet deep holes in the ground, 30-foot high topsoil mounds, protruding manholes, open drains, derelict prefabs, builders' rubbish, rusted wire fences and even rats in the estate just off the Trim ring road.
The houses were constructed by Baltra Developments Ltd, a firm owned by Kildare-based builder Gerry Skelly. Permission had been granted for 110 houses but only around 45 were built by the time the recession hit and it left the remainder of the site abandoned. Some of the houses, which were averaging prices of around €300,000 at the height of the boom, are now worth just over €100,000 - one selling recently for that amount was originally valued at €325,000.
Gerry Skelly was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press and calls to Baltra Developments on a Mullingar number were unanswered.
Meath County Council said it is unable to comment on the Maudlin Vale estate for legal reasons as the estate is subject of a planning enforcement order.
LEITRIM ‘EMBRACE IRISH LANGUAGE’
Leitrim’s County Head Librarian, who is retiring after 33 years, has made a special plea for the national language. Seán Ó Súilleabháin said he would always put Irish first and never makes apologies for it. On the issue of changing its compulsory status in schools, he told the Leitrim Observer: “I am totally against it. If we end up losing the Irish language, we will lose it and our national identity forever and I am not afraid to speak out about this matter. People need to be encouraged to learn the language and to embrace it.”
The Aughnacliffe in Co. Longford, native Ó Súilleabháin began his career at Dublin’s Pearse Street Library. He went on to spent time in Howth, Ringsend, Ballyfermot and also worked on the mobile libraries that visited schools throughout the capital. He moved to Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, in 1978.
He said: “Leitrim is one of the finest counties in terms of upholding Irish traditions.”
Ó Súilleabháin added: “Irish is still very much alive in this part of the country. Last Tuesday, we had 57 adults in our library for a comhrá session, where people conversed with each other through Irish. Here at the library, our staff will address callers in Irish if they so wish and we will even do business through Irish if possible.”
He noted also the impact of Irish-language television and the traditional Gaelscoileanna. “These schools have improved the learning of Irish and the consistency of Irish throughout the years. TG4 also plays a major part as people watch programs, in Irish, that they usually wouldn’t.”
