The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
Ennis Gardaí are investigating the vandalism of a Traveller caravan in Barefield, which took place during a 24-hour period between lunchtime on Thursday and Friday last.
Gardaí have confirmed that a number of windows in the caravan were broken by vandals who appear to have used a gas cylinder to damage the mobile home.
Mary O’Donoghue, who suffers from a number of health problems, was distraught to find her home was damaged when she returned there with her daughter, Bernie on Friday morning after being tipped off by a relative who was passing by.
The mother of 12, who has lived all over Clare on the side of the road and never stayed in a halting site, was living on her own at the time as the rest of her extended family had moved elsewhere.
According to one family member, Mary was very distressed to learn her home was damaged while she was away for a short period. Her electric nebuliser was in the caravan at the time of the incident.
Efforts to contact Mary, who has been in hospital again since the incident and also had to travel to Dublin for a court case, proved unsuccessful.
Her mother is from Ennistymon and her parents are buried in Drumcliffe.
Last November, Mary confirmed in a Clare Champion interview she has a disease called vasculitis, a mixed tissue disease, a nerve disease and epilepsy asthmatic, blood pressure problem, a hernia requiring surgery for gall stones.
“My hands are disabled and my balance is gone. I fell during the winter and I broke my shoulder, I fell again a few weeks later and put out my ankle and tendons. I need a proper house that I can walk around and go to the toilet.
“I need water at all times to take my medication. I had to go to bed last night and I had no water to take my medication.
She is on 20 tablets a day and a nebuliser, which she can’t use it because she has no electricity at night.
“I often had an epileptic fit at night, I was often rushed into hospital. I was in intensive care in Ennis Hospital twice five months ago with an asthmatic attack,” she added.
