Tag Archives: John Kerin

BELLHARBOUR’S John Kerin, Clare’s Chief Superintendent, is calling time on a 41-year career with the gardaí. It has been a distinguished one, which has seen him to the forefront of some of Ireland’s most high profile investigations. In his earlier days on the force, Chief Supt Kerin was one of the first garda responders to one of the country’s worst rail disasters, the Buttevant train crash of August 1, 1980, which saw 19 people lose their lives and up to 80 seriously injured. June 7, 1996 was a day that will be forever remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the force, as it was the day Detective Garda Jerry McCabe died and his partner, Detective Garda Ben O’Sullivan, was shot in Adare. For Chief Superintendent Kerin, it is a day he will never forget, as it was the day he first took up duty as detective inspector and it was to be his first call …

“THERE are women alive today who would otherwise have perished at the hands of an intimate partner, due to the success of the Blueprint for Safety.” This was the message from St Paul’s 39th Chief of Police John Mark Harrington to a public seminar in Ennis on Tuesday outlining the Blueprint system. He referred to a comprehensive, co-ordinated justice system response to domestic abuse crimes, developed in St Paul Minnesota and now being shared with the Irish Justice System. Between 1996 and 2016, six women were murdered by someone they knew intimately in County Clare. The hope is to pilot the Blueprint model in Ireland, and for County Clare to lead the way as a demonstration area. This week, the delegation from St Paul, Minnesota, met members of the Clare justice system and senior figures in An Garda Síochána and the justice system in Dublin. Leading the charge on this proposal is the Clare-based Irish domestic abuse research and development …

Gardaí have dented the operations of a major supplier of class A drugs in West Clare, after cocaine and heroin, with a combined value of €26,320, was seized during a day-long search operation in Kilrush this week. The drugs were seized from a premises in the Chapel Street area on Tuesday, as part of a joint operation between the county’s Divisional Drug Squad and Kilrush gardaí. Searches took place across the town of Kilrush and involved up to 12 gardaí. One man was arrested following the detection on Tuesday and was detained under drug trafficking legislation. He was released without charge that night and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Gardaí also confirmed that they are looking for a second man in connection with this seizure. Chief Superintendent John Kerin said the drugs haul is among the highest in the county so far this year and warned that class A drugs have taken a foothold in …

WHEN a new superintendent transfers to Kilrush later this month, he will be the 13th officer over a 25-year period to hold the post. Superintendent John Galvin will move on promotion from Ennis to the Kilrush Garda District, when Superintendent Martin McGonnell relocates from West Clare to Blackrock in Dublin on December 13. Superintendent McGonnell was stationed in Kilrush for 20 months. Addressing the point that having such a high turnover of superintendents in Kilrush is not ideal, Clare Garda Chief Superintendent John Kerin acknowledged it is an issue. “There has been a very high turnover, which certainly has not been desirable from my perspective. But, having said that, a lot of the people who have come have brought a lot of experience from different policing perspectives with them. We’ve learned from some of the people that have come there over the years,” he said. “I’m absolutely delighted to have a person of John Galvin’s capability and standing in the …

A GARDA operation developed in County Clare to combat unlawful money lending, is now being used as a model across the country. Operation Payday targeted unlicensed money lending in Kilrush and was the initiative of the then superintendent in the town, Seamus Nolan, who is now based at the Garda College in Templemore. It resulted in the arrest of five individuals, who are due to face trial before the Circuit Criminal Court in Ennis. If successfully prosecuted, a senior garda believes the case will be “groundbreaking”. He explained the legislation used in this operation, the Consumer Credit Act 1995, is seldom used and is one which has resulted in few successful prosecutions. Operation Payday was rolled out in 2013 and involved months of observation and surveillance by gardaí in Kilrush in an effort to uncover the identity of persons involved in unlawful money lending. In December 2013, gardaí conducted searches and arrests were made, resulting in five people being charged. …

ARMED gardaí are in Shannon Airport at all times and are constantly vigilant regarding potential threats, the head of the Clare Garda Division John Kerin said this week. Chief Superintendent Kerin also said that following events in Paris last Friday night, meetings are taking place this week to review procedures. However, he said gardaí are confident in the security operation already in place and there is no specific threat to Shannon. For many years, US military aircraft have landed at Shannon, which has led to some concerns about it being a potential target for terror. In January, following the Charlie Hedbo slayings, radical Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary warned that Ireland could be targeted due to the American use of the airport. Regarding the strength of the operation at Shannon he said, “There’s a full-time policing operation in place at the airport and we work very closely with the airport management and all the people who work there to create as …

A MULTI-AGENCY approach is being adopted to further improve safety on Clare’s roads, through the formulation of a new road safety strategy for the six-year period, 2014-2020. During the life of the previous six-year strategy, there was a 79% reduction in road fatalities in the county. Among the actions undertaken to reduce deaths on the roads was a series of public awareness campaigns, an increase in the garda presence and the introduction of GoSafe speed vans, a significant investment in the motorway network and improvements in the local road infrastructure. The public are being invited to have their say with the latest strategy, which is being being formulated by Clare County Council, supported by An Garda Síochána, the Fire Service and the Road Safety Authority. Mayor of Clare, Joe Arkins, commented, “We all use the roads every day, so we should all have a say in how we share the roads with each other and how we can work together …

By Nicola Corless PARTS of the Wild Atlantic Way tourist route were closed to facilitate an unofficial “modified car rally”, it emerged this week. Gardaí have said they were “shocked” by a large, “planned and organised”, unofficial motoring event, which took place in the dead of night on roads between Lahinch and Ballyvaughan last month. On March 7, approximately 70 cars converged on the promenade in Lahinch before travelling to the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin and on to Corkscrew Hill in Ballyvaughan, where the main event occurred. Chief Superintendent John Kerin said that gardaí were shocked by what they saw on the night. “Activities of what people call ‘boy racers’ have dwindled a lot in recent years because of the economy but in the last couple of months there has been an increase in activities and they have become more organised so we put an operation in place to tackle this,” he said. “We had noticed ‘doughnuts’ on the roads …