Year in Review 2019: May
By Brendan Grehan
DESPITE the longer days and the arrival of spring, The Echo covered a lot of serious issues throughout May. At the end of April, Andrea Dempsey (22) from Ballyfermot, tragically died by suicide.
At Le Fanu Park, Dance Corps from Ireland and the UK gathered to remember Andrea who was a champion baton twirler.
Andrea Dempsey
In Firhouse, Katie Oglesby (22) raised €6,000 for the Irish Cancer Society by shaving her hair off at a ‘Shave or Dye’ event in St Anne’s GAA Club in Bohernabreena, which was held in memory of her mother, Colette, who died last January, after battling melanoma.
In the first four months of 2019, there was a 90 per cent increase in incidents of theft in Tallaght, The Echo reported this month.
Kingswood artist Emma Blake’s mural in Belfast of the late journalist Lyra McKee.
Street art is catching on in the county but there is a long tradition of murals in Northern Ireland. Kingswood artist, Emma Blake, added to that tradition when she completed a mural to slain journalist, Lyra McKee.
There is just one garda patrol car for Ballyfermot, one for Clondalkin and one for Rathcoole. This was revealed at a joint policing meeting. The policing district also has two patrol vans, unmarked cars, and continues to share vehicles with other areas at times.
In 2018, Emer Kelly (47) from Walkinstown passed away from asthma. The Echo spoke to Emer’s daughter, Ciara, to raise awareness of the management of asthma as a condition.
In Dublin Circuit Court, Kathleen Kiely (31) from Lymington Avenue in London, pleaded guilty to handling stolen property at the Gold Digger cash-for-gold shop in Tallaght village on January 21, 2018. Ms Kiely was caught trying to sell €90,000 of stolen gold jewellery at the shop by gardai who had mounted a surveillance operation after receiving a tip-off.
When Kiely was stopped by gardai they discovered the second bag she was carrying contained a large amount of badly damaged gold jewellery.
The Gold Digger shop in Tallaght Village.
The original value of the gold jewellery was €90,000, but the court heard that due to the damage it suffered, the value was reduced to €37,000.
Ms Kiely later received a suspended sentence.
In Lucan, the members of Lucan Community College’s Amnesty International group slept out to raise the issue of homelessness.
Adjacent to Lucan is the Clonburris Strategic Development Zone (CDZ). This month, An Bord Pleanála has approved South Dublin County Council’s plan to deliver up to 11,000 new homes in SDZ.
The 280 hectares of land located between Lucan, Clondalkin and Liffey Valley, could provide homes for a population of over 21,000.
On the morning of September 30, 2016, the body of Michael McCoy (63) was found with blunt-force trauma injuries on a track at Blackhill Forest in the Dublin Mountains.
Catriona McCoy with her daughters, Rachel, Suzanne and Sarah McCoy, outside the Coroners Court
The jury at his inquest this month in Dublin Coroners Court recorded a verdict of unlawful killing. Outside the Coroners Court Michael’s wife, Catriona McCoy, and their daughters Rachel, Suzanne and Sarah issued an appeal for any information that could help bring the family closure.
Fr Richard Delahunty spent eight years with the Church of the Assumption in Ballyfermot. He was transferred this month to Dundalk and the parish held a going-away party for him.
On January 5, 2017, Reece Cullen (16) was stabbed. An inquest heard this month that Reece had been on his phone when he was fatally wounded.
The inquest heard that the Gardai opened 110 lines of inquiry, took 88 statements and made three arrests in their investigation.
A file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) but no charges were brought.The file remains open.The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by person unknown.
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