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Apr 18 2024
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‘All I could do was run’
SHANNON AIRPORT ROAD BROUGHT TO STANDSTILL
Clare man on terror of Sydney stabbings by Páraic McMahon paraic@clareecho.ie
A CLARE man has said his thoughts turned to his family as he was in the midst of the horrific scenes in Sydney last weekend. Niall Naughton from Boston, Tubber was in Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre when six people were killed following a stabbing attack near Australia’s Bondi beach. Their attacker was shot dead by a police woman responding to the incident. Having gone to the shopping centre to get his hair cut, Niall was in a changing room when he discovered that something was amiss. “Next thing, somebody pulled back my curtain and said ‘get out, get out, get out, you need
to go, you need to go”. He hid with other customers and staff in the basement of the shop with the door barricaded and there was huge panic. Niall continued, “Everyone was in such a state of panic. Everyone was in such distress and overwhelmed, everyone was screaming and crying. It wasn’t a very calm situation. It was just horrific. I was even thinking of my own family at the time. What if there is a possibility that something is going to happen to me and I’m going to die. I couldn’t even reach for my phone at this stage cos there was so many of us crammed into the room”. Full Story page 8
l Protesters on the N19 in Shannon blocked cars from making their way to Shannon Airport. More on page 17 Photo by Joe Buckley
Council: we won’t be bullied by new Ennis illegal encampment SENIOR HOUSING officials in Clare County Council have said they will not be bullied into housing people who break the law. It follows the emergence of a new illegal encampment in the county in the past week which has left Ennis residents “stressed and sleepless in a state of trauma” according to Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF). Acting senior executive officer with the Council Padraig MacCormaic said “the housing section will not be bullied into moving people up on the housing list because of their illegal
activity, it is not right to house people for breaking the law”. Elected members of the Council have said they feel their hands are tied when it comes to tackling illegal encampments in the county with Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) criticising the decision to make Travellers an ethnic minority. Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) commented, “the ethnic minority feel they can do whatever they want to do to get housed” when voicing their frustrations this week”. More on p10.