Latest news with #Tralee
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- General
- Irish Independent
Community Biodiversity Action Plan launched for Kingdom of Kerry Greenway
The plan, or CBAP, which was funded by Community Foundation Ireland, was informed by an ecologist-led survey of the flora and fauna of the route. A series of community engagement workshops and survey supported by MTU Business students also contributed to the plan which sets out recommendations to protect and enhance the biodiversity along the Greenway. The plan is accessible from the national website. The local efforts of Tralee Tidy Towns to protect and promote nature and wildlife habitats have now also been recognised with a strategic grant by Community Foundation Ireland in partnership with NPWS to implement the CBAP. The grant will ensure that the next steps to protect local biodiversity along the Greenway will be guided by the expert knowledge of ecologists. Martha Farrell of Tralee Tidy Towns said: 'We are thrilled to launch our CBAP during National Biodiversity Week and we're delighted that our work to protect and promote biodiversity has been acknowledged by the granting of a further €11,590 for the implementation of the plan. We thank Community Foundation Ireland, NPWS, Kerry County Council, MTU, Irish Wildlife Trust, Transition Kerry, Crainn Chiarraí and the many other NGOs who engaged, for their support of this project.' 'We look forward to working with stakeholders, groups and individuals who are interested in this implementation project. We will focus on creative and expert-led community engagement and awareness of biodiversity; recording of wildlife species, addition of supplementary wildlife habitat for species such as swifts and swallows; recording and control of invasive species; and an overall enhancement of the biodiversity along the Greenway route,' she continued. 'We also hope that skills acquired by community members through this project can lead to a long-term volunteer support of the habitats in the Tralee area. Anyone who would like to register interest in getting involved in this project can simply send us an email on tidytownstralee@ she added. Congratulating Tralee Tidy Towns, Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland had the following to say: 'We are particularly proud that local efforts to protect habitats, plants and wildlife are increasingly growing into a national movement. The fact that this current grant round is impacting in every county shows the groundswell of support for biodiversity action. The partnership of the Foundation, its philanthropists and community partners together with the National Parks and Wildlife Service is effective and works. Our natural heritage is being protected for generations to come.'
Irish Times
4 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Who is Michael Kelley, the man questioned over the murder of Michael Gaine?
It is a drizzly morning in Tralee and few people seem to be paying much attention to the tall, bearded man in rain gear. He is making his way across The Square in the Co Kerry town, just another person going about their business on another grey Irish day. The man is Michael Kelley (53), a US army veteran from Maine, a northeastern state, but now resident in Tralee. He is, to date, the only man to have been questioned about the murder of Kerry farmer Mike Gaine (56) whose dismembered remains were found two weeks ago at his farm outside Kenmare, two months after he went missing. READ MORE Kelley, standing 6ft tall and lean and muscular, is firm but polite when approached by The Irish Times and other media, saying he will not be doing any other interviews beyond what he has told The Irish Daily Mirror some days earlier. He confirms that his reported comments are correct and that he was arrested by gardaí for questioning about Gaine's murder. He denied any involvement in the killing during nine interviews over 24 hours of questioning by gardaí. [ American man Michael Kelley (53) confirms he was suspect arrested for questioning about Michael Gaine Opens in new window ] Kelley has alleged he is being framed for the crime by criminals. 'There may be elements that want to string me up – people who have an interest in organised crime – people who are involved in organised crime,' he has said. He is calm and relaxed. He says he has been playing traditional Irish music, having been photographed playing the flute with a local busker some days earlier. Michael Kelley busking on the streets of Tralee, Co Kerry. Photograph: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus As he agrees to pose for a photograph, he jokes that he will have to 'start charging $10 for pictures'. Little is known about Kelley, who has become the suspect in an investigation into Gaine's gruesome murder. Kelley, whose ancestors are understood to be from east Galway, grew up in a rural part of the US, outside the small village of Swanville, which has a population of about 1,500 and is in Waldo County in central Maine, about a two-hour drive northeast of Portland, the state's capital and largest city. He was born on July 27th, 1971, the second child born to New Yorkers Patrick and Janice Kelley, who moved to Maine in 1967 with Janice's son, Damon, from her first marriage. The family settled on a five-acre holding at Upper Oak Hill Road in Swanville. [ Michael Gaine case: Investigators believe most human remains at farm have been recovered Opens in new window ] Janice Kelley had lived in the East Village in New York with her first husband and she stayed there after their marriage ended, becoming acquainted with many of the folk musicians on the coffee shop circuit and some of the leading figures in the 1960s counterculture scene before they became famous. She participated in the famous 1963 March on Washington, where she heard Martin Luther King make his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. This was to inform her political thinking in later life, when she became an ardent Democrat strongly opposed to Republican Donald Trump. Michael Kelley and his mother Janice in 2018 posted on Facebook She and her husband set up a small business where she would design houses and he, a skilled carpenter, would build them. She taught her children an appreciation of nature and growing their own food. Janice and Patrick Kelley divorced in 1974, and she moved with the children to Washington, Maine, but returned to Swanville in 1981, where she opened a second-hand store where people could buy music and jewellery as well as rock crystals and gemstones from around the world. What role or influence Janice Kelley's politics and philosophy had on her son Michael is unclear, but in 1991, aged just 19, he found himself in the US army on a military base in Germany, where, when not on sentry duty, he watched as the first Gulf war unfolded in Kuwait and Iraq. Kelley told the Irish Daily Mirror he never killed anyone when in the army and became a conscientious objector when he saw the horror of the 'Highway of Death', when hundreds of Iraqi troops were killed at night in February 1991 by American war planes as they retreated from Kuwait. What Kelley did after he quit the US army is unclear. He seems to have kept a low profile for more than a decade. On April 6th, 2006, he married Karen Harden in Northport, Maine. The couple divorced on June 23rd, 2014. On December 22nd, 2009, he found himself the subject of critical comments from Judge Donald G Alexander of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court after he appealed a decision by Judge Michael Westcott of Maine District Court over the custody of his two daughters. The judge's criticisms are outlined in a detailed eight-page published judgment . Michael Gaine, whose remains were found earlier this month, more than two months after the 56-year-old sheep farmer was last spotted in a supermarket in Kenmare Kelley had been in a romantic relationship with a woman called Alicia Snow, and they had two daughters. After they separated Kelley brought a parental-rights action over his right of access to the children, who were living with their mother, a qualified nurse. Initially the relationship between the separated couple was cordial but Kelley later claimed that Snow had breached the court order, which ruled that the children could live with her, when she took them on a visit out of state to Chicago, Illinois, to their grandfather without Kelley's consent. Judge Westcott found for Snow in the initial hearing. Kelley appealed it to the state supreme court, where he represented himself. He called his wife, Karen, as a witness. After hearing testimony from both sides, including Snow and her father, Judge Alexander affirmed the earlier court order. He said that Kelley's allegations and fears that Snow intended to move out of the state with the children were 'unfounded'. He concluded that Kelley's ability to determine fact from fiction was 'questionable', and that both Kelley's testimony and that of his wife was 'untrustworthy'. Undated photograph of Michael Kelley posted in October 2017 on the Facebook page of a relative. He said Kelley was an inflexible parent 'who makes false allegations that Snow is a witch and that she practises witchcraft on the children', while he also found that Kelley refused 'to take responsibility for his role in this conflict'. It suited Kelley to be living off the grid as he wanted to be under the radar — A local in Kenmare Judge Alexander agreed with Judge Westcott when he 'specifically stated why it did not find the testimony of Kelley and wife to be credible, including the unsupported allegations that Snow is casting spells on the children and an unwillingness to take responsibility for conflicts.' Attempts by The Irish Times to contact Alicia Snow and her attorney Thomas F Shehan proved unsuccessful, but Kelley did confirm to the Irish Daily Mirror that he had lost custody of his children, now adults with whom he is in contact, after falsely claiming their mother was a witch. Kelley says he arrived in Ireland seven years ago. From inquiries by The Irish Times, it appears he first surfaced in Kenmare about six years ago, squatting on a boat while working for a man harvesting kelp in Kenmare Bay. Garda forensics specialists at Michael Gaine's farm at Carrig East near Kenmare where partial human remains were discovered. Photograph: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus When that job ended, he reportedly lived in a shed in Templenoe, a village about eight kilometres along the Ring of Kerry route west of Kenmare, before taking up residence three km away in Scully's Wood near Dromquinna. There, he lived in a tent and reportedly used survivalist skills to live off wildlife. It was while he was there that he met Mike Gaine. 'Mike was out shooting deer with a friend in Scully's Wood when they came across Kelley,' says one local. 'It was around 2022 and Mike offered him the use of his old, abandoned family farmhouse at Carrig East in return for doing jobs around the farm and Kelley agreed.' Gaine's farm at Carrig East is about seven kilometres from Kenmare, near Moll's Gap, the scenic spot popular with tourists. 'Kelley used to earn his keep working for Mike, feeding the animals and such like. They used to go hunting together – it was a very informal, loose arrangement, there was no lease, no contract – it suited Kelley to be living off the grid as he wanted to be under the radar,' says the local. 'There was no electricity in the farmhouse, but that didn't seem to bother him – he was rarely in town – Mike used to drive him every so often in to Aldi or Lidl to do his shopping, but beyond that he never hung around, never went into pubs. 'He was just this very reclusive American drifter.' Kelley told the Irish Daily Mirror that he applied for asylum when he first arrived in Ireland but had been refused. Garda sources confirmed he was served with deportation order four weeks ago, though he remains living in Tralee. 'I've asked for an ombudsman to review my asylum but that's gone nowhere,' he said. 'I'm not surprised – I may have a claim to Irish citizenship based on the standing laws of this country based on my ancestry ... [but] I don't see that they are going to deport me in the middle of this case.'
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Kerry beat Cork to retain Munster minor football title
Munster MFC final: Kerry 0-18 Cork 0-9 Eight points from Kevin Griffin went a fair chunk of the way in helping Kerry beat Cork for the second time in three weeks and retain the Munster minor football title. Indeed, this was a third provincial crown for the Kingdom in three years, and a win that will send Kerry to an All-Ireland quarter-final against the yet to be determined beaten Ulster finalists in good fettle. Three weeks ago it was a 10-point win for Kerry in Cork, and this nine-point win in Tralee simply underlined the champions superiority over the visiting Rebels. Playing with a strong wind in the first half, Cork needed to get to the interval with a decent lead, but instead it was Kerry who made it to half-time four in front, 0-8 to 0-4, and there seemed little way back for Cork. READ MORE That quarter-final three weeks ago in Páirc Uí Rinn saw Kerry win by 10 points and gulf in class was still present in Tralee, albeit Kerry needed a bit of inspiration from Griffin in the second half to see the champions push through. Cork finished with 14 men after Cathal McCarthy's sending off in the 53rd minute, which made little difference to the outcome but will see him miss the All-Ireland quarter-final. Kerry's Nick Lacey is challenged by Cork's Matthew Kiernan. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho Kerry took the lead early through points from Danny Murphy and Ben Kelliher before Cork replied through Eoin Maguire and Ben Corkery Delaney but the visitors never led in the game. Kerry 0-5 to 0-3 to the good after 20 minutes, but Cork could ill afford a missed two-point free and a decent goal chance from Ben Corkery Delaney. Mark O'Carroll and Maguire exchanged scores before Griffin pointed twice late in the half to give Kerry that four-point lead at the break. Griffin's long-range two-point free pushed Kerry six clear early in the second half, and another orange flag from the full forward had Kerry well clear by the 50th minute, 0-14 to 0-7. There was little hope of a Cork revival at that stage, and much less so with McCarthy's red card three minutes later, with Kerry sub Tadhg O'Connell franking Kerry's win with a brace of points. KERRY: R Kennedy; R Sheridan, E Joy, T Ó Slatara; D Murphy (0-0-1), D Sargent, M Clifford; M Ó Sé, J Curtin; M O'Carroll (0-1), G White (0-0-3, 3f), A Tuohy; N Lacey, K Griffin (0-2-4, 1tp, 1tpf, 1f), B Kelliher (0-0-3, 2f). Subs: T O'Connell (0-0-2) for Lacey (46 mins), P Ó Mainnín for Tuohy (50), C McGibney for Clifford (53), J Kissane for Ó Sé (57), T O'Sullivan for Griffin (58). CORK: R Twohig; B Coffey, A Keane, M Kiernan; E Looney, C McCarthy, B Cronin; S Kelleher Leavy, R Hayes; T Whooley (0-0-1), D Flynn, N O'Callaghan; S O'Sullivan, B Corkery Delaney (0-0-3, 1f), E Maguire (0-0-4, 2f). Subs: J Miskella for O'Sullivan (h-t), E O'Sullivan (0-1) for O'Callaghan, J O'Leary for Looney (both 37 mins), J Hanrahan for Kelleher Leavy (53), L O'Mahony for Whooley (58). Referee: T McGrath (Limerick).
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Social media posts about Michael Healy-Rae by former Co Kerry election candidate to be taken down, court orders
A number of allegations made on social media by a former Co Kerry general election candidate about Michael Healy-Rae, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, are to be taken down and not repeated, pending trial of the matter. The application for an interlocutory order involving 12 social media posts by Michelle Keane of Knocknagoshel, including video recordings and monologues which Mr Healy-Rae claims defamed him, was ruled on by Judge Ronan Munro on Thursday morning at Tralee Circuit Civil Court. The judge said he did not wish to silence Ms Keane, who is in the same political arena, but anything said about Mr Healy-Rae had to be responsibly verified and balanced. Judge Munro said his ruling did not mean Mr Healy-Rae cannot be criticised or held to account. 'But you can't make statements about him that are not responsibility verified,' he told Ms Keane, representing herself. READ MORE 'Belief, even intense belief in truth of statements, is not the same as truth,' the judge said. Affidavits and 'a large volume of material' including pages of social media comment had been submitted in defence, the judge noted. However, there was no evidence of truth and the defence of honest opinion, which had to be grounded in truth also fell, the court held during the hour-long ruling. There was 'no attempt to distinguish between suspicion, allegations and facts', the posts were 'utterly lacking in balance' and there was no attempt at reflecting the plaintiff's point of view, Judge Munro said of the posts. 'The order is based on evidence I have at this stage, pending full trial of the matter,' Judge Munro said. He added that the order 'wasn't to take down everything in relation to Michael Healy-Rae'. 'It's only defamatory matter,' Judge Munro said. Mr Healy-Rae complained in court papers he received hate mail as a result of one of Ms Keane's posts of 'a fairly serious allegation', Judge Munro put it to Ms Keane Ms Keane said Mr Healy-Rae was a public representative. 'He'd want to get over himself. I get hate mail. I don't go crying to Mommy or Daddy about it or to Kerry's Eye,' she responded, to some laughter in court. Mr Healy-Rae's injunction was sought under Section 33 of the Defamation Act 2009. Barrister for Mr Healy-Rae, Elizabeth Murphy, instructed by Killarney solicitor Dan O'Connor, told the court she was seeking 'an injunction to restrain publication of a most grave and serious nature'. The barrister said she was seeking an order 'to remove all posts accusing her client of illegality or immorality and to stop doing it'. Ms Keane agreed to take down the posts pending trial. She has seven days to take down the posts. Judge Munro said he was adjourning the issue of costs to late June when the matter comes before the court again. Ms Keane said she is to appeal the matter to the High Court. Judge Munro said this was her right. The media cannot publish the allegations as part of the order.
Irish Examiner
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Dara Moynihan makes welcome return as Kerins O'Rahilly's joins Austin Stacks on Kerry SFL summit
ON THE day water breaks returned to Kerry club football, Kerins O'Rahilly's moved level on top of the county's SFL Division 1 with Tralee neighbours Austin Stacks with a hard-earned win over Killarney Legion while the Rock were losing to Spa. O'Rahillys closed out a 1-15 to 0-15 win over Legion in Strand Road but never were comfortable and trailed 0-7 to 0-2 after the opening quarter with Ryan O'Grady, David O'Sullivan and Josh Bowler doing the bulk of the visitor's scoring. Darragh O'Connor and Jack Savage were keeping the Strand Road side in touch, before a Conor Hayes goal for O'Rahillys saw them back in the game. Ryan O'Grady and Gearoid Dillane swapped points as Legion retired 0-8 to 1-4 in front at half time. Points from Hayes, Darragh O'Connor and a two pointer from Jack Savage saw the Tralee side move three clear and they maintained their advantage to the end despite the efforts of young Josh Bowler and Ryan O'Grady. Stacks had the opportunity to go two points clear at the top but struggling Spa - with only a win and two draws so far in the league - caused an upset when they ended Stacks unbeaten league run, 2-16 to 1-17. Spa were always on top and though Stacks levelled on a number of occasions, crucially they never led. Dara Moynihan lined out with Spa for his first outing since last year's Club Championship in August, and the sides were level 0-5 to 1-2 after 17 minutes, Colm Browne with the Stacks goal. Ciaran Spillane and Shane O'Callaghan again swapped points with Kerry panelist Armin Heinrich being prominent for the Tralee side. Evan Cronin restored Spa's lead with a two point free and another two pointer from Cian Tobin gave Spa a 0-10 to 1-6 lead at the interval. They moved three clear thanks to points from Tobin and Spillane and by the 40th minute it was 0-13 to 1-7. Heinrich was withdrawn a minute later and points by Greg Horan and Adam Curran meant it was a one point game ( 0-14 to 1-10) at the second water break. An Evan Cronin goal appeared to give Spa breathing space but a Ferdia O'Brien two pointer and a Ryan O'Driscoll levelled the contest again at 1-15 apiece with five left. Michael Foley restored Spa's lead as Stacks wasted a couple of gilt-edged chances and it proved costly when Luke O'Neill finished a searing run with low shot to the Stacks net. Ferdia O'Brien and O'Driscoll cut the deficit to two but they were denied the win when Shay O'Meara saved on the line in the final seconds. Dr Crokes are going nowhere as they move into joint second place with Legion following a facile 2-18 to 0-6 against a disappointing Laune Rangers side. Rangers actually led 0-2 to 0-1 after four minutes but it sadly went downhill after that for Killorglin side after that. A Mikey Casey goal saw Crokes retire 1-8 to 0-5 at half time. Laune Rangers only added a single point in the second half as Crokes' well-oiled machine added 1-12 with Billy Courtney and David Shaw adding two points each, Alex Hennigan added three, Gavin O'Shea also brought his game tally to 0-3 before Cian McMahon scored a cracking goal but it was all too easy. Glenflesk had a big win over neighbours Rathmore who introduced Paul Murphy, but he could not stem the Glenflesk goal rush as they won 5-11 to 0-17. Cian Lynch, Ian Roche and Darragh Roche got the first half goals as they led 3-2 to 0-7 at half time with Ciaran Collins and Mark Reen contributing 0-3 each. Rathmore closed the gap to three points on two occasions, but was Jamie Moynihan and Callum Cronin finished Rathmore off with second half goals.
