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2 Wednesday 19th August 2009 WEXFORD ECHO NEWSPAPERS

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Breezy, humid and cloudy daywith heavy rain later on.

Fresh, windy day withscattered showers, some heavy.

Bright and breezy, with sunnyspells and showers, someheavy.

Some dry, brightweather on Saturdaywith sunny spells, butwet and windy weatheris expected later in theday and overnight.

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editor@theecho.ie

Fuel PricesThe price of petrol and diesel in the country has

remained very high in the last month with little reliefin sight for motorists.

While petrol now costs an average of 116.7 cent atthe pumps, diesel is averaging 104.8 cent. These pricesare virtually unchanged from the July average butremain far higher than they were at the start of the year.

Petrol is up 22.1 cent per litre since January, dieselis 20.4 cent higher, and it is unlikely, with the interna-tional recession, that prices are going to stop increas-ing.

International oil prices appear to be at the root of theproblem. A barrel of crude oil now costs over $70, asopposed to $33 seven months earlier. Were it not forthe dollar’s weakness against the Euro, the country’sfuel prices would be a lot higher.

The AA is reiterating its advice to motorists to shoparound for fuel rather than staying loyal to one or twogarages out of habit. Prices vary substantially, plus orminus 6 or 7 cent per litre above or below the average.Saving even 5 cents per litre will mean keeping anextra €7.50 in your pocket every month (a car thatdoes 19,200 kms or 12,000 miles per year at a fueleconomy rate of 30 miles per gallon will use 150 litresof fuel per month).

A DISTRICT CourtJudge has expressed hisdismay at the actions of aGarda in Gorey whoreleased a defendant,despite an outstandingwarrant for his arrest.

Judge William Hamillsaid: “Words fail me inrelation to what is goingon in this station,” havingheard how Garda WilliamMurphy failed to realiseJohn Walsh had a benchwarrant issued for hisarrest when he releasedhim at the beginning ofAugust.

Walsh of Galbally, Bal-lyhogue, appeared recent-ly before Judge Hamill atthe holiday sitting of theWexford District Court.Walsh was arrested andcharged at Gorey GardaStation with refusing togive a sample of blood or

urine when suspected ofdrink driving on August 2last.

The court heard Walshwas released on stationbail to appear in court at alater date, despite an out-standing warrant for hisarrest being on the systemsince June 16 last, whenWalsh failed to appear incourt on a previouscharge.

The Judge questionedGda. Murphy as to whythe defendant wasreleased when there was awarrant for his arrest onthe system. Gda. Murphyadmitted it was his mis-take and told the court hebelieved if he didn’t havethe actual warrant in hispossession he couldn’tdetain the defendant.

Amazed, Judge Hamillwent on to ask: “If a man

is wanted for eight homi-cides in Donegal and he iscaught in Wexford, thenyou say you cannot arresthim because you don’thave the warrant as it is inDonegal?”

The Judge expressedhis concern as to the pro-cedures being followed inGorey Garda Station:“There is a member incharge in Gorey releasingpeople, for whom thereare court orders for theirarrest, where they have noauthority to do so.” TheJudge requested thatInspector Paul Sergeantbring the actions of themember in charge to theattention of the Superin-tendent in Gorey.

When Gda. Murphysaid there was no courtsitting on August 2, whichwas a Saturday, the Judge

went on to tell him that hecould have found a courtin Dublin or if it was aSunday could have askedfor a special sitting orhold him in custody untilMonday..

Turning his attention tothe defendant, the Judgesaid: “He [Walsh] has noconception what a bailbonds means. The defen-dant has failed to turn upto court on three occa-sions. There seems to be acomplete lack of under-standing of what is goingon by both sides, not justthe defendant’s.”

Judge Hamill consentedto give Walsh bail butonly if he paid a €300-cash bond or got someoneelse to put up a similaramount. Walsh explainedthat he didn’t have themoney or anyone to put

the money up for him. “Ihave appeared in courtevery time I was meantto,” he told the Judge.“Well, that is clearly notthe case as you havefailed to appear on at leastthree occasions,” theJudge replied.

Walsh went on to saythat his solicitor had toldhim that he didn’t need toturn up to court on certainoccasions. He added thathe was not happy with hissolicitor and wanted tochange but it had taken 18months to get his file backfrom the solicitor.

The Judge said hedoubted a solicitor wouldtell a client not to appearwhen he needed to, saying“there is nothing I can dofor you” in reply toWalsh’s pleas to reconsid-er the bail conditions.

Words fail Judgeafter Garda mix-up

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CONTACT DETAILS RNLI save windsurferA WINDSURFER,

who was swept out to sea,is lucky to be alive todayafter the quick responseof Wexford RNLIundoubtedly saved hislife.

The Swedish man waswindsurfing with a friendat Curracloe but insteadof a wetsuit he was wear-ing tracksuit bottoms anda hoodie.

Having been in and outof the water for over twohours, the young man gotinto difficulty when an off-shore wind swept him outto sea.

“Luckily, his friend wason the beach and he imme-diately dialled 999 and theRosslare RNLI was noti-fied. We received the callsoon after 8pm [on

Wednesday, August 12]and were at Curracloe intwenty minutes.

“The man had just man-aged to make it back to theshore as we arrived but hewas slipping in and out ofconsciousness and was

showing signs of hypother-mia – he was shivering, hisskin was blue in colour andhe was slurring his words.His condition was rapidlydeteriorating. It was veryserious,” said RNLIspokeswoman, Lorrain

Galvin.The drama unfolded

between Raven’s Pointand Culleton’s Gap andmembers of the RNLIteam, having adminis-tered oxygen to the man,decided to move him, by

boat, two miles up thebeach to meet the Curra-cloe Coastguard jeep.

Lifeboat crewmanDamien Foley, whorecently graduated fromhis probationary period,continued to administeroxygen as the jeep droveover dunes to reach theambulance at Fahy’sCross.

“The co-operation withCurracloe Coastguard wasbrilliant, the joint exercis-es really paid off, the han-dling of casualty was justlike we have practicedtogether, where eachcrew knew what toexpect of the other,” saidWexford RNLI Lifeboathelm Peter Scallan, whoalso praised Mr Foley’sfirst-aid skills.