Gerry Cody

Judge: ‘Sell cow to feed your kids or go to jail’

A CATTLE dealer with €6,700 in arrears on his child maintenance payments has been told by a judge to “sell a cow or go to jail”.

At the Family Law Court, Judge Mary Larkin issued the ultimatum to the father of the two children at the centre of the arrears dispute. The man told Judge Larkin he has fallen into arrears on his child maintenance payments of €100 a week, which he could not afford.

Judge Larkin said that the court order was made in 2019 concerning the €100 a week. The cattle dealer said: “Back then, I was buying a lot more cattle — with this online, I only have half the work and farmers are doing the sales at home themselves over the phone.”

Judge Larkin told him: “You have got to pay up — borrow money or sell stock. Sell a cow or go to jail…the issue is that you’re not doing what you are supposed to do. It is much easier for me to send you to jail and then I bet the money will turn up in the morning.”

Judge Larkin said: “The awful thing about it is that you will stay in jail until it is paid.”

Ex-soldier gets 10 years jail for rape and death threats

A KILDARE former soldier has been sent to prison for 10 years for raping a woman on multiple occasions and threatening to kill or cause her serious harm.

Niall Kennedy (31) of Standhouse Lawns, Newbridge in Co Kildare, had denied the charges, but was found guilty of 12 counts of rape on 11 di erent occasions in August 2017.

He was also convicted of harassment on multiple occasions between February and August 2017 and of making threats to kill or cause serious harm to the woman, once in June 2017 and twice in August 2017.

Gardaí have paid tribute to the woman’s courage in proceeding with the case against Kennedy.

Kennedy was found to be a violent, abusive, coercive and controlling man who on numerous occasions raped, sexually demeaned and threatened to kill a young woman between June and August of 2017.

He followed her, turned up outside her work, home and when she was with her family and friends or out socialising.

He monitored her, insisting she sent photos of her location when she took her grandmother to hospital and to keep her phone on so he could hear everything when she collected a male friend at the airport, and turned up at the terminal.

He also sent an indecent image to the victim’s mother.

He called the victim abusive names, physically subdued and demeaned her and forced her into sex acts against her will.

When she tried to get away from him, he made so-called “bargains and deals” for sex, which he never kept and threatened to harm her new partner. He followed her to Rathfarnham Garda Station and laughed at her when she said she went to gardaí.

“No matter what I did it was never going to be right,” she said, “I could never escape.” e woman said Kennedy had turned her into “a broken person”.

She had been “reduced to living in fear”, she said, and was “a shell of her former self.”

She said he has had “a very damaging e ect” on her relationships and friends.”

She also said she found it particularly stressful when he was out on bail because she “feared retaliation.”

Kennedy denied the charges but was found guilty by a jury last December.

He has shown no remorse, which the victim has described as “hurtful.”

However, she said, she is “no longer a victim, but a survivor.”

Phones should be lot easier to fix, says Clune

IRELAND South MEP Deirdre Clune is looking to make it easier for people in Kilkenny to x their phones.

Ms Clune is a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, which is putting forward measures to make portable batteries in appliances easy and safe to remove and replace.

A recent Eurobarometer poll found that 77% of consumers would rather repair their devices than replace them, but the cost of xing problems is often cited as a major obstacle.

MEP Clune said: “ is Battery Directive is a good step forward in strengthening consumer’s ‘right to repair’, to help them save money and also to reduce waste.

“On a wider scale, the Battery Directive aligns with the proposals outlined in the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan. If adopted, these would require manufacturers to make products more durable and repairable.”

Love and care is all it takes for you to foster a child...

THE child and family agency Tulsa has launched its National Fostering Week, its fostering awareness and recruitment campaign. Now in its third year, the campaign focuses on the need to recruit carers for older children in communities across Ireland. A local placement will ensure a young person can maintain important connections with their friends, sports, school, and community, and reach their full potential.Across Ireland 3,984 foster carers currently open their homes to 5,265 children. In Kilkenny, Carlow, and South Tipperary, there are currently 306 children in foster care. Foster carers play a critical role in the child protection system and ultimately a key role in the wellbeing of young people. Kate Duggan, National Director of Services and Integration, Tusla said: “Tusla foster carers provide a safe, secure and stable home environment for the most vulnerable in our society. Right now, there are children and young people in your community who may need a safe place to live. A local placement will ensure they can maintain connections with their friends, sports, school and community. “If you have been considering fostering, we would urge you to have another think about the positive di erence you would make in the life of children and young people in your community,” she said.Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration Roderic O’Gorman TD said: “We all share an ambition for children in care to thrive and to reach their potential. For most children in care, this is best achieved through foster care and the committed care these children receive from foster carers, in a family setting. Ireland can be proud of the fact that over 90% of all children in care, reside in foster care, a gure that compares favourably with our European neighbours. “I would like to take this opportunity to again recognise and acknowledge the work of foster carers. ey have made this achievement possible, through their committed care of these children. I would encourage anyone who is considering becoming a foster carer to contact Tusla on the details provided and to make that rst step in improving the wellbeing and happiness of some of our most vulnerable children.”

Tusla Care Leaver, Shannon Joyce said: “I rst went into relative foster care with my younger brother and sister when I was seven years old. I stayed with my family until summer 2021. My whole experience of foster care has been a rollercoaster to say the least. I’ve met so many people and heard so many stories throughout the years.

I wouldn’t change a thing! I’m so happy that I can take all the experiences I have had and all the lessons I have learned and use them to be the best role model and mentor I can be for the young people I teach. Fostering can be an amazingly positive experience for the carers, and children.”

*If it’s something you are feeling drawn to you can learn more about it on fostering.ie

Tradfest is back... and it’s alive, alive-o!

KILKENNY TradFest is thrilled to announce its return with live, in-person performances and an extended programme, including a brand new music series of concerts at the stunning Medieval Mile Museum, made possible by the Local Live Public Performance Scheme from and administered by Kilkenny Arts O ce. e 2022 invited musicians are so excited to be back performing, and to create the thrill and energy of live music; so come join us, book your tickets and look forward to the return and magic of live music once again!

Special concerts and headline acts of the TradFest programme represent the very best of Irish traditional music and the 2022 line-up includes Paul Brady, e Kilfenora Ceili Band, Iarla Ó Lionáird & Steve Cooney, Máirtín O’Connor Cathal Hayden & Séamie O’Dowd, Inni-K, Seo Linn, e Bonny men, Kevin Burke & e Goodman Trio, Zoe Conway & John McIntyre, Pip & John Murphy, e Peter Browne Trio, Aoife Scott & Band, George Murphy & e Rising Sons and more! ere is an extensive Music Trail in Kilkenny’s nest pubs – such a great way to enjoy a superb array of FREE live music sessions and sing-alongs with everything from trad to folk and ballads and more besides! e Trail brings the medieval streets of Kilkenny to life as locals and visitors nip in and out to hear great music.

Kilkenny TradFest was established in 2013, it is organised by Kilkenny City Vintners sponsored by Bulmers, and is supported by Kilkenny County Council. It takes place alongside the ever expanding and very exciting St Patrick’s Festival Kilkenny each year.

WEEK THREE Kilkenny is home to the most famous cats in the world. For over two hundred years, people everywhere have heard of the fierce Kilkenny Cats. They are part of our history; part of our DNA. They reflect Kilkenny in all its glorious past, its developing present and exciting future. In week three, local author Donal Cadogan and illustrator Gemma Aloisi share their unique view of Kilkenny’s history and culture, as seen and told by its magnificent and ever-present Kilkenny Cats. This week we meet Malice,Ratty, and Statia. These are taken from their recent illustrated children’s book We are Kilkenny Cats!

The Dame, the Black Death and the statutes of Kilkenny

Malice – e Witch’s Familiar

One of the richest women in Kilkenny, in its early years, was Dame Alice Kyteler. She was the daughter of a banker and, when he died, Alice inherited all of his wealth. She liked her pleasures and she found herself a black cat, which she called Malice.

Alice married a rich man and he died. She inherited his money also. She married another rich man… and he died. She married a third and fourth rich man. ey all died. Each time Alice inherited her late husband’s fortune. People began to think Alice might have had a hand in seeing her four husbands out of this world.

Suspicion arose that she had used magic. Because she had a black cat many people thought she was a witch. But it was only Malice, the cat. ey asked the bishop of Ossory to investigate and he was sure that Alice was the head of a group of witches in Kilkenny. He held a trial, which Alice did not attend. He found her guilty. Wisely, Alice and Malice ed in the night and left for England.

Sadly, her maid Petronella was not so lucky. She was tortured and confessed to being a witch and said that Malice was not a cat but a devil in disguise. Now all our family are little devils from time to time but nothing more than that. Petronella was dragged to the middle of the town where a pole was driven into the ground. She was tied to it and bundles of dry sticks were built up around her feet. e sticks were set alight and poor Petronella was burnt as a witch.

We never saw Malice again and to this day no one knows where she might be. Alice Kyteler’s house is still in Kilkenny today and has a statue to Alice inside for all to see. Sadly, Malice has been forgotten. Such is a cat’s fate in life.

Ratty – e Plague Cat

In 1348 people began to get very sick in Kilkenny and across Europe and Asia. Boils would appear on the bodies and these oozed blood. Also the su erer would have splitting headaches. After a few days of agony, the person would die but by that time other people in the house would have started to get the boils. is plague became known as the Black Death.

One of the few records, from someone alive at the time, is a book written by Friar John Clyn in St Francis Abbey in Kilkenny. People thought the disease travelled in the air. Some people went on pilgrimages to pray to be saved but this just meant they were with large groups of people for long periods and many caught the disease while praying.

Friar John noticed that people could catch the plague just by touching someone. It actually travelled by eas brought into the house on the back of rats. At that time, my ancestor Ratty was the best rat catcher in Leinster and he lived in Kilkenny. But no one asked him to deal with the problem. us he missed his opportunity to save many lives. Had people known that the rats were the source of the problem, then

Ratty would have become the most famous cat ever in Kilkenny. e rats lived in the stone and wooden houses of those who lived in the towns. e native Irish lived in sod huts that they rebuilt every few years. us the people in the towns died in much bigger numbers that those in the country. e plague lasted over three years and almost 200 million people across the world died during it. Whole families and towns were wiped out and the world would never be the same again. And all because they never asked Ratty.

Statia – A Legal Cat

Kilkenny was an important place in Ireland to the Normans, or English as they were now known. ey held their parliaments here many times to set laws. Unlike today, only lords, knights and bishops sat in parliament. No Irish, no ordinary people, no ladies and no cats. e Gaelic Irish had di erent laws and customs. As time went on, the Normans in Ireland began to live more like the Irish. ey married Irish girls and spoke Irish. It was just easier and the king was in England, far away.

Eventually, he noticed that his Irish subjects were less and less English. ey had become more Irish than the Irish themselves. As a result they were paying less attention to him. He sent his son Lionel, the Duke of Clarence, to put an end to this sort of thing.

Lionel came to Kilkenny with a set of laws and a cat called Statia. e laws became known as the Statutes of Kilkenny and were to put an end to the English becoming Irish. Statia was to help him see that the laws were followed.

In 1367, Lionel called a big parliament in Kilkenny and had all the lords agree to the new laws. ese were very strict. No English could marry an Irish person. If they did, they would lose their lands and rank. ey were not to speak Irish and not use Irish names. Horses were to be ridden and clothes were to be worn the English way. Irish Brehon Law was no longer to be followed and only laws from England mattered. Most shockingly, hurling, which the Irish played, was to stop immediately and everyone was to learn archery, as the king needed archers in his armies.

Everyone ignored the new laws. e English went on marrying into the Irish families, becoming less English and playing hurling. Poor Statia died soon after. She did not like being ignored. Cats like attention, even Kilkenny ones.