'Adverse publicity': Judge refuses to move Longford 'emotive feud' trial to Dublin

A young Longford town man, has had an application to have his trial moved from the county town to Dublin refused.by a judge.

Denis Hannifin Jnr (23) of Curry, Athlone Road, appeared in Longford Circuit Court recently charged with violent disorder at Hanlon's Gala, Dublin Road on June 11, 2024.

Barrister Brian Storan, defending, brought the application and he explained there were three co-accused including his client and there are a 'number of different versions of events' and conflicting narratives from prosecution witnesses.

"Mr Hannifin is living a totally different factual scenario to the two co-accused in my submission, that is in the context of the very significant publicity, which is the feud in general as a [factor], but also in respect of his father and namesake as the court can see in the affidavit (the written, voluntary statement of facts).”

Mr Storan said there was a highly emotive background to the case.

"It's a feud which has attracted serious attention in the local media as a consequence of a relationship among other things, it's been emotive and there is an emotional nature to this case and I'm sure that will play some part in terms of the evidence."

Judge Jonathan Dunphy acknowledged while speaking to Mr Storan that he had jailed the defendant's father Denis Hannifin Snr last year for three years with the final 12 months suspended for two years for a violent affray, which took place at a funeral home in Galway in January 2019.

Barrister Stephen Faulkner, for the State, said the DPP were opposing the application to move the trial to the capital.

"It's being opposed in circumstances where the reasoning, the rationale behind Mr Hannifin's application to transfer I say is certainly not based on evidence that is premeditated to Mr Hannifin or any of his co-accused.

"I say that in circumstances where any of the media coverage that has been exhibited in the affidavit before the court does not relate to the accused in this instance.

"It's firmly based on adverse publicity brought against his father and in the exhibits that are given the age of the gentleman, the accused's namesake is 44 years of age.

"If you look at the accused in this instance it's fair to say he's certainly not 44 years of age, there can be no dispute that he has not reached that age in life yet.”

Judge Dunphy said he believed there was not a strong enough case presented to him by the defence to transfer the case from Longford to Dublin and he declined the application.

He stated he did not believe Denis Hannifin Jnr's father's case would have an influence on the jury and impact their consideration of the case against the defendant.
Judge Dunphy said he would issue the usual jury warning regarding media coverage to protect the integrity of a trial and remind them to ensure that their verdict is based solely on evidence presented in court.

He said he had no concerns over Mr Hannifin Jnr receiving a fair trial in Longford and he adjourned the case until February 17 when the case is listed for trial.

Housing, roads, medical care, the controversial Mercosur deal and the National Children's Hospital were some of the issues raised with Midlands-North West MEP Maria Walsh when she visited county Longford last week.

The Fine Gael representative stopped off at Ballymahon Mart, the Ballymahon Convent Day Care Centre, Longford Community Resources and she visited Longford farmer Philip Stewart, better known as Farmer Phil at his dairy-beef farm in Killashee.

Ms Walsh was part of a Fine Gael delegation on Thursday that included Longford TD Micheál Carrigy, Cllr Paul Ross and Cllr Martin Skelly.

She is the lead agriculture negotiator for the European People’s Party (EPP) on Horizon Europe, the European Union’s key funding program for research and innovation running from 2021-to-2027.

A majority of MEPs at the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted last month to refer the controversial EU-Mercosur deal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) so it can give its legal opinion.

A total of nine of Ireland's MEPs voted in favour, but Ms Walsh was one of four who decided to vote against, and the Mayo woman told the Longford Leader she believed farmers needed more certainty.

"So, all in all, I'm in line with the government in terms of in its current form, the Mercosur deal is not fit for purpose.

"But for me, by not sending it to the European Courts of Justice, I believe in more certainty for farmers."

Ms Walsh said by sending it to the court it created further uncertainty for another two years.

"So, if you have three institutions, ourselves, the [European] Commission and [the European] Council, and now we in the Parliament are sitting on our hands for two years, waiting for a court review to come back.

"That's the reason why safeguards we voted on [two weeks ago] in Strasbourg were very important."

Ms Walsh said it was fantastic meeting not just farmers, but agriculture consultants, vets, and seeing the whole ecosystem of agriculture at Ballymahon Mart, and meeting so many positive and energetic people at the Convent Day Care Centre in Ballymahon.

Ms Walsh said there were several questions and issues that people raised with her as they stopped off to speak to constituents.

"We actually had a couple of specific questions, which is great when you travel in a delegation as there was and it varied from what was happening at the [National] Children's Hospital, to homes, to defence, to medical support and agriculture, it was a great plethora of asks."

Ms Walsh is a full member of the Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) committee and the Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) committee.

She has called for and proposed in the European Parliament that there should be increased Horizon Europe funding for agriculture and fisheries and the current funding allocated of approximately €17 billion should be 'doubled'.

Ms Walsh said she was pleased by the Government's announcement on Wednesday that there is an agreement to work with like-minded EU member states to assess options to introduce age restrictions and a social media ban for under 16s.

"They're going to lean into other member states to see what's happening.

"But if you look at France, Portugal, Spain, they've already moved on that, and it's the Australian model [they are looking to].
"I personally would like it."

Ms Walsh said she would be in favour of a system, similar to the Airbnb app, where social media users submit their ID and there is face recognition used.

Asked about enterprise and business in the Midlands and North West, Ms Walsh said her and her team a lot the work at a European level, in the Gender Equality Committee, which 'has been really important' and female entrepreneurs need to be given the same supports as men.

I keep saying that 40% of our entrepreneurs in Europe are women.

"The access to VC (venture capital) range of investment, is less than 3%.

"And we're a pro-business, open economy, and a big pro-business party.

"And I would hope in the upcoming budgets, including highlighted in the EU Presidency, which will start in July, that we are really focused on indigenous female business."

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