Stories that hit the headlines in Kildare in 2016

The discovery of the remains of JCB driver Kenneth O’Brien (33) launched one of the biggest ever murder inquiries mounted by Kildare Gardai.

placeholder image — The discovery of the remains of JCB driver Kenneth O’Brien (33) launched one of the biggest ever murder inquiries mounted by Kildare Gardai.

KildareNow has picked a selection of stories that hit the headlines during 2016

January

Shock at gruesome murder in Kildare

Communities in Ardclough and Sallins were shocked in January when body parts of a Dublin man were found in the Canal.

Walkers found the initial body parts in Ardclough on January 16 and other remains were found in Sallins a week later.

A pond in Lumville Cross in the Curragh was also searched as part of the investigation.

Teams of Gardai also focused on Dublin and Wicklow areas in gathering evidence.

Detectives followed up to 300 lines of investigation as part of the probe and even discovered a large unrelated haul of drugs.

Officers even travelled to Australia where Mr O'Brien lived and worked before he returned to Ireland last year.

Mr O'Brien was laid to rest in Newlands Cross Cemetery after Funeral Mass in his native Ballyfermot.

He was survived by his partner of Eimear, son Charlie and paretns Gerry and Susan.

In February, a man was charged with the murder Mr Kenneth O'Brien.

Last Friday, Paul Wells (48) of Barnamore Park in Finglas, was charged at Dublin District Court after he was brought to the court from Naas Garda Station.

A second man previously arrested by gardaí had already been released without charge.

February

Fianna Fail back with a bang in general election and takes four seats across Co Kildare

Fianna Fail staged a dramatic comeback in the two Kildare constitucies after its electoral collapse in 2011.

Three first-time TDs were returned - Fiona O'Loughlin in Kildare South and Frank O'Rourke and James Lawless in Kildare North.

While it had been widely expected he would hold on to his seat, the double success of Fianna Fáil had not been predicted.

Though Sean O’Fearghail, the sitting TD, had been tipped to regain his seat, there had been little inclination the party could take a second on his coat-tails.

When tallies showed Mr O’Fearghail’s running mate, Fiona O’Loughlin, labelled by some a “gender quota candidate”, was ahead of him, there were more than a few feathers ruffled in the constituency.

The big loser on the day was the Labour Party; it had held a seat in the constituency since 1997, when Jack Wall was elected, and his son, Mark Wall, was considered a strong candidate but he failed to poll strongly enough.

Fianna Fáil’s Frank O’Rourke and James Lawless, as well as Social Democrat’s Catherine Murphy and Fine Gael’s Bernard Durkan were elected to the four-seat Kildare North.

Murphy topped the poll with 11,108 first preference votes, enough to elect her with a surplus of 1,320.

Those extra votes didn't transfer enough to outgoing veteran TD Emmet Stagg who lost his seat.

Fianna Fáil’s James Lawless was elected on the ninth count after polling 7,461 first preference votes.

His running mate, Frank O’Rourke took a second seat for the party, though some had deemed it a risky strategy to run two candidates.

With 28 per cent of first preferences, the party did not match its high of 40 per cent in 2007, but it did manage to become the dominant force in the constituency.

The remaining seat was taken by Fine Gael’s Bernard Durkan, who had a final vote of 8,890. But his running mate, outgoing TD Anthony Lawlor, failed to get re-elected.

June

Clane-based charity Console embroiled in scandal

The boss of Clane-based charity Console Paul Kelly was forced to resign after be became embroiled in a financial scandal involving lavish spending of money.

The details of his spending of charitable funds were uncovered in an internal audit by the HSE. The audit revealed that Kelly, his wife and his son cost the charity almost €1m over three years.

Around €500,000 was spent on foreign trips, designer clothes, eating out and other expenses between 2012 and 2014.

Kelly, and his wife Patricia, who was a director of Console, drove top-of-the-range Audi and Mercedes company cars which cost the charity more than €87,000.

They were later forced to relinquish the vehicles as the High Court froze the charity's bank accounts.

The RTE Prime Time programme in June claimed Kelly and co-directors racked up credit card bills of almost €500,000 over a three-year period.

Among the items the cards were used for were large cash withdrawals, trips to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and other destinations, designer clothing in outlets such as Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss, dining out, Rugby World Cup tickets and dental work.

Caretaker CEO David Hall said he sent two of the Console staff to counselling because of the scandal.