The net is tightening on a 50-strong group of Irish travellers,  involved in a nationwide sales scam, after Network Seven news caught up with two of them in Sydney.

The TV sting, shown in Sydney last week, showed two Irishmen at a warehouse surrounded by goods similar to those which have been sold from vans across Australia in recent weeks. Authorities in four states have sounded the alarm over the rogue trader scam.

Once the men realised what was happening they fled in a white van, leaving what looked like dozens of generators behind in a storage facility.

The generators matched the description of faulty goods which have been sold across Australia in recent weeks. 

Police, immigration and consumer affairs officials have been trying to track down the elusive group, which has been described as an “incredibly well organised operation,” despite 14 deportations in September.

They recently made an appearance in Darwin, selling one resident nine generators, worth $3,000, at an inflated cost of $13,000. The scam comes at a time when Darwin has been plagued with blackouts and Consumer Affairs NT acting commissioner, Gary Clements, has warned those who buy the generators not to use them.

“These generators are potentially dangerous as 240 volts could appear on the 12-volt battery terminals, posing a possible electrocution risk,” he said in a statement.

Director of compliance at the NSW Office of Fair Trading, Michael Cooper, who was present at Network Seven’s sting last Monday, said he believed the group arrived in Australia with $100,000.

“They’ve been highly successful and they’re clearly very good at what they do,” he said.  “It’s a hit and run job so it’s hard to keep up with them.”

It is now believed that the itinerant sellers have been driven out of Darwin and they have most recently been spotted in Gippsland, Victoria and the suburbs of Melbourne.

The Irish Echo understands that the group originates from the Rathkeale area of Limerick and its individuals operate under the names of Quilligan and Sheridan. They specialise in selling dodgy petrol-driven generators, high pressure washers, fire pumps and other electrical equipment.The goods come with no warranties and serial numbers filed off.

One Gippsland resident, Melanie, told local media how an Irish man going by the name of Sheridan, “with blue eyes and the gift of the gab”, conned her out of $800.

He sold her a “bargain” Hondamann generator and promised to send her a warranty in the mail before leaving town. The generator died after one use. “This guy could sell ice to the eskimoes,” she said.

Meanwhile, one man has been remanded in custody after four Irish nationals – believed to be connected to the rogue trader cell – were robbed at gunpoint in Dargaville, New Zealand last week.

The four men had their rental van and property stolen after two men armed with a long-barrelled firearm and pistol approached them at in the North Island town.

It has been reported that the men had been selling generators and water blasters from the back of their van before they were approached at a local gas station. 

“We were looking at the possibility that the (Irish tourists) were involved in criminal activity,” Dargaville Police Snr Sgt Sue Leach, told the Echo. “But it has been established that they were in fact the victims of a crime.”

A 26-year-old man was arrested in connection with the robbery and appeared in Manukau district court in Auckland. He has been charged with armed robbery and arson and remanded in custody until December 5.

The Irish men were staying in Dargaville Campervan Park when the incident occurred. 

One of the owners of Dargaville Campervan Park, who did not wish to be named, told the Irish Echo that the Irish men had not been heard from since the robbery.

“They were selling generators and water blasters, which is quite strange,” she said. “Things like that don’t happen around here.”

A Sydney teenager who lied to police about the bashing of Cork man David Keohane in Coogee last August has been handed a suspended jail sentence.

 Nineteen-year-old Chanel Taia of Matraville told Waverley Court on October 29 that she denied any knowledge of the bashing to police because she was afraid it would affect her long-term relationship with boyfriend, Thomas Isaako.

Isaako, also 19, is accused of bashing 29-year-old Keohane, who remains in a coma in Cork University Hospital. A 39-year-old man has also been charged with hindering police and concealing a serious offence in connection with the attack.

The court heard that detectives investigating the bashing were led to Taia after records showed there were 18 calls made to her from Keohane’s stolen mobile phone between August 9 and 12. 

The teenager works as a fashion merchandiser and has aspirations to join the army.

Taia initially denied knowing Keohane when questioned by police before eventually admitting that she knew of the bashing.

The court heard that Taia has been in a relationship with Isaako since she was 13 years old and he was “adamant” that she conceal what had happened from police.

Magistrate Lee Anne Gilmour said she was considering a jail sentence for Taia, despite her clean criminal record.

“I accept that you were not there on the night,” Ms Gilmour was reported as saying. 

“If you have been in a relationship with this gentleman since the time you were 13, then of course you are going to be attached to him…if he is a violent man, even afraid of him.”

Taia was ordered to serve a nine-month suspended jail sentence and to be of good behaviour for 12 months. 

Isaako remains in custody and is due to face court again on November 27.

New South Wales police are continuing to search for a fourth man wanted in connection with the attack. A description and photo of New Zealand national Kane Desmond Tupuolamoui, 19, was issued two weeks ago but police have yet to locate him.

“We are not speculating on where he could be,’’ a police spokesman said. “Our inquiries are continuing.”

Meanwhile, David Keohane’s  condition has not improved and his family are maintaining a bedside vigil in Cork.

A 24-year-old Cavan girl has returned home to Ireland after recovering from a serious motorbike crash in Queensland last month.

Sarah Finlay, from Cavan Town, was flown to Bundaberg Hospital by Medivac helicopter after the rented motorbike she was driving crashed into a tree, leaving her with serious head and facial injuries and a broken leg.

Finlay lost control of her hire scooter on Captain Cook Drive, 400 miles south of the 1770 Marina, while travelling towards Agnes Water.

“She was part of an organised scooter tour with a company called Scooteroo around Agnes Water/ 1770, and she was coming back from the Marina when she lost control of the bike and veered off-road,” Sgt Jon Edwards of Agnes Water Police told the Irish Echo.

“The cause of the crash is still under investigation and we haven’t established whether it was caused by driver error or some sort of mechanical error. We have seized the bike in question for mechanical inspection.

 “She suffered severe facial injuries and a broken left leg in the crash. Unfortunately she was wearing a helmet which had no face visor so the facial injuries were quite severe. She lost quite a few teeth from her upper jaw in the crash as well.

“She was flown away from the scene to Bundaberg Base Hospital as her injuries were too severe for her to be transported by road. And from there she was transported to Brisbane Hospital for further treatment.”

The Irish Echo understands that Finlay had only been in Australia for a couple of weeks having just arrived from Asia where she recently celebrated her 24th birthday.

She is believed to have been travelling with a group of four or five friends who have stayed on in Australia to continue with their travels.

An Irish-born doctor has been named Australia’s general practitioner of the year.

Dr Christine Boyce (pictured), originally from Carrigart, Co Donegal, was presented the award, given by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, at a ceremony in Melbourne earlier this month.

“It has been incredibly exciting and quite overwhelming,” Dr Boyce, 44, told the Irish Echo. 

“I was told two weeks before the ceremony that I would be getting the award and I was really chuffed. Getting up to speak before 1,500 people was quite an experience.”

The Tasmanian-based doctor was given the award for her work in running an open access refugee health clinic at her practice in Lenah Valley, Hobart, which caters specifically for the needs of refugees from countries such as Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Rwanda.

“Trauma and torture are the biggest issues these people have had to face, as well as dislocation and missing family members,” she said. “I met one woman who had no idea where any of her six young children were. 

“These people are so brave in trying to set up a new life for themselves. It is very rewarding work,” she told the Irish Echo.

After graduating from Trinity College Dublin in 1987 and completing an internship in St James’s Hospital, Dublin, Dr Boyce worked at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary in Wales.

“When I graduated, Ireland was right in the middle of an economic depression and there were no jobs,” she said. “I had to leave.”

Dr Boyce moved to Perth in 1991 with her Australian husband and then to Tasmania in 1995, where she has been based ever since. As well as the refugee clinic, she is involved in adolescent care in Hobart’s western suburbs and teaches at the University of Tasmania medical school.

“I set up the open refugee clinic after we noticed it was a big challenge to get refugees to keep their appointments,” she said. “They weren’t used to that kind of system and often their appointment was clashing with their English classes, which are held from Mondays to Thursdays.”

Instead, Dr Boyce set up her Friday open clinic for all refugees to come along to, whether they have an appointment or not.

“There is huge emphasis on mental health and you’re up against a huge vacuum of information on how to treat people who have been tortured and traumatised,” she said. “Sometimes you feel like you’ve hit a wall, but it’s important to let them know that help is here now and we will be with them on their journey in this new country.”

Dr Boyce has two daughters, aged 15 and 13, neither of whom want to be doctors, she said. She is planning a family trip home to Ireland next year and is still grappling over what to do with her $5,000 travel scholarship award.

 “I would like to use it doing something in the refugee health area,” she said. 

“That’s my big interest.”

ENDS

An Irish-born Queensland MP has caused uproar in his state after dramatically defecting from the Labor party to join the Greens.

Ronan Lee, 32, who emigrated with his family to Australia when he was 13 years old, has stunned colleagues by quitting Labor, forwhich he has won his Indooroopilly seat three times since 2001, to become Queensland’s first Green MP.

His outraged former colleagues have branded him a “rat” and a “turncoat”, but Lee has stood by his shock decision, telling the Irish Echo that the Greens entering into government in Ireland had a role to play in his choice.

“It has really played a not insignificant role in my decision,” he said. “I was listening on YouTube to speeches by some of the senior figures in the Irish Green Party and they really inspired me.”

Lee grew up in the small farming community of Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan before moving to Queensland with his family in 1989. 

He was first elected in 2001 at the age of just 25, and has since gained a reputation for being outspoken and something of a maverick within the Queensland Labor party.

“I’ve been a pretty strong voice in the government about the environment and I’ve come to the conclusion that joining the Green Party is the only way to go about getting this issue on the agenda,” he told the Echo.

Lee’s sudden departure from Labor was a huge shock for his colleagues, including Premier Anna Bligh, who reportedly only heard of his decision when informed by local media.

 “Look, some people are miffed,” Lee conceded. “But I’ve been really impressed with the strong support I’ve received from my community, who have been very good to me in the last three elections.”

Now he must focus on convincing that same community to vote him in as a Green MP rather than a Labor one in the next election, which is scheduled for the end of next year.

His family – parents Sean and Mary and sisters Sinéad, Tríona and Rioghnach – were totally behind his decision, he said.

“Anyone who knows me, knows that the issue that drives me the most in politics is the environment and how to tackle climate change,” he said. 

“This is the biggest issue we’ll face in this lifetime and it will determine how our grandkids view us in the future.”

The Greens forming a coalition government in the last Irish general election was “very heartening,” he added. 

“Ireland has become one of the most cutting edge countries when it comes to important policy issues.”

The Irish Universities Association (IUA) recently lobbied Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe for the introduction of an Australian-style student loan system – also known as the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) – saying that such a move would help shift the burden of college fees from the parent and the state to the student.

But NUS president McFarland has told the Irish Echo that such a plan would lead to the same problems currently being experienced here, where average loan repayments have reached a staggering $50,000 per student.

The IUA has decided to oppose the return of the old Irish fees regime, abolished in 1995, instead favouring a system where Exchequer support for colleges would be topped up by student fees. The cost of these fees would be lent to students and then repaid once the students have started working.

McFarland, however, is certain that such a plan would eventually lead to a situation, as in Australia, where the level of student debt has dissuaded young people to take up third level education.

Independent reports in Australia have also indicated that the large debts have led to other related social problems such as tax evasion and reduced home ownership rates.

 “I’m very aware of the Irish plan, I’ve had calls from The Irish Times and the BBC and the Union of Students of Ireland (USI) about it for the past few weeks, and I’ve told them all the same thing. Our advice to the USI is to resist this,” McFarland told the Irish Echo. “We’ve had the HECS system in Australia now for 20 years and it’s led to two main problems. Firstly, the level of student debt has increased exponentially in that time period. It was originally sold as a ‘modest contribution’ that would cost about $500 per student, but that has since spiralled to where the average student loan repayment is now up around $50,000.

“Secondly, the debt level has led to decreased participation in third level education from the more socio-economically disadvantaged sectors. It has also affected participation from rural and regional areas.

“The overall participation figures look good, but they mask the fact that they are nearly all made up by the upper and middle classes. The HECS system has really disproportionately affected poorer people.

“Basically, the biggest problem is that the potential debt people face is putting them off going to uni. At the moment students are bearing the brunt of costs whereas they were only supposed to be making ‘contributions’.

 “You would see the same thing happening over time in Ireland through different administrations and governments. Universities would seek to have fees increased and these costs would see student loans increasing. That’s what’s happened over 20 years in Australia.”

Australia is now bottom of the OECD rankings for public investment in education, while, on the flip side, Ireland is currently top of that same OECD ranking, proportionately investing more public money in education than any other country in the world.

 Simply put, that is the main reason why the Irish Government and university heads are seeking to introduce a scheme whereby students bear some of that financial burden once they have finished their education and are in full-time employment.

 The USI, through its president Shane Kelly, has already announced that it will stringently oppose the IUA’s proposed plans.

Three Irish and one Swedish backpacker have become the latest victims of an assault on Australian soil after they were attacked outside a late-night restaurant in Queensland.

The incident allegedly occurred outside the Hungry Tum 24-hour eatery on Bourbong Street in Bundaberg in the early hours of September 21. 

According to one of the victims, three teenage aboriginal girls attacked and assaulted the group “over a cigarette”.

 The incident was caught on CCTV where police said they could clearly see the assailants punching and kicking the victims on the ground.

“Three female backpackers were accosted outside a 24-hour eatery at around 2.30am by three 17-year-old aboriginal girls,” a spokesman for Queensland Police told the Irish Echo.

“We’re unsure what caused the incident, but one of the victims did receive a cut lip from the assault. All the injuries sustained were very minor, however. The aboriginal girls in question were arrested and charged and received 14-day custodial sentences.”

The three attackers – named as Nicole Noreen Fisher, 17, Jessica Ambertell, 18, and Estelle Maree Fisher, 17 – were sentenced to 14 days in jail with a 12-month probation after pleading guilty.

“There has been a number of assaults and it has been in the public limelight,” the magistrate hearing the case, Neil Lavaring, was reported in the Bundaberg Newsmail as saying. “There has been considerable injuries, deaths and all sorts of things.” 

The need to deter people from committing group assaults was influential in his decision to send the three teenagers to jail, he said.

Police prosecutor Sgt Barry Stevens had urged Magistrate Lavaring to join police in helping to stamp out street crime by making an example of the case.

One of the victims of the attack told the Irish Echo about the frightening incident and about how she had received several blows to the head while on the ground during the attack.

“It was all just over a cigarette,” the victim, from Galway, who did not wish to be named, told the Echo. “It all happened in a split second. It was fairly frightening and we’re pretty shaken up,” she added.

“I was pushed to the ground and they started kicking me in the head. I went to hospital and had x-rays done just in case because of the blows to the head but everything is OK, thankfully.

 “I was living there in Bundaberg in a backpacker accommodation doing my three months for my second year working holiday visa. 

“I was just finished doing that and was planning moving on anyway, but I decided to leave much quicker than I’d planned after the incident. I’m living down on the Gold Coast now.”

The Echo understands that the other two Irish victims involved included a man from Dublin and a girl from Westmeath, while the fourth member of the group was a backpacker from Sweden.

The security footage showed how the three girls bashed the backpackers after one of the tourists refused to give them cigarettes outside the store.

A 20-year-old Bankstown man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder over the horrendous bashing of Corkman David Keohane outside the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney in August.

The man was arrested at 3.30pm yesterday (Wednesday) and was charged with one count each of attempted murder and aggravated robbery with wounding. He was refused bail and is due to appear at Bankstown Local Court today.

The man’s 19-year-old girlfriend was also arrested and charged with hindering police and concealing a serious offence. She was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Waverley Local Court on October 29.

The vicious attack took place on August 9 shortly before 3am and left Keohane, from Ballyvolane in Cork, with severe facial injuries. He remains in a coma at Cork University Hospital.

For more details on the arrests see the next edition of the Irish Echo which hits the shelves on October 8.

The boss of Australian retail giant Harvey Norman has described Ireland’s economic slump as “a catastrophe”.

The company was force to issue a profit warning this week following a slump in earnings for July and August.

About half of the fall was due to a 25 per cent slowdown in same-store sales growth and losses in its 13 furniture and electrical stores in Ireland.

This arm of the business reported a loss of $13 million in the second half of 2007-08.

Company chief Gerry Harvey said he did not expect the operation in recession-hit Ireland to improve soon.

“It’s a real catastrophe over there. I just don’t know where that’s going to go,” he was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“I did not think it would be as bad as this,” Mr Harvey said. “I have no reason to believe that trading conditions in Ireland will improve in the near future.

“Operations in Ireland are testing our ability as a retailer and we cannot fail. It is totally unacceptable. We have to succeed and we intend to turn the Irish business around.”