Businessman, 39 dies in bicycle accident

A WELL-KNOWN Co Clare businessman died tragically yesterday when he was knocked of his bicycle along a busy dual-carriageway.

Last night the victim was named locally as father-of-four Howard Flannery, aged 39, from Ennis.

He was well known in the business community in Clare and was involved in a number of popular pubs and night clubs in the county including the Coast in Lahinch and MT Pockets in Ennis.

Last night a close friend said Mr Flannery as a “great man”. “He lived his life for other people and he will be sadly missed.

“He will be an incredible loss to his family and huge circle of friends,” he said.

The tragic collision occurred at around 2.30pm 500 metres north of the Newmarket-on-Fergus interchange on the main Shannon to Ennis dual-carriageway.

A second male cyclist was uninjured while the driver of a four wheel drive vehicle was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The pair had been cycling from Shannon to Ennis at the time of the tragedy.

Efforts to revive Mr Flannery at the scene failed and he was pronounced dead at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Ennis.

The second man’s injuries were not serious.

Gardaí said they were trying to establish why the driver of the car was travelling in the hard shoulder and how it hit Mr Flannery even though he was cycling on the inside.

Meanwhile, the man killed in a road collision in County Meath on Saturday was named yesterday as Patrick Fitzsimons of Arbraccan in Navan.

The 41-year-old died after a collision between a car and a tractor at 3.45pm on Saturday.

Mr Fitzsimons was on his own in the car when the crash happened at Martry Cross on the main Dublin-Kells road.

The male driver of the tractor was not injured.

Meanwhile, the body of an experienced Dublin climber was recovered from the Connor Pass area in Co Kerry on Saturday night.

The man, in his late 40s, was with a large group of walkers who had set out to walk from the Cloghane side towards the village of Anascaul on Saturday morning.

It is understood the man had become separated from the group but this was not noticed for some time.

The man’s name has not been released, but climbing sources say he was very experienced. Conditions on Saturday would have been wet and misty.