Former Eurovision singer Mr Chris Doran, who represented Ireland unsuccessfully in the Eurovision Song Contest in Turkey in 2004, was one of seven men and one woman brought before a special sitting of Carrick-on-Suir district court, following a row in Sean Kelly Square shortly after 9.00am in the town on Friday morning last.
The eight accused were named as Bernard Cawley, Woodvale Walk, Fethard, Co Tipperary; Michael Sweeney (Snr) and Michael Sweeney (Jnr), Elm Park, Clonmel Co Tipperary; John Paul and Thomas McCarthy, Pinewood Drive, Clonmel, Co Tipperary; Chris Doran, Tramore, Co Waterford; Lee Ahern, Heywood Close, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and Addey Ahern, Pinewood Drive, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
All eight individuals face one charge each of violence or threatening to use violence & were granted free legal aid by Judge Kevin Staunton, having been remanded on their own bond of €500 each. All have been ordered to appear in court again on July 4th next.
Of the eight accused, seven have addresses in Clonmel & Fethard in County Tipperary and one has an address in Tramore, Co Waterford.
Chris Doran, who won the ‘You’re A Star,‘ competition featured on RTE in 2004 and who represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul that same year with a song written by Westlife’s Brian McFadden, entitled “If My World Stopped Turning,” has been ordered to reside at his own apartment in Tramore and to observe bail conditions including a strict curfew between the hours of 11.00pm & 7.00am nightly.
Subject to a file being prepared for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the court heard that other charges may be pursued in relation to this same incident.
What a changing country, as is the world, for the worst.