Party nights at the home of a Dublin man are to be curtailed after a judge ordered a limit of three per year and that they be ended at 2 a.m. to minimise annoyance to a neighbour.
Mr John Roddy was also told to restrict the parties to Saturday nights and to keep the volume of music from his home to a level that would not cause a nuisance.
Judge Sean Mac Bride made the order after Mr Roddy's neighbours, William and Gwendolyn Hampson, complained that his semi-detached house at Greenwood Close, Coolock, was "like a nightclub". Dublin District Court heard there had been two late-night parties, including one which went on until 11 a.m. the next day, on two occasions since November. At around 6 a.m. one morning, following a night of loud music, a naked man ran out of Mr Roddy's house on to the street, Mr Hampson told the court. Whenever gardai were called, the music was turned down but raised again shortly afterwards.
The Hampsons asked the court to curb the noise levels under the Environmental Protection Agency Act. On February 1st, shortly after a summons was sent notifying Mr Roddy of the court case, music was suddenly turned on at 4 a.m. with songs by the Dubliners blaring and people singing along to them.
Mr Roddy said he had only had three or four parties in three years and each time he had notified the Hampsons in advance. "It is not like I hold them every weekend," he said. He claimed the walls between the houses were very thin, which was denied by Mr Hampson, a carpenter, who said he had seen them being built.
Judge MacBride said while people had a right to hold parties, their neighbours had a right to expect they would end at a reasonable hour and that there would not be too many people present at them. "Maybe, if you were patriotically inclined, you could end it by playing Amhran na bhFiann.
"People are entitled to their night's sleep so that they can get up to go to school or work." The judge said a copy of his order should be sent to Coolock Garda station.
