"Neighbours from hell" have been ordered by a judge to pay a legal bill approaching £10,000 as punishment for disrupting the lives of a couple next door.
Judge John O'Hagan heard in the Circuit Civil Court that Martin and Kathleen Meehan played their radio and television so loud it was tantamount to the noise from a ship's engine room or a helicopter revving for takeoff.
Barrister Mr Mark Sanfey said Mr Meehan, an accountant, and his wife, who live at No 20 Bellevue Park Avenue, were having such a disruptive effect on chartered surveyor Mr Patrick Sheeran and his wife, Phil, at No 21, that they sought injunctive noise nuisance relief against them last year.
Mr Sanfey, for the Sheerans, said the proceedings had been settled on the basis of undertakings from the Meehans to abate noise levels, but after a short while things deteriorated again.
Mr Sheeran said the Meehans turned up their radios full volume to listen to early-morning programmes on RTE 1. It made life intolerable. He once went in his pyjamas to their door to complain, only to have it slammed in his face.
He later hired an acoustic expert to measure noise levels.
Mrs Meehan told her counsel, Mr Richard McDonnell, that she and her husband left their radio on when they went out to give would-be burglars the impression there was someone inside. They had had heard this recommended by a garda at a Neighbourhood Watch meeting.
She said she had no idea why Mr Sheeran should brand them as "neighbours from hell". She said the Sheerans put out noisy wind chimes in their garden on weekends they were away.
Judge O'Hagan said it was a pity the parties could not have settled their differences but it was the Sheerans who had done all the right things. Mr Meehan's attitude to conciliatory moves by Mr Sheeran was "I'll see you in court."
Judge O'Hagan said the Meehans would be leaving their home in a few weeks after having sold it. He told the Meehans he would not award damages against them but would order them to pay costs which, in the circumstances, would amount to a considerable punishment.