A financial regulator who claimed he had to wear builder's earmuffs around his home because of music blaring from his doctor neighbour's house has lost a noise nuisance action.
Mr Neville Redmond and his wife, Aishling, sought a noise abatement order against Dr Koon Meng Chang, who lives with his wife and 12-year-old daughter at Charlemont Estate, Griffith Avenue, Dublin.
Mr Redmond, a financial regulator and investigator in the Central Bank, claimed there was constant banging of doors, playing of loud western and eastern music and TV blaring at all times of day and night.
He was studying for Law Society exams and had to wear industrial earmuffs to block out the noise. He had approached Mr Chang about the problem but was called "a motherf***er."
The Redmonds, who moved into the house about a year ago, logged 22 separate incidents of noise and tape-recorded some of them, Dublin District Court heard. On occasion, they had had to stay with Mr Redmond's parents just to get a night's sleep.
Mrs Redmond claimed that as she was talking to one of her other neighbours one day, Mr Chang arrived home and shouted out the window of his car to the other neighbour: "What are you talking to that f***ing idiot for?"
Mr Chang claimed it was the Redmonds who made noise by constantly banging internal doors, and he was driven to responding to it. He had to live at the rear of his own house because of the noise. On one occasion last July he had given his daughter permission to play music from the School of Rock film to try to make his point.
He denied he was arrogant and a bully or that he had verbally abused the Redmonds. "I have been voted top lecturer for two continuous years in the UCD College of Medicine," he said.
They had been living in Charlemont for five years and never had any problem with the previous occupants of the neighbouring house.
Judge Leo Malone said that, having heard the evidence, he was satisfied that he should not make the noise abatement order.
He told both parties: "Try to live in peace with one another because it is a very small world."