He secretly arrived on Dublin's O'Connell Bridge in 2004 and remained there for two years before his cover was blown. But now Fr Pat Noise's days on the bridge are finally over.
Dublin City Council will make a second attempt today to remove the mysterious Fr Pat Noise plaque from O'Connell Bridge after pranksters replaced the original, which was removed a couple of months ago.
The bronze plaque commemorates the fictitious priest who "died in suspicious circumstances when his carriage plunged into the Liffey on August 10th, 1919".
The plaque was brought to public attention by the Sunday Tribunelast May, although video footage supplied by the hoaxers showed it being mounted on the busy bridge in April 2004 as pedestrians passed by. It was thought that the work was carried out by two brothers and was a tribute to their father.
The name "Fr Pat Noise" is a play on pater noster, the Latin for "our father". The portrait on the plaque is said to be a likeness of the men's father. Dublin City Council did not know about the plaque until the media drew attention to it.
A council spokeswoman confirmed that the plaque had been taken away by the council two months ago while work was being carried out on the bridge. She said it was difficult to pinpoint when the replacement arrived, but it would be removed today.
The spokeswoman said that the council had not identified the hoaxers, but if they had been caught they could have faced charges for defacing public property: "It's quite serious. It has damaged the bridge."
She added that the council would be taking steps to ensure that another plaque could not be mounted on the bridge. The plaque was placed in an indent left when part of the ill-fated "Millennium Countdown" clock was removed.
In an e-mail to The Irish Timeslast year from a "friend of the artist", the hoaxer wrote that the interest in the plaque "reflects our famous sense of humour, and that unquantifiable Irish quality that sees us fight for the underdog every time, something that others never understand".
Last December, the south-east area committee of Dublin City Council spoke in favour of leaving it in place. The plaque generated interest at home and abroad, with websites conducting polls asking whether it should remain or be replaced by a permanent memorial to some cause.
