Plans by Drogheda Borough Council to house a convicted sex offender in one of the oldest and quietest estates in the town have encountered strong opposition from residents.
The man, in his late 30s, was given a nine-month jail sentence at Trim Circuit Court last June after he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault on a young woman.
He has served his sentence and is now faced with opposition from angry neighbours who do not want him living there.
The house the council wants to allocate to him is in Maple Drive. It has been plastered with posters which carry a photograph of him and details of his conviction and ask: "Do you want this man living next to you?"
Residents claim the council paid €200,000 for the three-bedroom semi-detached house, before allocating it to the man, his partner and five children.
Local resident and taxi-driver Ronan Caffrey said: "I am disgusted with the council officials who have shown no consideration for the people living here. Most of the residents are couples that have raised their families and now have their grandchildren visiting them. I think the council is playing draughts by moving this man from one estate to another."
The estate is built beside a short-cut used by secondary schoolgirls attending Our Lady's College in Greenhills.
Secretary of the residents' association Terry Britton said: "I am furious we were not consulted. This estate has young children and teenage girls going to school. This makes people scared."
The man admitted sexually assaulting the woman in Laytown road, Julianstown, Co Meath, while working as a security guard on a construction site. On sentencing him, Judge Raymond Groarke had remarked a psychiatrist said the chances of him reoffending "were very minimal".
In a letter read to the court, the victim said she suffers flashbacks and has recurring nightmares of the man chasing her. She suffers panic attacks if left in the dark, is on anti-depressants and said she was paranoid about men.
The man had brought €5,000 to court in compensation, but she did not want it.
Drogheda councillor Michael O'Dowd (FG) said he believes the situation can be resolved "through the borough council negotiating with the prospective tenants and the residents of Maple Drive. I am not sure that putting his photograph all over the place is the best way forward."
The residents are also angry they were not allowed access to the sex offenders' register and have no way of knowing if someone with such a history is living next to them.
"We should have a democratic right to look at it. In England residents are notified if the council is putting someone in who is on it," said Mary Moore, one of the first people to move into the estate 39 years ago.
The residents have contacted all their local councillors.
Cllr Dom Wilton (SF) said he did not have a problem with the council using taxpayers' money to buy a house "because we have a massive housing waiting list." But he did not believe the house was suitable: "I do not think the answer for this family with five children is to move them to a three-bed house, not much bigger than where they are."