On Sunday afternoon, the local GAA men's football club won the Donegal championship. This meant an excuse for the locals to get drunk and yell for hours and hours. Not that excuses are needed--they do this anyway, albeit not quite to the same degree. Anyway, loud thumping music began at about 7:45 and went on until 3 am. This was accompanied by screaming and yelling and attempts to sing along. They played Queen's 'We Are the Champions' 5 times in a row. This was all quite near our home. Annoying.
Yesterday, Monday, the thumpy 'music' began at 2:30 in the afternoon, went on for a couple of hours, stopped for an hour, then went on for a couple more hours. At 1 am, I went to bed. It was quiet and I was tired from getting little sleep the night before. At 2:30 this morning, I was awakened by pounding music. The lights were on in the beer garden of a nearby bar, which had been dark when I went to bed. At 4:30, they were yelling along to the Cranberries song Zombie. At 5, the music stopped.
At 3 am, after being woken up but before the Zombie experience, I was standing in the living room emailing a guy (I'll call him Bob, although that's not his real name) I'd corresponded with a few months ago about the noise. He'd sent a warning letter and the music did end up stopping slightly earlier for a while. I also sent an email to the office of a TD (like a US senator, kind of) about this issue--I'd contacted his office a couple weeks ago to get an answer to a question that had not been answered by Bob, and that was: At what time does the noise have to stop or move inside? Interestingly, no one gave me an answer. I was told to call Gardai (police), when the noise was disruptive at late hours, but how can I do that if I don't know what hours they are allowed to be loud? So I asked both again and this time I got an answer. It's 11:30 Sunday-Thursday and 12:30 Friday and Saturday, according to Bob, but there are certain special circumstances that allow for later times. Winning the football match is one of them, apparently, although it is still unclear to me how long the 'special circumstance' lasts. I hope two days is enough. Bob said he would send another warning letter and call them as well. He has been helpful. He again said I should call the gardai every time there is a problem. I told him about what I was told by a garda spouse, which was that they won't touch this kind of thing because people will hate them and often they are in the pubs after hours themselves. In this case, the pub seems to cater to young males, which, as Bill has pointed out, is exactly the problem. We lived a few doors down from a pub in a different Irish town which had live music all the time--never heard a peep from the pub-goers. The music was trad music,which we never heard--we just knew from the signs announcing the music. There was no screaming in the pub or on the street. There were numerous pubs, but not the level of loud public drunkenness that exists here.
So anyone planning a trip to Ireland, beware. This kind of thing happens in rural and the few urban areas that exist here. Drunk people wander around yelling, pubs play loud music, and in some urban areas, homeowners have to clean up vomit and feces from their property. They like to blame tourists, but it's not just down to that. I'd say the problem is local, not from away. Some places we've lived don't have this issue, but this one does in a big way. So when planning accommodation, tourists should take care to not book a place near pubs just in case. And be mindful of any 'special circumstances' like GAA games and fairs and festivals when things get worse. This is an expensive place to travel to, from what I understand, and it would be a shame to have a trip ruined by this kind of crap!
9 comments:
I can see that you must daily congratulate yourself, Shari, on moving to this bastion of civility in the Western world. What on Earth motivated the decision in the first place? I am quite sure that the conditions you describe would drive me out of my mind - probably literally. I suspect that the prospect of the authorities (there’s an oxymoron) doing anything about it is close to zero, especially when they are often in the pub themselves. The stereotypical drunken Irishman seems to be personified here. And were you successful in having this behaviour curtailed you would be portrayed as those from away who didn’t do as the Romans when in Rome. In the meantime, just be careful you don’t step in the vomit on your morning walk. And by the way, there’s a house for sale on our street. Interested?
Well, we moved here because Bill got citizenship and it was clear the US was headed in the direction of fascism while the people who were not in favour of right-wing extreme Christian nationalism were not paying attention. It was clear things were doing to get very bad.
As for this particular problem, it's only been an issue in this place, which we have lived in for about a year.
I have thought a lot about the fact that I am a blow-in complaining, but when I started looking into this problem, I discovered comments from many locals around the country saying that they were too scared to complain because everyone would know who they are. I am fine with being hated by these people 😆 The vomit is more an urban thing from what I can tell, but empty pint glasses scattered around the town are a common feature of rural life.
No thanks on the house. We don't want to own anymore and I am pretty sure we wouldn't meet residency requirements for Canada anyway, given our frugal, low income, simple chosen lifestyle 🙂
Goodness! I don't know what to say, or suggest, only that I am so sorry you have this noise to live with and deal with.
Hoping you get some quieter nights/days soon.
All the best Jan
Quiet last night--yay! We'll see how the upcoming bank holiday weekend goes.
Some people seem to have no respect for the idea of limits on their behaviour! It never occurs to them that they should have some consideration for others. 😒
The short answer to your opening question is, 'No, there does not appear to be.' In fact, there is legislation pending that will allow pubs, bars, and nightclubs to be open even later. When these issues are discussed it is in the context of much whining by groups representing publicans that it's too hard for them and to point out that many pubs have closed in the past several years. The latter is true, but then there were far too many to begin with. This is a town of 800 people. Even some years ago, I don't suppose it was that much larger. Yet, I am told there were once 13 bars and pubs in town. Now there are 5 on Main St alone. Still no shortage! And the outdoor space in the pub near us is a problem, which, I am told is an increasing problem around the country. Publicans see outdoor areas, which they got funding to help create during the pandemic, as an easy way to get more people to spend money there. We only learned after we got here that the one bar has a reputation for being loud. It caters to young males. The pubs that cater to older people haven't been a problem.
No NHS here--that's in the UK.
Most of the Western / Euro nations have some form of NHS, you don't have any at all? I thought you had 'the Irish version' of it.
Sigh re so many noisy pubs. =(
Are you guys considering finding some place like the old Coast Guard Station again (without mold), that seemed less noisy?
There's the Health Service Executive, but it's not like the NHS.
We are keeping our eyes open, but there are very few places available--lots of short term rentals. Of the few long term rentals there are, the vast majority are large family homes, so not appropriate for us. Winter is more quiet and I have the germ of a Plan B idea sprouting, which I will consider more in the new year.
Well that's good that they have something... Otherwise I imagine it might get very expensive.
Yeah that makes sense although I wonder if some places like that need care-takers/overseers. There are often little handyman cottages on larger properties. It'll be interesting to see what your Plan B turns-out to be. Also if you might consider casting your net to other local nations. (Not sure how easy that would be since you wouldn't have a Schengen pass among you.)
Sounds interesting tho!
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