Graffiti on house in Howth

donaghs

Does anyone know what the story is with the graffiti on the gable wall of a house near what I think it is Abbey St in Howth?

Its very visible (on left hand side) coming down the road from the Church, heading towards the harbour. It seems to relate to some sort of planning application. While I'm asking, anyone know what the history of the distinguished looking old building behind?

donaghs

Anyone even noticed this graffiti in Howth?

uprooted shane

cant say i have, and ive been out there quite a bit, but me being from offaly, dont know where abouts your talking about

the boss of me

cant say i have, and ive been out there quite a bit, but me being from offaly, dont know where abouts your talking about

Here you go then , I reckon this is the house the op meant...unless of course there are two houses in Howth covered in graffiti :eek:

AckwelFoley

Ah, that guy really must like Julie. Hes a real romantic.

There are a alot of romantics in Athlone.

Wishbone Ash

the boss of me wrote: »

Here you go then , I reckon this is the house the op meant...unless of course there are two houses in Howth covered in graffiti :eek:

A similar picture featured in the Dublin Picture Game a long time back.

paddy318i

yea i know that house the reason why its grafittied is because it was full of refugees some time ago i think there was about 20-30 living in it and there was an arguement between them and the locals and the opposition decided to take action and get them evicted by vandalising there property.

uprooted shane

paddy318i wrote: »

yea i know that house the reason why its grafittied is because it was full of refugees some time ago i think there was about 20-30 living in it and there was an arguement between them and the locals and the opposition decided to take action and get them evicted by vandalising there property.

really? wow harsh:Dlol

any ways, nope never seen it, but then again, im not the most observent person in the world all the same! but im on to look out now

lostexpectation

what does it say?

donaghs

Was about to head out there and take a picture myself as there was no reponse. Some of the graffiti seems to have been painted over in that photo.

I don't know any of the history or gossip behind as I don't live there. But I did read some of the grafitti a few months ago, and it seems to relate to corruption in planning applications. It named names also. I think it mentioned a local business which was linked with this. The other thing that struck me is the house on the right seems totally out of place with the architecture all around it.

It really stood out for me on my Sunday strolls around Howth, thought there might be a boardsie who's local and know's what its all about.

greatgoal

donaghs wrote: »

Was about to head out there and take a picture myself as there was no reponse. Some of the graffiti seems to have been painted over in that photo.

I don't know any of the history or gossip behind as I don't live there. But I did read some of the grafitti a few months ago, and it seems to relate to corruption in planning applications. It named names also. I think it mentioned a local business which was linked with this. The other thing that struck me is the house on the right seems totally out of place with the architecture all around it.

It really stood out for me on my Sunday strolls around Howth, thought there might be a boardsie who's local and know's what its all about.

is it something to do with the solicitor guy thats been in the news for fiddling millions,i know he has a gaff in howth?

Wishbone Ash

greatgoal wrote: »

is it something to do with the solicitor guy thats been in the news for fiddling millions,i know he has a gaff in howth?

No - his former house was one of the huge exclusive costal houses.

spurious

donaghs wrote: »

While I'm asking, anyone know what the history of the distinguished looking old building behind?

That's the old courthouse.
An Taisce own it now.

donaghs

It may have been an old courthouse, but there's another building called "The Old Courthouse" which is the only An Taisce property in Howth I can find on the web. This is close by nearer the strand, and was used as both a courthouse and a prayer house. It's sometimes used for book sales on Sunday's now.

spurious

I beg your pardon. The building in the photo is the 'former' courthouse. My mistake re An Taisce.

spoonface

When I read the inaccuracies given in this thread, it really reminds me that you gotta take everything on the internet with a pinch of salt...

>That's the old courthouse. An Taisce own it now.

No, it's an old church. Renaissance Products own it now and there's about 5 privately owned apartments in it too. There's a graveyard behind it and a priest buried under the church. It was bought for half nothing off the Church years back.

>yea i know that house the reason why its grafittied is because it was full of refugees some time ago i think there was about 20-30 living in it and there was an arguement between them and the locals and the opposition decided to take action and get them evicted by vandalising there property.

You must have made that up altogether. Yes there were a few people living in the vandalised, no more than about 7 (it's broken into 4 apartments) and none were refugees. There is/was a black family living in it, who are not refugees (I hope nothing was assumed based on colour), they are working immigrants.

The graffiti is over a land dispute between the owners of the 2 buildings in the picture (as in where the property line and rights-of-way lie), with most of the grafitti done by the owner of the building on the right, complaining about the owner of the building on the left. The Happy Birthday is somewhat unrelated and was a late-night drunken thought that never got painted over. It's crazy, this is there for the last 2 years now at this stage!

It's not related to solicitor Michael Lynn who bought a house over the other side of Howth Hill, beyond the summit.

donaghs

Was it a Protestant denomination's church? It looks that way in that it is very plain and austere.

I know that the first Catholic Churches which were allowed to be built (after the Penal restrictions were relaxed), tended to be built out of view, in a more plain style - so as not the cause offence to to the establishment. This could be an example of that.

Nice post on the inaccurracies as well!

spoonface

>Was it a Protestant denomination's church? It looks that way in that it is very plain and austere.

I'm not 100% sure but you could well be right. There's a holy water font on the way in like you have in Catholic churches - does that indicate anything either way?

spurious

A couple of pictures:
http://ireland.archiseek.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/howth/courthouse.html

spoonface

Oops, so it was the courthouse at a point and I think it was a church at another point. There are indeed 2 former courthouses in Howth, the other one being close to the El Paso.

Wishbone Ash

spoonface wrote: »

it was full of refugees ... ....... and none were refugees...... ......who are not refugees

Just to clarify - when you use the term 'refugees' do you mean 'asylum seekers'?

I often find that people, mainly through ignorance, are unable to differentiate between 'refugees' and 'asylum seekers'.

spoonface

Well Paddy began with the term 'refugee' (i.e. someone granted refugee status, following arrival in the country as an asylum seeker), but in actual fact, they were neither - they were skilled professionals who were given working visas and worked.

Bluefoam

I saw that grafitti at the weekend and thought it looked quite good. I rarely say that about grafitti but in this instance there was something appropriate about its style...

lostexpectation

thing in paper about this, the sindo, apparently one couple snatched the place at auction a few years back and the other bidder is pissed still, went to court for defamation and illbillboard he's been ordered to obliterate it, the graffiti i mean

donaghs

On a related topic as apparently it's nearby. Anyone know the location of St. Columbanus Hall, or got a picture of it?

spoonface

Go up main street, keeping just right of the church and follow the road as it gets steeper and bends right. Just after the 2nd bend, you'll see it below you on your right.

Re this original thread, someone has finally painted over the entire gable wall. About time too!

miss no stars

The St Columbanus Hall that's actually in use is right in the middle of the village. It's between collins's and the flower shop - yellow building with grass in front of it, up a set of steps from main street but glaringly obvious. Think it even has St Columbanus' Hall written over the door...



It's the yellow building just above the two trees in the foreground

miss no stars

A man was prosecuted today over the graffiti. The irish times had it on page 4.

the boss of me

From todays Irish Times....




Howth man ordered to pay €30,000 to neighbours for libellous graffiti

A CO DUBLIN man has been ordered to pay his neighbours €30,000 damages for defamation of character and has been permanently restrained from printing untrue and libellous graffiti about them on his gable wall.

Declan Wade, counsel for Thomas and Rosemary Evans, Church Street, Howth, and their companies, Renaissance Products Ltd and Renaissance House Management Company, told the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that their neighbour, Thomas Carlyle, had painted the graffiti claiming that Mr Evans was a fraud and a forger.

He said the graffiti-bearing wall at Carlyle's home, on Church Street, Howth, adjoined the Evanses' property and was visible to the people of Howth and to clients who attended the Evanses' beauty products company.

Mr Carlyle, who represented himself, told the court he was defending the claims of defamation on the basis that what he had printed were true statements which under the Constitution he was granted the freedom to express.

Mr Wade told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that the situation developed between the parties as far back as 1997 and related to Mr Carlyle having obtained permission for four apartments at the former St Mary's Catholic Church in Howth and subsequently Mr Evans having obtained planning permission for the development of St Mary's Parochial Hall.

He said the Evanses would contend that the graphic nature of the graffiti had been a source of extreme humiliation, embarrassment and upset and had arisen out of Mr Carlyle, dissatisfied with the legal process in which the parties had sought injunctions against each other, had taken the law into his own hands.

The graffiti had started off as a small amount of text on the wall but had grown in quantity and size over a period of months.

The Evanses had earlier obtained High Court injunctions restraining Mr Carlyle from placing any further graffiti on the wall and later a mandatory order directing its removal which had been carried out.

Following evidence from both parties, during which Mr Carlyle pleaded justification for having painted the graffiti on the wall, Judge Linnane said she was satisfied the Evans's had been defamed and awarded them €30,000 damages and costs against Carlyle together with a permanent injunction restraining him from repeating the defamation.


This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
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