Sound dampeners will be placed on five Christ Church Cathedral bells from this weekend in an attempt to resolve a dispute between the cathedral and local residents.
Last year Christ Church started inviting
visitors to ring some of its bells during tours of the belfry, but the
noise provoked complaints from locals, irritated by the sound.
Philip Byrne,
who has lived in the area for 15 years, said he normally enjoyed the
bells but when untrained tourists rang them the sound was “just clanging
– it’s noise pollution”.
Dublin City Council
said it had been in dialogue with the cathedral authorities and locals
with a view to reaching “a mutually acceptable resolution”.
According to a spokesman, the council has
arranged with residents to “carry out noise monitoring so that we can
gain a clear profile of the nature and level of noise when the bells are
operational during these tours”.
Christ Church said yesterday that applying the
dampeners was “not exactly an easy thing to do” but they should be in
place by the weekend.