“A farmer has rented land beside me and started a crow banger a few days ago. He is using it to protect feed in an automatic feeder. It goes all day and night. We have a young baby and my wife works from home, so it is causing a major nuisance. It is also frightening dogs and horses in the area. Can we do anything to stop him using it?”

Firstly, I would suggest that you go and speak to the farmer if you have not already done so to explain to him the nuisance that the banger is causing. Perhaps you might be able to agree that the banger goes off at certain limited times by means of timer control switches and/or that he uses other less noisy methods in order achieve the same objective.

In the case of noise emanating from rented land, if the farmer is unwilling to resolve the matter, the landowner should be contacted to determine if breaches of the lease agreement have occurred. In any event, it might be worth knowing your legal rights set out below, which you can use to argue your case if he is unwilling to compromise on the issue.

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What action can I take?

Whenever you consider a noise to be so loud, so continuous, so repeated, of such duration or pitch that it gives you reasonable cause for annoyance, you can initiate an action to deal with it under the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 (Noise) Regulations 1994.

If discussing the matter with the farmer/landowner does not resolve the matter, you should consider contacting the environmental section of your local authority/county council to ascertain whether it is in a position to take action. A local authority may serve a notice requiring certain measures be taken.

However, the instigation of subsequent court proceedings by the local authority in respect of an alleged breach of the terms of such notice could require indictment in the Circuit Court and thus be a longer process.

Consequently, you may opt to take redress yourself directly through the District Court.

Role of the District Court

The sitting District Court judge will hear the evidence on both sides and make a decision. If the court finds in your favour, it can order the reduction of the noise to a specified level, limit it to specific times or order it to cease altogether.

The legislation specifies certain conditions that amount to a good defence in court for the person allegedly causing the nuisance. If the person concerned can prove that he/she took all reasonable care to prevent or limit the noise by using facilities, practices and methods of operation that are suitable for that purpose, or that the noise is in accordance with a licence issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, they may have a good defence.

However, if the farmer did not try less nosier alternatives, he/she may not have a credible defence.

How do I complain to the District Court?

It is not necessary to consult a solicitor if you wish to complain to the court, nor is there a requirement to be represented in court by a solicitor. Persons wishing to lodge a complaint can do so themselves through their local District Court as follows:

1. Consult with the clerk of your local District Court about a date for the hearing of your case. You will need to complete a booking form and submit a booking fee. Generally speaking, a hearing can be arranged at short notice and will be listed with other cases due to be heard on the same day.

2. You must inform the person concerned that you will be making a complaint to the District Court. The date for the hearing of the case must be at least seven days later than the date you inform the person or body causing the noise.

3. You must attend court at the arranged time and present your complaint. As a general rule, it is important to have a record of the times and dates when the noise nuisance occurred. You should record all instances of the perceived noise nuisance in a written log, for example, time, duration, type of noise, etc. You should also record all details of correspondence, conversations and related events in this log. If possible, try to obtain a sound recording as well (for similar reasons).

Less noisy effective alternatives

I understand that there may be other less noisy alternatives which may be effective in controlling the problem. It might be worth suggesting to the farmer to use scarecrows, helium balloons, kits in the shape of a hawk, recordings of predator noises or perhaps a licensed gun user to help control the birds.

While grey crows, magpies, rooks, jackdaws, feral pigeons and pigeons are no longer considered vermin and cannot be shot the whole year round, I understand that under EU derogation they can be shot if causing damage or are likely to cause damage to crops or livestock.

In order to shoot grey crows, magpies, rooks, jackdaws, feral pigeons and pigeons, the gun licence holder must have the permission of the landowner and be sure the birds have been causing damage or are likely to do so.