SEÁN KENNY TD HIGHLIGHTS RULES ON HOUSE ALARMS
Posted on June 22, 2011 12:12 PM | Permanent Link
Recently I have been hearing from constituents concerned with loud house alarms causing annoyance and interrupting their routines at home. I put down a parliamentary question on the matter to the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, as he is the Minister responsible for the law in this area.
Section 107 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 provides local authorities with powers to require measures to be taken to prevent or limit noise from any premises, processes and works. The Environment Section of the relevant City or County Council is the appropriate contact point for reporting a noise nuisance in this regard.
As well as this, under section 108 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992, where any noise is so loud and continuous, where it is repeated enough for long enough and where the volume or pitch, and when it is happening at certain times when it might cause annoyance, then it is open to any person, or group of persons, to bring a complaint to the District Court. The Court may order the person or body making, causing or responsible for the noise to either stop the noise, or to lower the volume.
The procedures involved have been simplified to allow action to be taken without legal representation. A public information leaflet outlining the legal avenues available to persons experiencing noise nuisance is available at -
http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Noise/PublicationsDocuments/FileDownLoad,1319,en.pdf
The Private Security Authority (PSA), which the Department for Justice and Equality is responsible for, deal with matters relating to the licensing, control and supervision of all installers of security equipment. The PSA has powers to maintain and improve standards in the provision of services, including standards for intruder alarms. As of 1 August 2006, alarm installers cannot legally operate without a PSA licence, the granting of which will require that the installer is compliant with the Irish Standard for intruder alarm systems, IS EN50131.
IS EN50131 does not specify a maximum decibel level but does specify a maximum duration of 15 minutes for the sounding of external alarms on buildings, which must cease automatically after this maximum duration. This applies to all external alarms installed after 1 August 2006.
I hope that this clarifies the situation for residents who may be experiencing issues with loud house alarms - the law on the matter enables residents to have the matter dealt with.
