A mystery noise that constantly echoes around their house is forcing a couple to sleep in their van and wear protective ear muffs due to a constant buzzing and clicking noise from somewhere nearby.
Gemma and Tony Agnew, from Brownstown, near Navan county Meath, have been suffering the noise for the last three years and despite the best efforts of Meath County Council and the Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), nobody has yet been able to identify the source of the problem.
The noise, a low humming buzz, which began in 2020 has got worse in recent months.
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A frustrated Gemma said, 'At first I thought I was going crazy and imagining it but then Tony managed to record it on his phone so I knew it was for real but the council and the EPA sent people out and they could hear nothing.
'The suspicion has to be was that whatever machine is making the noise was turned off when they were doing their inspections.
'We have even had people from the ESB out to check the supply. they seemed to think there may be an issue and said they would be back but that was over a year ago and they haven't returned yet.
'The inspections took place during the day in late 2022 and while it is bad then it is worse at night and really annoying when we are inside the house so we have little choice but to wear ear muffs during the day and sleep outside in the van most nights.
'The ear muffs I use are the same ones you would wear when using a jack hammer on a building site and the problem with outside is that we have to park the van in a certain part of the yard or else we can still hear it.
'It's not so bad sleeping in the van this time of year but during the winter it was freezing, I mean that literally, we'd wake up with frost all over the van..
'If we try and sleep in the bedroom we get three hours at best before it wakes us up. I have been out walking the fields at 3 am to try and find out where it is coming from but found nothing so it must be inside somewhere.
'The Dawn Meats factory is close by and they kindly sent some of their noise control people up here but they couldn't establish any source either.
'It was suggested we turn the radio up to drown out the noise but we have tried that and it is only when we get it to 97 decibels, which is extremely loud, that it has any effect.
'We need help to get this sorted out sooner rather than later.'
