The Fr. Pat Noise plaque is a hoax

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

installed by two brothers on the balustrade of

O'Connell Bridge O'Connell Bridge () is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland, which joins O'Connell Street to D'Olier Street, Westmoreland Street and the south quays. History Carlisle Bridge The original bridge (named ''Carlisle Bridg ...

over the

River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish language, Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major Tributary, tributaries include t ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. It is about a fictitious

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...

named Father Pat Noise. The full text of the plaque reads: The bronze plaque had been professionally

sand cast Sand casting, also known as sand molded casting, is a metal casting process characterized by using sand—known as ''casting sand''—as the mold material. The term "sand casting" can also refer to an object produced via the sand casting process ...

using materials and techniques estimated at a value of about €1,000 ($US) to produce. Only a few foundries in the Dublin area had the equipment and skill necessary to produce such an artefact. Two men who claimed to be the

hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

ers said they installed it in 2004, and owned up in May 2006 after the plaque was brought to the attention of

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

by a journalist for the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...

''. They provided video footage that appeared to show them installing it in April 2004. They claimed the work was a tribute to their father, and that the name 'Father Pat Noise' is a word play on ''

pater noster The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

'',

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "our father". The 'HSTI' is also fictitious, and could be an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of the word "

shit ''Shit'' is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang ...

Peadar Clancy Peadar Clancy (; 9 November 1888 – 21 November 1920) was an Irish republican who served with the Irish Volunteers in the Four Courts garrison during the 1916 Easter Rising and was second-in-command of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Repub ...

(misspelled on the plaque) was a genuine

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

officer killed on the evening of Bloody Sunday, 1920. The men did not reveal their exact identities, instead communicating only by anonymous correspondence. The plaque was laid in a depression left by the removal of the control box for the " Millennium Countdown" clock, installed in the waters of the

in March 1996 as a countdown to the year 2000. The clock and control box were removed in December 1996 after persistent technical and visibility problems. Dublin City Council stated when the story broke that the Pat Noise plaque would be removed, as it was unauthorised. Several ironic tributes of flowers and messages were left at the plaque. A meeting of the South East Area Committee of the Council in December 2006 supported leaving it in place. However, the plaque was removed in March 2007 during restoration work on the Bridge. A second plaque was installed, again surreptitiously, some time later. On 22 May 2007, Dublin City Council engineers intended to remove the plaque, but were stopped by City Councillor Dermot Lacey, who insisted the Council's order not to remove it should apply to the new plaque. Eoin Dillon's 2011 album ''The Golden Mean'' includes "Lament for Fr. Pat Noise".

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*
Plaque Appears On O'Connell Bridge 2006
–

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

segment on the plaque *
A Man Out of Time
– RTÉ ''

Doc on One The ''RTÉ Documentary on One'', or ''Doc on One'', is an anthology documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, edu ...

'' documentary episode {{DEFAULTSORT:Noise, Pat 2004 hoaxes 2004 sculptures Culture in Dublin (city) Fictional Catholics Fictional Christian priests Graffiti and unauthorised signage Individual signs Installation art Monuments and memorials in the Republic of Ireland Practical jokes 2004 establishments in Ireland

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