Publicans who try to attract tourists with a lively blast of traditional music may have to rethink their strategy, following complaints about the noise coming from some Killarney pubs.
Initial results from an environmental noise-monitoring survey suggest that some singing pubs in the Kerry town have far exceeded acceptable night-time levels.
The survey was commissioned by the town council following complaints, mainly from tourists, about the deafening sound of music and singing from a number of pubs, explained Mr Denis O'Connor, town engineer in Killarney.
In some cases speakers had been placed on the street outside the premises to relay the music going on inside.
"There had also been complaints from councillors. Tourists said they found the noise from pubs too much and described it as tacky."
He said residents in some Killarney suburbs said they had given up complaining about the noise from the singing pubs. Now the noise problem in Killarney would be tackled.
"The early indications are that in some of the premises surveyed, night-time noise levels have reached 70 decibels. The general conditions set down by the Environmental Protection Agency and local authorities are that noise emissions from public premises do not exceed sound pressure levels of 45 decibels for night-time noise levels and 55 decibels for day-time noise levels," Mr O'Connor explained.
In all cases, pubs, not discos, were offenders, he said.
Discos in Killarney are held underground and sound-proofing is used.
"We will be asking the pubs to put in sound-proofing to reduce the source of the noise and to take the speakers off the street. If they don't comply, we will be lodging objections when their renewal of licence comes before the court," Mr O'Connor said.
"One of the things under the Killarney master plan is to uplift the status of the town and prevent it falling into honky-tonk," he said.
Signage was another problem area. While Killarney had won the Best Kept Town award recently, the judges had highlighted the town's number of signs.
They had urged rival B&B and restaurant owners jostling for position "to calm down".
Signs within the town were so numerous it was difficult to distinguish one premises from another, the judging panels had found.
Killarney's Muckross Road received special mention because of the number of signs on it.