Coffins removed from Hallowe"en display after eviction threat

Complaints force Brawny woman to dismantle funeral scene

An Athlone woman has said she has been forced to remove an entire Hallowe"en display featuring three full-length coffins from the front of her house in the face of an eviction order from Athlone Town Council.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Christina Quinn from Brawny Square said it was "ridiculous" that she had to take down the coffins on Sunday after a number of complaints were made to the local authority last week.

'There was no harm in it. It wasn"t meant to be offensive. 3,000-4,000 people came to the house at the weekend to look at it from Moate, Cloghan and Galway and they loved it. I know when the picture is in the paper, if you had a voting poll on whether it should be removed people would be in favour of it,' Ms Quinn argued.

Christina said her family has decorated the house at Hallowe"en and Christmas for the last four years and they are annoyed that they had to take the coffins down, but she said the eviction order 'freaked me out', stressing there had never been any complaints to the council prior to this.

When contacted by the Westmeath Independent, Athlone Town Clerk, John Walsh said: 'Tenants of the council in Brawney Square have stacked a number of coffins in the front of the house. The council does not consider it to be appropriate use of a residential garden in terms of the tenancy agreement and the planning act'.

'It is actively causing a nuisance, annoyance and disturbance to other residents in the area and the council intends to have the coffins removed. To give effect to that a notice to quit has been issued to the tenants,' Mr Walsh confirmed, after quite a number of complaints were lodged with the council last week prior to its removal.

Mr Walsh explained that the local authority considered the situation a breach of the tenancy agreement, adding if the coffins were removed that would be the end of the matter.

'The Housing Liaison Officer has been in touch with the parties involved and we will take whatever action to see they are removed. The sight of the coffins was disturbing for many people and was inappropriate,' he said, adding that tenants were entitled to live in houses in peace without annoyance and disturbance.

However, Christina Quinn, who has two young children vowed not to get angry about the situation and is already thinking of ideas for a brand new Hallowe"en display at her home, which will be revealed at the weekend.

'We took the coffins down and then we took everything down because it (the display) doesn"t look the same without them. But we are going to redo the house. We have an idea for other Halloween" stuff and all will be unveiled at the weekend,' she added.

'It was never my intention to hurt people or offend anybody. It"s just part of Halloween, we usually have a Hallowe"en party as well and we"ve had not complaints before", the Brawny resident concluded, contending some people seem to have taken the whole thing far too seriously.