‘Menace’ of a neighbour set to lose his home

A judge has granted an order to Cavan County Council to evict a man described as a “menace”. The court heard that, among a number of incidents, he rubbed dog faeces on his neighbour's door as part of a campaign of harassment that spanned years.

The application for vacant possession was sought by the local authority at a recent sitting of Cavan District Court.

The tenant, Finbar Manning, is currently in custody serving a sentence relating to the harassment of a woman who lived next door at Tycusker, Arvagh. He is not due for release until mid October and was not present at the recent hearing.

Judge Raymond Finnegan was told that a letter informing Mr Manning of the proceedings was forwarded to the Governor at Castlerea Prison, and proof of service by a prison officer had been returned.

Tenant Liaison Officer covering the Arvagh area, Cathy McCaffrey, handed both a copy of the executive order and Mr Manning’s tenancy agreement to the judge.

The two-bedroom, upper-floor apartment was first let to Mr Manning back in February 2020, and a condition of all social housing tenancies is that the occupant does not engage in anti-social behaviour.

In Mr Manning’s case there had been a “numerous” such incidences, and these were set out in a grounding affidavit supporting the application.

Included in that was that Mr Manning “wiped” dog excrement on his neighbour’s door in 2022 and again in September 2024. In December 2024, he also threatened his neighbour’s son and issued a threat that he would “burn down” the family home.

There were also accounts of him having an uncontrolled dog and litter damage.

Matters were quiet in 2021 through to 2022, a period that coincided with Mr Manning going into prison. But, once he was released, the campaign struck up again.

The council official set out that in February 2022 a notice was served on Mr Manning and, in October, a tenancy meeting was held, which Mr Manning attended accompanied by two people from the Peter McVerry Trust. At that meeting Mr Manning was served with an official verbal warning.

She noted however that the woman harassed by Mr Manning subsequently made three separate statements of complaint to gardaí, and she was present in the courtroom last Friday if the judge wished to hear directly from her.

Mr Manning pleaded guilty and was convicted in relation to the harassment and other matters in June. He received a 21-month sentence, reduced on appeal to Cavan Circuit Court to 15 months. In the circuit court, the judge did not alter the nine month term imposed specifically on Mr Manning for harassing his neighbour.

From a council perspective, solicitor for the local authority Jacqueline Maloney said that Mr Manning was a “menace”.

Ms McCaffrey agreed, and taking cognisance of the barring order imposed by Judge Finnegan, banning Mr Manning from going near his neighbour for five years, she said it would be “impossible” to allow him to return to Arvagh without breaching that.

“To release Mr Manning back into Arvagh would be detrimental to the town and the community there,” she said.

Judge Finnegan said he was well aware of the suffering endured by Mr Manning’s neighbour and he granted the order, putting a stay on it for a two-month period.

“I think it is a most appropriate order,” remarked Judge Finnegan.