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Only in Ireland .... ! THE HOAX MEMORIAL O'Connell Bridge, wider than it is long, is in the very centre of Dublin city and is the main crossing of the river Liffey. In May 2006, city authorities noticed that a bronze plaque had mysteriously appeared, inset into one of the parapets. This particular location had been carved out already to carry a clock to count down to the new millennium and had been vacant since the purpose of the clock was accomplished in 2000. The plaque carries the wording This plaque commemorates FR. PAT NOISE advisor to Peadar Clancey He died under suspicious circumstances when his carriage plunged into the Liffey on August 10th 1919. Erected by the HSTI Photo: Irish Daily Mail Enquiries were made immediately but nobody seemed to know who put the plaque there. Church sources failed to find any record of Fr Pat Noise and speculation centered on the possibility that it might be an anagram. It didn't take a genius to find what HSTI might be an anagram of, but there was no hard evidence. There was no record of a Peadar Clancey but Peadar Clancy was a freedom fighter who was killed by British forces in 1920. Dublin City Council decided not to remove the plaque immediately until something might be found out about it. On May 10th RTE received a home-made video tape which showed two men placing the plaque. One was dressed in workman's hi-visibility clothes and the operation was being performed in full view of passers-by. The faces of the two men had been digitally altered after filming so they would not be recognised. The camcorder recorded the date on the film -- April 10th 2004. There was a statement delivered with the film which: 1. Admitted that the plaque was a hoax 2. Claimed that the name Fr. Pat Noise was a play on the latin 'Pater Noster', the first words of the Lord's Prayer -- Our Father .. -- and that it was a tribute to the pranxter's father 3. The acronym HSTI referred to a fictional History Society 4. The person whose face is depicted on the plaque is still alive. A couple of days later Dublin Corporation removed the plaque. The entry in the Wikipedia for 'Fr Pat Noise' and the External Links included with it give more information, reaction and photographs Only in Ireland!!! Photo: Irish Daily Mail