WHEN the government recently announced a competition to select a plan for the Euro1bn redevelopment of a 70 acre site at Grangegorman, it probably didn't realise that it was consigning to history one of the most gruesome murder scenes in Ireland.

Number 1 Orchard View was where two elderly women were butchered by an intruder who broke into the home they shared on the grounds of the psychiatric hospital in 1997. The house will be replaced by the new campus of the Dublin Institute of Technology and will be serviced by a Luas extension.

Locals are welcoming the destruction of the murder house which has become a mini tourist attraction, with much whispering, finger-pointing and gossip about the horrors that went on within its walls. Grangegorman is far from unique. There are dozens of other homes across the country that will forever be known as "houses of horror" because of their association with murders and extreme acts of violence. Some of these houses have been the scene of terrible murders, some were owned by the victim or the perpetrator and some might even have been the cause of the murder in the first place.

Frank McCann TOoutsiders, Frank McCann was a pillar of the community. A family man and high-ranking official in the Irish Amateur Swimming Association, he was leading a double life having impregnated a 17-year old after meeting her at a swimming meeting. McCann arrived home from work on 10 September, 1992, to find his plush home in Butterfield Avenue in Rathfarnham on fire. His 30year-old wife Esther and Jessica, the 18-month-old child they looked after, were inside the house. Despite frantic efforts of onlookers to save the pair, they both died. While it initially looked like the fire had been a tragic accident, an investigation soon discovered that the blaze was planned and the gas had been tampered with to cause an explosion.

McCann was soon named as the chief suspect. Jessica was not the couple's child and they had been trying to adopt her, but the application was turned down after the mother of the teen he had an affair with informed the adoption board. McCann then decided he wanted his wife dead and would claim the insurance money. His plan came unstuck though and he was convicted and sentenced to two life sentences in 1996.

In 1998, Esther's 83-year-old mother Bridget O'Brien made legal history by securing half of the proceeds of the McCann's family home. She argued that McCann should not be allowed to benefit financially from carrying out a crime. The home was worth �180,000 and McCann was left with nothing after he paid his legal costs. He was also forced to hand over the couple's life insurance payout to Esther's family. The house was subsequently sold.

Michael Gallagher SIXTY-year-old Michael Gallagher was watching TV with his partner on 18 January 2007 when there was a knock at the door. Sally Rogers was surprised that visitors would be calling to the semi-detached house on Tymonville Road at 10pm. She was faced with two men armed with a knife and hammer and was attacked and knocked to the ground. The pair then ran past her and chased Michael Gallagher into the kitchen stabbing him more than 15 times. The painter and decorator was still alive when the ambulance arrived at the house, but he died on the way to hospital.

Detectives have no idea who murdered Michael Gallagher and cannot find a motive for his killing. The dead man had been married twice before and met Sally Rogers late in life. Both had five children from previous relationships and were said to be devoted to each other. Sally has never got over what happened at her home and has not returned. It lies completely empty and the phone has been disconnected. Friends of Sally say she cannot bear to go back and be reminded of Michael, and it is still unclear about what will become of the house, which is worth in excess of Euro400,000.

Farah Swaleh Noor THE 38-year-old Kenyan was stabbed and dismembered at Flat 1, 17 Richmond Cottages, Ballybough, in March 2005. Noor's murder was probably the most gruesome in Irish criminal history. Linda and Charlotte Mulhall stabbed Noor (BELOW) over 20 times and beat him on the head with a hammer before cutting his body into eight pieces on the floor of the tiny one-bedroom flat. His body was then dumped in the Royal Canal - Noor's head and penis were never recovered.

The flat was being rented by the Mulhall's mother, Kathleen, and she sat in the living room as the savage killing took place.

Charlotte Mulhall was eventually convicted of Noor's murder and Linda was jailed for his manslaughter.

17 Richmond Cottages is divided into four flats and its owner tried to sell the property earlier this year for Euro575,000.

It attracted dozens of viewers but the majority were only interested in witnessing where the so-called Irish Scissor Sisters had committed their brutal crime. It was eventually withdrawn from the market after few serious bids.

Irene White IRENEWhite was brutally murdered at 'Ice House', Demesne Road in Dundalk in April 2005. A man confronted the 43-year-old mother-of-three in the kitchen and stabbed her to death in a frenzied attack. Irene's murderer managed to gain access to the house and was later seen running away from the murder scene. It is believed an individual was paid to carry out the killing. Two people have been detained as part of the investigation and a file will shortly be sent to the DPP. Following the murder Mrs White's daughter and mother went to the High Court and secured an injunction preventing Irene's husband from selling the house. Alan and Irene White were separated and had agreed to sell Ice House to Eircom for Euro925,000. The proceeds of the sale were to be split equally but the court heard evidence that the two plaintiffs were concerned that Mr White would transfer the money from the sale of the house out of the jurisdiction. The injunction was granted and Mr White could not complete the sale of the property and he subsequently withdrew it from the market.

Grangegorman Murders IN MARCH 1997, 59-year-old Sylvia Shields and Mary Callinan (61) were discovered brutally murdered at their home in Grangegorman, Dublin. The two women had been living in sheltered accommodation on the grounds of the Grangegorman psychiatric hospital. A man broke into the women's house and butchered them as they slept in their beds.

The garda investigation into the double murder was one of the most heavily criticised in the force's history and resulted in an innocent man, 24-year-old Dean Lyons, being wrongly charged with the murders. Lyons had confessed to the killings and gave detailed information about the murder scene and was brought before the courts. One month after Lyons was charged, another man came forward and admitted that he was the real killer. Englishman Mark Nash had been responsible for the double murder of Carl Doyle and his wife Catherine at their home in Castlerea on 16 August, 1997.

The 25-year-old gave detail about the Shields and Callinan murders that only the real killer could have known. He was convicted of the Roscommon murders but was never charged with the Grangegorman slayings. Innocent Dean Lyons died of a heroin overdose in 2000. A commission of inquiry cleared detectives of any wrongdoing during the investigation but said mistakes were made. The murder house at Number 1 Orchard View is now to be knocked down to make way for a Euro1bn redevelopment of the 70-acre site.

The Mulhall Family THE family home of Linda and Charlotte Mulhall (RIGHT) at 31 Kilclare Gardens, Tallaght, is another property that has been tainted by negative publicity following a murder. Nobody was ever actually murdered at the house, but the murderous pair were born and bred in the three-bed semidetached house.

They lived in the house with their father John, mother Kathleen and brothers John and James. John Mulhall committed suicide after removing property from the scene were Farah Noor was murdered. Kathleen Mulhall is being sought for questioning over Noor's murder, while the two brothers have both been convicted of serious offences over the last 12 months. It is no wonder that locals refer to number 31 as "the house of horrors" and the council has boarded it up.

Kilclare Gardens was where Linda first confessed about the murder to garda�. It was also the scene where she burnt her son's schoolbag which had contained Farah Noor's head.

John Mulhall senior took the washing line from the back garden and drove to the Phoenix Park where he hung himself from a tree because he could not handle the horror of what some of his family had done. It is still unclear what will happen to the house.