since the late 1980s michael bolton and ted neville had monitored the earlsfort terrance court, and lobbied for its restoration when eventually vacated by the university. additionally, edward hughes, former president of the united states court tennis association took an interest in the future of the structure. in 1998, after a plan was announced to permanently convert the court into a 320-seat music recital hall, these men joined their efforts and formed the irish real tennis association (irta). after recruiting members and finding support from the dublin international sports council, "an taisce", and the irish georgian society, the irta issued legal and public relations challenges to the proposed conversion. the challenges ranged from the local planning level to a high court appeal. the irta lost every battle, but ended up winning the war, at least so far, as the government abandoned its planned project.