Resistance Writings 2018
Statement by Gerard Doyle & Lisa Smith on their ongoing mistreatment in emergency accommodation
In 9 months at Flynn’s BnB on Gardiner St, a private emergency accommodation provider funded by Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, our family have faced constant mistreatment.
We were never given a copy of the rules of the accommodation, our children were threatened by staff and not allowed to play outside. There have been constant threats of eviction and even that Tusla, to have our children taken away from us.
On monday 17th September, after a minor disagreement over clothes in washing machine on the sunday, management Management banged on the door, told us to get out. No written warning was given. . We said he would sit down and chat, once the children were in school we were threatened with Tusla once again, in front of the children. At this point the Armed response unit arrived and threatened to physically evict us.
We have faced continued harassment since, including our electricity being cut off. We have now made a formal complaint to DRHE.
We Demand
1. We Demand an end to threats of eviction and harassment from management in Flynn’s BnB
2. We want suitable Alternative Accommodation.
3. We are happy to move outside of Dublin, and specifically have family and friends in Roscommon and would move there if possible.
4. We want good conditions, standards and security for everyone in emergency accommodation and that no family face homelessness.
We are demanding that we have a written reply by Tuesday 16th, 5pm. If these demands are not meet, we will expand our actions against the owners until we are treated with dignity and respect.
In 9 months at Flynn’s BnB on Gardiner St, a private emergency accommodation provider funded by Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, our family have faced constant mistreatment.
We were never given a copy of the rules of the accommodation, our children were threatened by staff and not allowed to play outside. There have been constant threats of eviction and even that Tusla, to have our children taken away from us.
On monday 17th September, after a minor disagreement over clothes in washing machine on the sunday, management Management banged on the door, told us to get out. No written warning was given. . We said he would sit down and chat, once the children were in school we were threatened with Tusla once again, in front of the children. At this point the Armed response unit arrived and threatened to physically evict us.
We have faced continued harassment since, including our electricity being cut off. We have now made a formal complaint to DRHE.
We Demand
1. We Demand an end to threats of eviction and harassment from management in Flynn’s BnB
2. We want suitable Alternative Accommodation.
3. We are happy to move outside of Dublin, and specifically have family and friends in Roscommon and would move there if possible.
4. We want good conditions, standards and security for everyone in emergency accommodation and that no family face homelessness.
We are demanding that we have a written reply by Tuesday 16th, 5pm. If these demands are not meet, we will expand our actions against the owners until we are treated with dignity and respect.
Co-archived Dublin Central Housing Action
I see a new thing has started where landlords and agencies are now charging a €500 fee to people looking to view a property. What a great idea, if this takes off, the govt can tax it and there'll be even more money to give themselves raises, and as most of them are landlords themselves it'll be a double whammy!
Our govt are great at capitalising.
We should be so proud.
Our govt are great at capitalising.
We should be so proud.
Co-archived Janette Revitup Laffan
Big thanks to Bernard, our People Before Profit representative in Marino, who came to the rescue this morning as #StormAli ripped away hoarding at a derelict site on the corner of Fairview Avenue & Fairview Terrace in Dublin 3.
The big site has been left idle and derelict for more than ten years by Halcyon Homes Limited, and the hoarding around it was in poor condition and presented a very clear danger to the public as the winds began to rip it away from the old timber frame.
I happened upon the scene this morning and held it down whilst calling the Gardai, the fire brigade and the City Council, all of whom were overstretched by the number of emergency calls.
Thankfully Bernard lives near by and together we dismantled the most dangerous part of the hoarding; soon after the city Council inspector for dangerous buildings arrived to take over.
How a private developer can be allowed to sit on this piece of prime land in Dublin 3 is beyond me: not only is it socially destructive to leave such residential land undeveloped in the midst of the housing crisis but it is quite the eyesore in the area too and today presented a real danger to the safety of the passing motorists and pedestrians, many of whom were quite elderly.
The big site has been left idle and derelict for more than ten years by Halcyon Homes Limited, and the hoarding around it was in poor condition and presented a very clear danger to the public as the winds began to rip it away from the old timber frame.
I happened upon the scene this morning and held it down whilst calling the Gardai, the fire brigade and the City Council, all of whom were overstretched by the number of emergency calls.
Thankfully Bernard lives near by and together we dismantled the most dangerous part of the hoarding; soon after the city Council inspector for dangerous buildings arrived to take over.
How a private developer can be allowed to sit on this piece of prime land in Dublin 3 is beyond me: not only is it socially destructive to leave such residential land undeveloped in the midst of the housing crisis but it is quite the eyesore in the area too and today presented a real danger to the safety of the passing motorists and pedestrians, many of whom were quite elderly.
Co-archived John Lyons
Witness from St Vincents Hostel tells us that last week 3 #homeless people lost their lives in #Cork.
Two were lost in the river Lee, another due to overdose.
How horribly sad!
Why is this not documented & reported?
What are the values of our society?
Two were lost in the river Lee, another due to overdose.
How horribly sad!
Why is this not documented & reported?
What are the values of our society?
Co-archived Declare Housing Emergency
Hey peeps,
We have a young woman who is being asked to vacate her rented property by the 18th October because landlords selling up. This young lady has suffered a very recent bereavement in the last number of weeks. She sadly midway through her pregnancy gave birth to her child who heartbreakingly didn’t survive. As she has medical complications following this she cannot return to work yet and is relying on HAP which is the social support for rent through the local council, but as we all know the limits are set to low and the rents are too high. This young woman is torn with grief and now trying to find a place to live. If there is any landlord/letting agent/ or person who is aware of any property that would suit this young lady would you please contact the page ASAP and let’s help lighten her burden. This isn’t something anyone should have hanging over them, but doubled with the grief of losing her child we are really pleading with people to help us help her get settled so she can grieve her loss without the fear of homelessness.
Thanks guys.
We have a young woman who is being asked to vacate her rented property by the 18th October because landlords selling up. This young lady has suffered a very recent bereavement in the last number of weeks. She sadly midway through her pregnancy gave birth to her child who heartbreakingly didn’t survive. As she has medical complications following this she cannot return to work yet and is relying on HAP which is the social support for rent through the local council, but as we all know the limits are set to low and the rents are too high. This young woman is torn with grief and now trying to find a place to live. If there is any landlord/letting agent/ or person who is aware of any property that would suit this young lady would you please contact the page ASAP and let’s help lighten her burden. This isn’t something anyone should have hanging over them, but doubled with the grief of losing her child we are really pleading with people to help us help her get settled so she can grieve her loss without the fear of homelessness.
Thanks guys.
Co-archived Wexford People Helping People
Wicklow court house been empty for 5 years or more even with the heating still on to stop the damp meaning there is still power. Finna Failure (fail) and Sin Fein want to reopen it as a court house. It doesn't look like it will happen. But however there are 4,000 nearly on the Wicklow housing list this state owned property lying idol big enough to fit in many families and single people in apartments. The building is owned by the state that technically means it is owned by us why can't we open it.for social housing?
Co-archived Anna Doyle
The new Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, issued a statement last week on the events involving his Public Order Unit - those are the lads with the big batons and the masks. It was a transparently silly statement, but he had to say something in a hurry.
I imagine that sometime on Wednesday two things dawned on him.
One, that he and his force are being left to deal with some of the consequences of the 2008 crash.
Two, he needs to sort out that comically named outfit, the 'Public Order Unit'.
The 'fighting Irish' have been remarkably docile since the collective greed of the bankers and developers crashed the economy in 2008. And we remained docile through all the years of austerity that followed. I suspect a lot of people bought into the propaganda that claimed "we all partied".
And recently we're being told that our submissiveness worked. The economy is allegedly flying. Last week the Central Bank said that Irish household wealth is today higher than it was during the Celtic Bubble.
Trouble is, they reach that conclusion by adding up our collective assets (including the notional price of our houses) and then subtracting our liabilities.
Which means we're "wealthy" on paper, because of the current inflated price of property.
Which is what happened in 2008.
While paper "wealth" is pointless for the individual homeowner, inflated property prices help speculators reap millions.
Never in our history have we had less control over the direction of our lives. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are providing political cover while another crowd of gamblers plays another version of the old game of greed.
With spectacularly damaging consequences.
Barnardos has recently dealt with more children in crisis than it's ever seen (who'd have guessed that perpetual economic adventurism, and a State policy of raising kids in emergency accommodation, would damage children?).
St Vincent de Paul and the Capuchins continue to be run off their feet as they try to keep people from going hungry.
Official hospital waiting lists are at a conservative 718,000 and the Taoiseach - I kid you not - says the figures are "going in the right direction".
Meanwhile, his ministers have come up with another cynical plan to pump countless millions into the private sector in the hope it'll take the bare look off their housing policy.
The plan seems to be to release State land in the hope that speculators will build a notional amount of "affordable" homes, while the majority of their products will be officially "unaffordable" to most hardworking people.
An unsustainable portion of our collective wealth is being siphoned off into the purses of the owners of property.
It's a great time to be a predatory financial adventurer. We have a new generation of politicians who are fervent believers that the fundamental basis of society is not the republic but the market.
They're children playing with matches.
They cannot house their people.
They cannot medically treat their people.
They cannot ensure their people have enough to eat.
But they sure know how to grovel to the aforesaid predatory financial adventurers.
It must be galling to Varadkar and his hapless ministers when a significant number of mostly young people engage in peaceful civil disobedience, questioning official policy.
They're refusing to accept the insane logic of making the few wealthy at the expense of the many, with a vague hope that the excess wealth of the few will somehow trickle down to the rest of us.
They occupied an empty building. A symbolic protest against the pro-property, anti-people policies of the governing cartel, which have wreaked havoc with our people.
When the law got involved, the protesters withdrew. And occupied another empty building.
And the owners sent in paramilitary-style heavies to eject the protesters.
Wearing black outfits, with balaclavas, they stood at ease in front of the building, legs apart, arms clasped behind their backs. This is a military position - "parade rest". The last time I saw that dress style combined with that stance, I was covering an IRA funeral.
Are these masked people ex-soldiers? Which army? Are they ex-IRA? Ex-UDA? They are not hired for their sensitivity.
And, to complete the picture, the 'Public Order Unit' accompanied them, with armoured vests and with batons drawn.
One visually echoing the other - it was difficult to see where the paramilitary-style lads ended and the State forces began.
Drew Harris had to say something. Being the new boy, he had to back his staff. He said gardai were entitled to wear "fire retardant hoods", but it was not correct to do so without helmets.
It was as though the police had committed a fashion faux pas.
Off the record, gardai assured reporters their commissioner was talking nonsense - the POU wore the masks, they claimed, so they wouldn't be abused on "social media".
Ah dear, the poor snowflakes. This is a justification for every garda everywhere wearing a mask, on all occasions.
Police wear masks when there's a genuine belief they may be targeted by violent criminals. To wear them when policing dissent is a tactic designed to demonise that dissent.
Harris knows that serious police officers don't greet dissent with batons. And he'll know when paramilitary-style gentlemen confront dissenters the role of the police is to protect the dissenters, not to literally stand with the paramilitary-style heavies.
That's if you believe in that stuff about democracy, and the consent of the governed.
Mr Harris may have been too busy to note the record of An Garda Siochana in dealing with dissent. It is not good.
The critical event, since the crash, was in November 2010, when thousands of students protested about college fees. A small number sat-in at a side-entrance lobby in the Department of Finance. Such sit-ins are not novel, they are a standard element in dissent. Usually, the police "monitor" them and they end when the point is made, no blood spilt.
The Garda has done this with farmers and taxi drivers, for instance.
On this occasion, gardai assaulted the students. The Irish Times put it delicately: "Some of the protesters exited with evidence of a beating on their faces."
Students sat on the street, in protest. Gardai wore helmets, visors, armour, and they carried long batons - potentially lethal weapons - as the POU did last week. Some arrived on horseback. They lined the horses up in front of the department entrance, with a line of Robocops in front of them.
As students sat on the road, gardai leaned over and beat them about the head with batons and kicked them. Armoured police on horseback later mounted a cavalry charge, galloping along St Stephen's Green.
This was accepted as normal behaviour. It was a statement of intent, by a State prepared to violently suppress dissent. It set the standard.
Assuming a position of comradeship with bulky men dressed in paramilitary-style uniforms, that's new, though.
The law is made by the Dail, where a quarter of TDs are landlords. To peacefully challenge the law when it seriously damages our children is not a right, it's a duty. The young dissenters are standing by the basic human right to shelter.
Last week, the Garda - literally - showed where it stands. With the paramilitary-style lads representing property speculation.
I imagine that sometime on Wednesday two things dawned on him.
One, that he and his force are being left to deal with some of the consequences of the 2008 crash.
Two, he needs to sort out that comically named outfit, the 'Public Order Unit'.
The 'fighting Irish' have been remarkably docile since the collective greed of the bankers and developers crashed the economy in 2008. And we remained docile through all the years of austerity that followed. I suspect a lot of people bought into the propaganda that claimed "we all partied".
And recently we're being told that our submissiveness worked. The economy is allegedly flying. Last week the Central Bank said that Irish household wealth is today higher than it was during the Celtic Bubble.
Trouble is, they reach that conclusion by adding up our collective assets (including the notional price of our houses) and then subtracting our liabilities.
Which means we're "wealthy" on paper, because of the current inflated price of property.
Which is what happened in 2008.
While paper "wealth" is pointless for the individual homeowner, inflated property prices help speculators reap millions.
Never in our history have we had less control over the direction of our lives. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are providing political cover while another crowd of gamblers plays another version of the old game of greed.
With spectacularly damaging consequences.
Barnardos has recently dealt with more children in crisis than it's ever seen (who'd have guessed that perpetual economic adventurism, and a State policy of raising kids in emergency accommodation, would damage children?).
St Vincent de Paul and the Capuchins continue to be run off their feet as they try to keep people from going hungry.
Official hospital waiting lists are at a conservative 718,000 and the Taoiseach - I kid you not - says the figures are "going in the right direction".
Meanwhile, his ministers have come up with another cynical plan to pump countless millions into the private sector in the hope it'll take the bare look off their housing policy.
The plan seems to be to release State land in the hope that speculators will build a notional amount of "affordable" homes, while the majority of their products will be officially "unaffordable" to most hardworking people.
An unsustainable portion of our collective wealth is being siphoned off into the purses of the owners of property.
It's a great time to be a predatory financial adventurer. We have a new generation of politicians who are fervent believers that the fundamental basis of society is not the republic but the market.
They're children playing with matches.
They cannot house their people.
They cannot medically treat their people.
They cannot ensure their people have enough to eat.
But they sure know how to grovel to the aforesaid predatory financial adventurers.
It must be galling to Varadkar and his hapless ministers when a significant number of mostly young people engage in peaceful civil disobedience, questioning official policy.
They're refusing to accept the insane logic of making the few wealthy at the expense of the many, with a vague hope that the excess wealth of the few will somehow trickle down to the rest of us.
They occupied an empty building. A symbolic protest against the pro-property, anti-people policies of the governing cartel, which have wreaked havoc with our people.
When the law got involved, the protesters withdrew. And occupied another empty building.
And the owners sent in paramilitary-style heavies to eject the protesters.
Wearing black outfits, with balaclavas, they stood at ease in front of the building, legs apart, arms clasped behind their backs. This is a military position - "parade rest". The last time I saw that dress style combined with that stance, I was covering an IRA funeral.
Are these masked people ex-soldiers? Which army? Are they ex-IRA? Ex-UDA? They are not hired for their sensitivity.
And, to complete the picture, the 'Public Order Unit' accompanied them, with armoured vests and with batons drawn.
One visually echoing the other - it was difficult to see where the paramilitary-style lads ended and the State forces began.
Drew Harris had to say something. Being the new boy, he had to back his staff. He said gardai were entitled to wear "fire retardant hoods", but it was not correct to do so without helmets.
It was as though the police had committed a fashion faux pas.
Off the record, gardai assured reporters their commissioner was talking nonsense - the POU wore the masks, they claimed, so they wouldn't be abused on "social media".
Ah dear, the poor snowflakes. This is a justification for every garda everywhere wearing a mask, on all occasions.
Police wear masks when there's a genuine belief they may be targeted by violent criminals. To wear them when policing dissent is a tactic designed to demonise that dissent.
Harris knows that serious police officers don't greet dissent with batons. And he'll know when paramilitary-style gentlemen confront dissenters the role of the police is to protect the dissenters, not to literally stand with the paramilitary-style heavies.
That's if you believe in that stuff about democracy, and the consent of the governed.
Mr Harris may have been too busy to note the record of An Garda Siochana in dealing with dissent. It is not good.
The critical event, since the crash, was in November 2010, when thousands of students protested about college fees. A small number sat-in at a side-entrance lobby in the Department of Finance. Such sit-ins are not novel, they are a standard element in dissent. Usually, the police "monitor" them and they end when the point is made, no blood spilt.
The Garda has done this with farmers and taxi drivers, for instance.
On this occasion, gardai assaulted the students. The Irish Times put it delicately: "Some of the protesters exited with evidence of a beating on their faces."
Students sat on the street, in protest. Gardai wore helmets, visors, armour, and they carried long batons - potentially lethal weapons - as the POU did last week. Some arrived on horseback. They lined the horses up in front of the department entrance, with a line of Robocops in front of them.
As students sat on the road, gardai leaned over and beat them about the head with batons and kicked them. Armoured police on horseback later mounted a cavalry charge, galloping along St Stephen's Green.
This was accepted as normal behaviour. It was a statement of intent, by a State prepared to violently suppress dissent. It set the standard.
Assuming a position of comradeship with bulky men dressed in paramilitary-style uniforms, that's new, though.
The law is made by the Dail, where a quarter of TDs are landlords. To peacefully challenge the law when it seriously damages our children is not a right, it's a duty. The young dissenters are standing by the basic human right to shelter.
Last week, the Garda - literally - showed where it stands. With the paramilitary-style lads representing property speculation.
Co-archived Gene Kerrigan
Big news last night about the Central Mental Hospital site in Dundrum. The site is now definitely going to be used for housing.
We now, therefore, have a degree of certainty that we didn't have yesterday. And that is a big win for our campaign. Big slap on the back for everyone who has supported us online and in the real world.
We shouldn't underestimate the scale of that achievement. Up until last night it was entirely possible that the government could have done a secret deal for the Dundrum site with a property developer, private corporation or even a foreign Embassy.
The fact that we, and others, were shining a bright light on the Central Mental Hospital site prevented the government from doing such a grubby little deal in the dark of night.
So that was last night and that was the good news.
Today we are starting to see the shape of what Fine Gael and Shane Ross are planning for the Dundrum site and it's absolutely appalling.
While there are some mixed messages coming from Fine Gale about the exact percentages of each tenure the general shape of their proposal is becoming clear.
PRIVATE
1,500 homes, of which 50% (or 60%) will be fully private right from the start. It seems these will be built by a private developer and sold at market prices. Given the location of the site it is safe to assume that they will be extremely expensive luxury homes that will be beyond the reach of low and middle income families from the area.
So that's 50% - 60% of the housing gone to wealthy owner-occupiers or private landlords (including REITs presumably).
SOCIAL
10% of the homes will be 'social' housing. This is exactly the same percentage as the local authority is entitled to buy in every private development in the state. Under the current social housing system the tenants of these homes will likely be able to buy these homes from the local authority at a discount. So some, or all, of the 10% will also eventually make their way into the private market.
So there's nothing new in the 'social housing' element of the scheme. It will do nothing for the thousands upon thousands of local people who don't qualify for social housing or for people who aren't near the top of the list.
AFFORDABLE
So that's accounts for 60% - 70% of the new homes, leaving 30% - 40% for an 'affordable' housing scheme. And this is where the smoke and mirrors really kick in.
It appears at this stage that the houses will be made 'affordable' by the state giving public land to a private developer who will then build private, social and affordable housing on it.
The houses will be made affordable by removing the value of the site from the cost of the house and possibly by additional subsidies by the state to the developer or future home owner.
In other words the state will use YOUR land and money to build cheap houses for someone else to buy. The new homeowner will then have to wait a relatively short period of time (probably 20 years) for the 'clawback' penalty to pass. And then it's theirs to flip for a super profit or rent out to some other poor schmuck.
Who exactly will be able to qualify for the 'affordable' schemes has yet to be announced, but not matter what the conditions it's a really bad deal for the taxpayer and for our wider community. The 'lucky few' will get a cheaper home and that's about it.
90%+ PRIVATE - 100% A BAD DEAL
So to summarise, the Fine Gael plan will see at least 90% of the proposed 1,500 homes in private ownership (50% - 60% immediately, with the rest to follow over the next 20 years or so.)
The private developer will make a killing; the private banks funding the mortgages will make a killing; the estate agents will make a killing; the landlords will make a killing.
The pool of affordable housing in Rathdown will be about the same as it is now and the last big chunk of public land in Dundrum will be gone.
The Fine Gael plan for the Central Mental Hospital site fundamentally misses the nature of the housing problem in Rathdown.
95% of all of the existing housing stock is already owned by private owner-occupiers and private landlords. Just 5% of the housing stock (the social housing units) is truly affordable.
So unless we have another housing collpase, 95% of the housing in Rathdown will stay beyond the reach of low AND middle income households. Way beyond.
We don't need any more private housing in the area. What we need is a much bigger pool of PERMANENTLY affordable housing and there is only one way to get that.
The alternative to the Fine Gael plan is really simple - it's called Universal Public Housing.
The state builds high quality housing on public land, and then rents that housing at an affordable rate (about 25% of the disposable income of the tenant) to people on all incomes who are in need of a home.
So the local authority gets a steady, significant rental income from a mixed income community - as opposed to the current model of 'social' housing where the local authority gets a very small rental income from a community that is exclusively low income. It makes sense economically and socially.
Universal Public Housing would be open to teachers, shop workers, hairdressers, IT specialists, nurses, cleaners, accountants, administrators, the unemployed and everybody else that is need of a home.
And Universal Public Housing stays in permanent public ownership, so it benefits not just the 'lucky few' in this generations, but the 'lucky many' for many generations to come.
The city of Vienna is built upon Universal Public Housing. It's the cornerstone of all housing policy and it works really, really well.
Instead of throwing the Central Mental Hospital site into the chaos of the market, why can't we use it as a flagship for a new form of intelligent sustainable univeral public housing that will actually benefit the local community?
That's what we'll be fighting for. We hope you'll join us.
We now, therefore, have a degree of certainty that we didn't have yesterday. And that is a big win for our campaign. Big slap on the back for everyone who has supported us online and in the real world.
We shouldn't underestimate the scale of that achievement. Up until last night it was entirely possible that the government could have done a secret deal for the Dundrum site with a property developer, private corporation or even a foreign Embassy.
The fact that we, and others, were shining a bright light on the Central Mental Hospital site prevented the government from doing such a grubby little deal in the dark of night.
So that was last night and that was the good news.
Today we are starting to see the shape of what Fine Gael and Shane Ross are planning for the Dundrum site and it's absolutely appalling.
While there are some mixed messages coming from Fine Gale about the exact percentages of each tenure the general shape of their proposal is becoming clear.
PRIVATE
1,500 homes, of which 50% (or 60%) will be fully private right from the start. It seems these will be built by a private developer and sold at market prices. Given the location of the site it is safe to assume that they will be extremely expensive luxury homes that will be beyond the reach of low and middle income families from the area.
So that's 50% - 60% of the housing gone to wealthy owner-occupiers or private landlords (including REITs presumably).
SOCIAL
10% of the homes will be 'social' housing. This is exactly the same percentage as the local authority is entitled to buy in every private development in the state. Under the current social housing system the tenants of these homes will likely be able to buy these homes from the local authority at a discount. So some, or all, of the 10% will also eventually make their way into the private market.
So there's nothing new in the 'social housing' element of the scheme. It will do nothing for the thousands upon thousands of local people who don't qualify for social housing or for people who aren't near the top of the list.
AFFORDABLE
So that's accounts for 60% - 70% of the new homes, leaving 30% - 40% for an 'affordable' housing scheme. And this is where the smoke and mirrors really kick in.
It appears at this stage that the houses will be made 'affordable' by the state giving public land to a private developer who will then build private, social and affordable housing on it.
The houses will be made affordable by removing the value of the site from the cost of the house and possibly by additional subsidies by the state to the developer or future home owner.
In other words the state will use YOUR land and money to build cheap houses for someone else to buy. The new homeowner will then have to wait a relatively short period of time (probably 20 years) for the 'clawback' penalty to pass. And then it's theirs to flip for a super profit or rent out to some other poor schmuck.
Who exactly will be able to qualify for the 'affordable' schemes has yet to be announced, but not matter what the conditions it's a really bad deal for the taxpayer and for our wider community. The 'lucky few' will get a cheaper home and that's about it.
90%+ PRIVATE - 100% A BAD DEAL
So to summarise, the Fine Gael plan will see at least 90% of the proposed 1,500 homes in private ownership (50% - 60% immediately, with the rest to follow over the next 20 years or so.)
The private developer will make a killing; the private banks funding the mortgages will make a killing; the estate agents will make a killing; the landlords will make a killing.
The pool of affordable housing in Rathdown will be about the same as it is now and the last big chunk of public land in Dundrum will be gone.
The Fine Gael plan for the Central Mental Hospital site fundamentally misses the nature of the housing problem in Rathdown.
95% of all of the existing housing stock is already owned by private owner-occupiers and private landlords. Just 5% of the housing stock (the social housing units) is truly affordable.
So unless we have another housing collpase, 95% of the housing in Rathdown will stay beyond the reach of low AND middle income households. Way beyond.
We don't need any more private housing in the area. What we need is a much bigger pool of PERMANENTLY affordable housing and there is only one way to get that.
The alternative to the Fine Gael plan is really simple - it's called Universal Public Housing.
The state builds high quality housing on public land, and then rents that housing at an affordable rate (about 25% of the disposable income of the tenant) to people on all incomes who are in need of a home.
So the local authority gets a steady, significant rental income from a mixed income community - as opposed to the current model of 'social' housing where the local authority gets a very small rental income from a community that is exclusively low income. It makes sense economically and socially.
Universal Public Housing would be open to teachers, shop workers, hairdressers, IT specialists, nurses, cleaners, accountants, administrators, the unemployed and everybody else that is need of a home.
And Universal Public Housing stays in permanent public ownership, so it benefits not just the 'lucky few' in this generations, but the 'lucky many' for many generations to come.
The city of Vienna is built upon Universal Public Housing. It's the cornerstone of all housing policy and it works really, really well.
Instead of throwing the Central Mental Hospital site into the chaos of the market, why can't we use it as a flagship for a new form of intelligent sustainable univeral public housing that will actually benefit the local community?
That's what we'll be fighting for. We hope you'll join us.
Co-archived Dundrum Housing Action
I just nearly had my phone taken out of my hand by a man in a balaclava, who then forcibly held me under the arm and pushed me away, simply for asking why people we're being removed from the peaceful occupation of North Frederick Street house, the street I live off.
This man was a GUARD.
When I asked him why he was wearing a balaclava he told me I had no right to ask that and to, I quote "fuck off ye stupid bitch". He then grabbed my phone and put his hands on me. After I said he had absolutely no right to do so and he said he did. He then said "Ok, you are going to get arrested."
To be clear, this is on my lane way, where I live and I was asking a question.
He then had a female colleague (sans balaclava) but with a huge German Shepard come over and she said "I suggest you move away". I said "I will not, I was just assaulted by a member of the police force with a balaclava on, can you explain that?" And she said he was entitled to as I was recording him.
To be clear, I wasn't. And if I was, that is not against the law. But I wasn't.
She asked me what was my business on this lane and I said I live here. She again said "go home then". I said "I will not, I want an answer as to why you are all wearing balaclavas. I am Irish and I have never ever seen this in my life". To which she said "Then you are lucky". To which I answered "surely not, this is not normal practice! That's not an appropriate response!!" During all this time her German Shepard was beside her growling at me and barking at what was going on with the arrests behind him/her on Frederick Street. At this point she said "Ok I'm going to arrest you if you don't move" and I said I'm not moving. She said "Ok, wait here"
I already said I was, but at this moment I was getting scared as two apparent GUARDS had said I was going to be arrested.
Next she went to her boss who was dressed in a high viz Garda uniform, he came and said "You need to move or you will be arrested". I repeated the above, stating I was physically assaulted by a male Guard in uniform with a balaclava on, next intimidated by a female Guard with a German Shepard and he said "Why are you on this lane? You shouldn't be here" I said "Because I live here". He said "I suggest you go home".
I said "No, not until I get an answer as to why a man in a Garda uniform assaulted me, a woman in same intimidated and threatened arrest me while holding a growling German Shepherd, and why you are suggesting I shouldn't be standing here!"
**** At this stage protesters on Frederick street are chanting about the injustice that is happening, people who are homeless are being arrested for peaceful occupation ****
He then said "Ok, do you want to make a formal complaint?"
He had his notebook out at this stage. I said "Well I can't, I can't identify the first male Guard who assaulted me, he has a balaclava on". He said, "I know him, so go ahead" I said "You didn't even see it, so how could you?"
To which he repliede "You can either complain or walk away" I said "That sounds like another threat, and given that 2 of your colleagues have threatened to arrest me, I'd rather not give you my details".
At this point, I'm 6 minutes in and I'm getting scared due to intimidation, and I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere.
He replied "Fine, so you better go home NOW" and I said "Better is a threat, I either should or will go home. And I'm going now because I have to, I will to."
Everything above is not ok, or acceptable, and wreaks of unfair treatment of me (I can live with that) but more importantly those being taken out of a peaceful occupation due to homelessness. I am absolutely horrified. I am legitimately scared. Also, this happened at 7.10, and I was waiting to speak to a local police station until 7.50 to lodge a formal complaint. When got through they said, quote, "take it to the ombudsman"
We are fucked. Time to protest.
#occupydublin #emptyoccupy #endhomelessness #gardabrutality #shameonyou#housingisahumanright #thatswhywefight
This man was a GUARD.
When I asked him why he was wearing a balaclava he told me I had no right to ask that and to, I quote "fuck off ye stupid bitch". He then grabbed my phone and put his hands on me. After I said he had absolutely no right to do so and he said he did. He then said "Ok, you are going to get arrested."
To be clear, this is on my lane way, where I live and I was asking a question.
He then had a female colleague (sans balaclava) but with a huge German Shepard come over and she said "I suggest you move away". I said "I will not, I was just assaulted by a member of the police force with a balaclava on, can you explain that?" And she said he was entitled to as I was recording him.
To be clear, I wasn't. And if I was, that is not against the law. But I wasn't.
She asked me what was my business on this lane and I said I live here. She again said "go home then". I said "I will not, I want an answer as to why you are all wearing balaclavas. I am Irish and I have never ever seen this in my life". To which she said "Then you are lucky". To which I answered "surely not, this is not normal practice! That's not an appropriate response!!" During all this time her German Shepard was beside her growling at me and barking at what was going on with the arrests behind him/her on Frederick Street. At this point she said "Ok I'm going to arrest you if you don't move" and I said I'm not moving. She said "Ok, wait here"
I already said I was, but at this moment I was getting scared as two apparent GUARDS had said I was going to be arrested.
Next she went to her boss who was dressed in a high viz Garda uniform, he came and said "You need to move or you will be arrested". I repeated the above, stating I was physically assaulted by a male Guard in uniform with a balaclava on, next intimidated by a female Guard with a German Shepard and he said "Why are you on this lane? You shouldn't be here" I said "Because I live here". He said "I suggest you go home".
I said "No, not until I get an answer as to why a man in a Garda uniform assaulted me, a woman in same intimidated and threatened arrest me while holding a growling German Shepherd, and why you are suggesting I shouldn't be standing here!"
**** At this stage protesters on Frederick street are chanting about the injustice that is happening, people who are homeless are being arrested for peaceful occupation ****
He then said "Ok, do you want to make a formal complaint?"
He had his notebook out at this stage. I said "Well I can't, I can't identify the first male Guard who assaulted me, he has a balaclava on". He said, "I know him, so go ahead" I said "You didn't even see it, so how could you?"
To which he repliede "You can either complain or walk away" I said "That sounds like another threat, and given that 2 of your colleagues have threatened to arrest me, I'd rather not give you my details".
At this point, I'm 6 minutes in and I'm getting scared due to intimidation, and I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere.
He replied "Fine, so you better go home NOW" and I said "Better is a threat, I either should or will go home. And I'm going now because I have to, I will to."
Everything above is not ok, or acceptable, and wreaks of unfair treatment of me (I can live with that) but more importantly those being taken out of a peaceful occupation due to homelessness. I am absolutely horrified. I am legitimately scared. Also, this happened at 7.10, and I was waiting to speak to a local police station until 7.50 to lodge a formal complaint. When got through they said, quote, "take it to the ombudsman"
We are fucked. Time to protest.
#occupydublin #emptyoccupy #endhomelessness #gardabrutality #shameonyou#housingisahumanright #thatswhywefight
Co-archived Caren Cobra Cregan
79 new hotels in Dublin. Jesus christ almighty. How do they expect to staff them when service industry wages are SO low and rents are so high. No one in this dump of a city will be earning more than €9 an hour in the next 2 years.
Co-archived @Tochmarc_Eimear
goodmorning everyone rise and grind lets get this money so we can continue to pay rent until we die haha YEET
Co-archived goth turtle
Last month judge Griffen was brought to TRIM EVICTION COURT from NAAS EVICTION COURT as a judicial mercenary, he gave the banks every possession order they sought without justice or mercy. Tonight the husband one of the families who Griffen decided to grant an eviction order against took his own life. Another suicide statistic caused by the greedy bankers, solicitors and barristers and bastard judges.
Rest in peace.
Blood fucking boiling here.
Rest in peace.
Blood fucking boiling here.
Co-archived Pól Ó Scanaill
Why the hell do the council remove you from the housing list when u couch surf ???
Co-archived Suzanne Daly
Today it was announced that rents are the highest they have ever been in the history of the State (€1304 per month). Here’s a breakdown of how much rents have increased in the Connaught region in the period July 2013 - July 2018.
Roscommon + 20.5%
Sligo + 21.2%
Mayo + 25.4%
Leitrim + 38.9%
Galway County + 46.5%
Galway City + 50.1%
And if you think these increases are astounding, spare a thought for County Louth where rent increased by a massive 86.1% in the same period, the highest in the country. Obviously, we must take the time out to thank the FF/FG coalition. Without their input, these increases could never be achieved. By the way, inflation increased by just 0.7% in the same timespan.
Sources: NSO and Daft.ie
Roscommon + 20.5%
Sligo + 21.2%
Mayo + 25.4%
Leitrim + 38.9%
Galway County + 46.5%
Galway City + 50.1%
And if you think these increases are astounding, spare a thought for County Louth where rent increased by a massive 86.1% in the same period, the highest in the country. Obviously, we must take the time out to thank the FF/FG coalition. Without their input, these increases could never be achieved. By the way, inflation increased by just 0.7% in the same timespan.
Sources: NSO and Daft.ie
Co-archived Mayo Land League
Margaret Elizabeth Cash on RTE Radio 1 now being interviewed by Miriam O Callaghan.. A great interview by Margaret, a mother fighting to get a home for her kids. O Callaghan pushing the negative stereotype of single parents, it's as though poor people or members of the travelling community should not have big families. Margaret's determination, intelligence and political analysis of the housing situation and those in government smashed all those negative stereotypes.. Well done Margaret
Co-archived Niamh Mc Donald
Just got word from the street that Wex Co Co have been out to Ferrybank where most of the Rough sleepers have now pitched their Tents and have bben told they have until 1pm to move on to somewhere else or the Gardai would be called to move them on
This is the SAME Co Co who sent a HOMELESS guy down to our Shop at 111 North Main Street to get a TENT off us
Question Where do the Co Co expect these people to pitch their tents
This is the SAME Co Co who sent a HOMELESS guy down to our Shop at 111 North Main Street to get a TENT off us
Question Where do the Co Co expect these people to pitch their tents
Co-archived Wexford Homeless Housing Action Group
STATEMENT FROM SUMMERHILL OCCUPATION:
35 Summerhill Parade is a property owned by Pat and PJ O'Donnell (owners of POD, and sponsors of the Clare GAA team). This house is part of a cluster of properties on Summerhill Parade owned by the O'Donnell family. All properties had similar issues with overcrowding, poor conditions and dodgy cash in-hand dealings. A total of 120 tenants lived between the five properties, each paying between €350-€450 for a bed in a room of 6-8 people. In May, a mass eviction occurred between the five properties resulting in these 120 tenants being illegally evicted over the duration of a week.
The O'Donnell's bought Aldborough House, a derelict Georgian mansion, in 2016 and have recently got approval to develop this site into office spaces. No consideration was given for the local community and their needs in these plans. There have been push from the owners to create slum conditions in the area as a means to run housing prices down and buy up bargain properties to redevelop - after all, the workers in the O'Donnell's new, plush office spaces are going to need equally plush places to live. It's a fine example of gentrification in action.
Since the evictions in May, these properties have sat empty while the housing crisis worsens.
Housing and community activists today have occupied the property of Summerhill Parade because enough is enough, Pat O'Donnell should not be allowed sit on these potential homes.
Rent hikes, evictions, poor housing conditions; people stuck in overcrowded homes, living in bunkbeds, or packed into their relative's homes; people couch-surfing, sleeping rough, living in hostels, hotels and direct provision - we hear about these horrendous situations every day now, we all know somebody who is affected. And yet, those in power sit on their hands. There is no political will to make real, meaningful change to our housing crisis.
Our immediate demand:
Is that the houses owned by Pat O’Donnell on Summerhill Parade be compulsory purchased by Dublin City Council and given to the local community. We want to highlight that private, vacant properties can, and should be put into public ownership.
All vacant land and properties should be put under public ownership for.
We call for people to take action and get involved in the housing movement, a wider demand of homes for all. Those interested in setting up similar occupations, please get in touch with the page.
The housing crisis is not a natural disaster; we do not need to accept that this is simply the way it is. But things won’t get better on their own - action is needed, by people and for people.
35 Summerhill Parade is a property owned by Pat and PJ O'Donnell (owners of POD, and sponsors of the Clare GAA team). This house is part of a cluster of properties on Summerhill Parade owned by the O'Donnell family. All properties had similar issues with overcrowding, poor conditions and dodgy cash in-hand dealings. A total of 120 tenants lived between the five properties, each paying between €350-€450 for a bed in a room of 6-8 people. In May, a mass eviction occurred between the five properties resulting in these 120 tenants being illegally evicted over the duration of a week.
The O'Donnell's bought Aldborough House, a derelict Georgian mansion, in 2016 and have recently got approval to develop this site into office spaces. No consideration was given for the local community and their needs in these plans. There have been push from the owners to create slum conditions in the area as a means to run housing prices down and buy up bargain properties to redevelop - after all, the workers in the O'Donnell's new, plush office spaces are going to need equally plush places to live. It's a fine example of gentrification in action.
Since the evictions in May, these properties have sat empty while the housing crisis worsens.
Housing and community activists today have occupied the property of Summerhill Parade because enough is enough, Pat O'Donnell should not be allowed sit on these potential homes.
Rent hikes, evictions, poor housing conditions; people stuck in overcrowded homes, living in bunkbeds, or packed into their relative's homes; people couch-surfing, sleeping rough, living in hostels, hotels and direct provision - we hear about these horrendous situations every day now, we all know somebody who is affected. And yet, those in power sit on their hands. There is no political will to make real, meaningful change to our housing crisis.
Our immediate demand:
Is that the houses owned by Pat O’Donnell on Summerhill Parade be compulsory purchased by Dublin City Council and given to the local community. We want to highlight that private, vacant properties can, and should be put into public ownership.
All vacant land and properties should be put under public ownership for.
We call for people to take action and get involved in the housing movement, a wider demand of homes for all. Those interested in setting up similar occupations, please get in touch with the page.
The housing crisis is not a natural disaster; we do not need to accept that this is simply the way it is. But things won’t get better on their own - action is needed, by people and for people.
Co-archived Summerhill Occupation
PTSB were made aware by IBIG on the 27th of February in front of 3 elected members of the Dail of systemic Overcharging one file alone was €299k Overcharged (defrauded) Brendan Kevin Head of PTSB retail Banking gave an undertaking to 3 TD’s and IBIG he would inform the board of directors of PTSB - No correspondence was received- on the 16th of May at the AGM of PTSB the Chairman of PTSB admitted in front of TV crews and newspapers reporters he was not aware of that meeting and ignored irrefutable evidence of Overcharging. It was further stated at the AGM that most if not all the proposed 15200 Mortgages Being Transferred where Overcharged(defrauded) again Ignored by the Irish Media That where there. So just to make it clear- borrower being transferred because they allegedly are in €48,601 in arrears finds out they have being overcharged defrauded €78,392 do the maths? Why is this being censored by All?
Co-archived Tom Darcy
"I moved to Dublin in August 2016. I'd lived in Galway for 10 years, and then spent a year in Spain before returning to Ireland. I lived with my parents in the midlands for 2 months, but Dublin was where the jobs were. I sent dozens of emails and after a few weeks and a few trips up for interviews I had a job up in Dublin.
Thank God I had my uncle to live with while I looked for a place. My uncle is a nice guy but living in the house with the owner, constantly worried about what would be considered to be taking a liberty in somebody else's space wasn’t ideal. I was already stressed, with moving to a new city and starting a new job.
Trying to save for a deposit, I realised my pay cheque from my job alone wasn't going to cut it so I found another job on the weekends. I worked every single day straight for a month and at the end of it had over €2000. I was expecting to spend about half of that on a room.
I started responding to ads on Daft.ie, I must have contacted about 200 people. I remember one of the places I looked at had over 22,000 views in the month it had been on the site.
Eventually, I found a place and for fear of letting it slip I offered to pay an extra €60 more than what it was advertised for. I offered this even before I'd seen the room for fear of losing it.
When I did finally see the house I remember feeling like I'd won the lottery - it was a huge double room in a beautiful house, with good housemates for only €460 a month - I would have turned my nose up at that price in Galway but it seemed like a bargain compared to what I’d seen in Dublin. I was delighted and relieved.
It didn't last. When I moved into the house, I was warned that the landlord had vaguely mentioned a few months before he was thinking about selling up. The people next door shared the same landlord as us.
About 6 or 7 months in, I found out that all our neighbours were being told to leave because the landlord was selling the house. They were all foreign students, sharing the rooms and paying a far higher rate of rent than we were. He was prevented from increasing our rent due to the rent controls.
A few weeks later I went to the doctor's. I told him how stressed I was about my housing situation and maybe he could recommend me for anxiety counselling. The next thing I knew I was on the floor of his office being picked up by ambulance men; I'd fainted for the first time in my life. The diagnosis was simply extreme stress.
Inevitably the axe fell a month later. The landlord gave us seven weeks to find a new place; to be fair to him it was more than he was legally obliged to. But on the other hand, he told us we were being evicted one day after we'd paid him the rent, making it harder for us to get a deposit for a new place.
I saw another dozen or so houses. In one of them a woman from Costa Rica showed me a garage at the back of an abandoned house that had been divided in half with a hard plastic screen to create two rooms. I was pretty desperate but I passed on that one.
I found another place out of extreme luck. I opened Daft to see a room on the very same street where my old house was. I met the landlady and did the deal immediately after she heard my sad story. "That was desperately unprofessional" she said, referring to her fellow landlord.
I had zero money so I had to ask my parents for a loan for my rent. I didn't last 5 months in that house.
It was on the same street as my old place. About a quarter of the size of my last room, a shoebox that was probably a converted broom cupboard with a single bed crammed into the corner. The room was beside the living room and the walls were thin meaning I could hear everything that went on next door. The other occupants of the house (there were 5 even though the house should really only have had 3) were all Irish boys from the countryside like me but, so different in every way. All graduates in their early 20s who lived for drinking and partying. Often I would home after 1 o'clock and they’d be still up drinking in the living room.
My anxiety about feeling I had no personal space got so bad, that I couldn't bear to set foot in the house. I stopped cooking and ate out every day, I was perpetually broke and started to put on tons of weight. One Saturday night I was woken up at 5am; one of the housemates had brought back a bunch of his friends. I asked them to be quiet, but my housemate had clearly had a few too many to drink. He squared up and tried to get me to hit him. Nothing more came of it but hell or high water I had to get out of that house.
One day, my mother asked if I'd consider going into St. Pat's as it was clear that I wasn't coping at all, raggled by stress and lack of sleep. I felt so angry, so betrayed by my country. I was working full-time and paying tax and I was being reduced to this because I simply couldn't afford a decent place to live. I felt like a failure, being told I was unworthy and didn't deserve to live here.
In November I found a new house. It was in Fairview, only a 15 minute walk from O'Connell Street, near the park. It was a terraced house in a row like the house I was trying to escape from, but the rooms were far bigger and it had a real sitting room that seemed to be seldom used. It was far from luxury - the kitchen was tiny with no room for a table and the bathroom was filthy but it was heaven to me because I knew I'd have quiet and space again. When I moved my stuff at the weekend the first time I slept in the house I wondered if I'd gone deaf because everything was so quiet. It was the best house I could ever have hoped to live in in Dublin.
My rapture in my new home was ended the next day when I met my new housemates for the first time - they told me the house was so cheap because the landlady had died in the last year or two and her family were fighting over the house. I wondered what the hell I'd done to deserve this a second time.
That was the bleakest winter of my life, I spent two months of it with a sinus infection that kept me out of work for 2 weeks, but the spring finally came and I was feeling better about life again. And then the eviction letter came on Friday the 13th.
I was ready to leave the country altogether. The only reason I didn't was due to my uncle who "knew a guy" - one of his neighbours was a landlord who had a new house going on the rental market. My new house is €1700 per month for a space that's probably about the size a pop up doughnut booth. I lived on mince and beans for the first four weeks, as I had to pay the deposit as well as the first month's rent, and I couldn't bear to borrow any more money from my family. It's written into the contract that if I leave the house before a year has elapsed I can't get the deposit back.
I have no future in this city - I'm an English language teacher, and that simply doesn't pay me enough to afford to live here.
There's a lot I'd like to improve about myself but it's becoming harder and harder due to the cost of living, the housing instability and the anxiety that that instability brings. I still feel like a student with no permanent home, moving from house to house bringing my life in a suitcase and it's not a situation I want to continue.
Most of the students I've worked with as an English language teacher are in even worse situations. They all live in the most appalling conditions – it’s now seen as luxurious to share a room with only one person, but it’s more normal to share your room with 4, 5 or 6 people.
Anybody who's living in a nice and affordable rented place in Dublin knows that they're on a piece of wreckage floating in shark infested waters and all they can do is pray that they don't sink because if they do there's likely nowhere to go.
I'm not from Dublin and apart from some friends I have no real ties here. But I'm lucky that I can get out. I can't say the same for people who have families here - all I can say for them is may God help them."
Thank God I had my uncle to live with while I looked for a place. My uncle is a nice guy but living in the house with the owner, constantly worried about what would be considered to be taking a liberty in somebody else's space wasn’t ideal. I was already stressed, with moving to a new city and starting a new job.
Trying to save for a deposit, I realised my pay cheque from my job alone wasn't going to cut it so I found another job on the weekends. I worked every single day straight for a month and at the end of it had over €2000. I was expecting to spend about half of that on a room.
I started responding to ads on Daft.ie, I must have contacted about 200 people. I remember one of the places I looked at had over 22,000 views in the month it had been on the site.
Eventually, I found a place and for fear of letting it slip I offered to pay an extra €60 more than what it was advertised for. I offered this even before I'd seen the room for fear of losing it.
When I did finally see the house I remember feeling like I'd won the lottery - it was a huge double room in a beautiful house, with good housemates for only €460 a month - I would have turned my nose up at that price in Galway but it seemed like a bargain compared to what I’d seen in Dublin. I was delighted and relieved.
It didn't last. When I moved into the house, I was warned that the landlord had vaguely mentioned a few months before he was thinking about selling up. The people next door shared the same landlord as us.
About 6 or 7 months in, I found out that all our neighbours were being told to leave because the landlord was selling the house. They were all foreign students, sharing the rooms and paying a far higher rate of rent than we were. He was prevented from increasing our rent due to the rent controls.
A few weeks later I went to the doctor's. I told him how stressed I was about my housing situation and maybe he could recommend me for anxiety counselling. The next thing I knew I was on the floor of his office being picked up by ambulance men; I'd fainted for the first time in my life. The diagnosis was simply extreme stress.
Inevitably the axe fell a month later. The landlord gave us seven weeks to find a new place; to be fair to him it was more than he was legally obliged to. But on the other hand, he told us we were being evicted one day after we'd paid him the rent, making it harder for us to get a deposit for a new place.
I saw another dozen or so houses. In one of them a woman from Costa Rica showed me a garage at the back of an abandoned house that had been divided in half with a hard plastic screen to create two rooms. I was pretty desperate but I passed on that one.
I found another place out of extreme luck. I opened Daft to see a room on the very same street where my old house was. I met the landlady and did the deal immediately after she heard my sad story. "That was desperately unprofessional" she said, referring to her fellow landlord.
I had zero money so I had to ask my parents for a loan for my rent. I didn't last 5 months in that house.
It was on the same street as my old place. About a quarter of the size of my last room, a shoebox that was probably a converted broom cupboard with a single bed crammed into the corner. The room was beside the living room and the walls were thin meaning I could hear everything that went on next door. The other occupants of the house (there were 5 even though the house should really only have had 3) were all Irish boys from the countryside like me but, so different in every way. All graduates in their early 20s who lived for drinking and partying. Often I would home after 1 o'clock and they’d be still up drinking in the living room.
My anxiety about feeling I had no personal space got so bad, that I couldn't bear to set foot in the house. I stopped cooking and ate out every day, I was perpetually broke and started to put on tons of weight. One Saturday night I was woken up at 5am; one of the housemates had brought back a bunch of his friends. I asked them to be quiet, but my housemate had clearly had a few too many to drink. He squared up and tried to get me to hit him. Nothing more came of it but hell or high water I had to get out of that house.
One day, my mother asked if I'd consider going into St. Pat's as it was clear that I wasn't coping at all, raggled by stress and lack of sleep. I felt so angry, so betrayed by my country. I was working full-time and paying tax and I was being reduced to this because I simply couldn't afford a decent place to live. I felt like a failure, being told I was unworthy and didn't deserve to live here.
In November I found a new house. It was in Fairview, only a 15 minute walk from O'Connell Street, near the park. It was a terraced house in a row like the house I was trying to escape from, but the rooms were far bigger and it had a real sitting room that seemed to be seldom used. It was far from luxury - the kitchen was tiny with no room for a table and the bathroom was filthy but it was heaven to me because I knew I'd have quiet and space again. When I moved my stuff at the weekend the first time I slept in the house I wondered if I'd gone deaf because everything was so quiet. It was the best house I could ever have hoped to live in in Dublin.
My rapture in my new home was ended the next day when I met my new housemates for the first time - they told me the house was so cheap because the landlady had died in the last year or two and her family were fighting over the house. I wondered what the hell I'd done to deserve this a second time.
That was the bleakest winter of my life, I spent two months of it with a sinus infection that kept me out of work for 2 weeks, but the spring finally came and I was feeling better about life again. And then the eviction letter came on Friday the 13th.
I was ready to leave the country altogether. The only reason I didn't was due to my uncle who "knew a guy" - one of his neighbours was a landlord who had a new house going on the rental market. My new house is €1700 per month for a space that's probably about the size a pop up doughnut booth. I lived on mince and beans for the first four weeks, as I had to pay the deposit as well as the first month's rent, and I couldn't bear to borrow any more money from my family. It's written into the contract that if I leave the house before a year has elapsed I can't get the deposit back.
I have no future in this city - I'm an English language teacher, and that simply doesn't pay me enough to afford to live here.
There's a lot I'd like to improve about myself but it's becoming harder and harder due to the cost of living, the housing instability and the anxiety that that instability brings. I still feel like a student with no permanent home, moving from house to house bringing my life in a suitcase and it's not a situation I want to continue.
Most of the students I've worked with as an English language teacher are in even worse situations. They all live in the most appalling conditions – it’s now seen as luxurious to share a room with only one person, but it’s more normal to share your room with 4, 5 or 6 people.
Anybody who's living in a nice and affordable rented place in Dublin knows that they're on a piece of wreckage floating in shark infested waters and all they can do is pray that they don't sink because if they do there's likely nowhere to go.
I'm not from Dublin and apart from some friends I have no real ties here. But I'm lucky that I can get out. I can't say the same for people who have families here - all I can say for them is may God help them."
Co-archived Home Truths
Still replying to distressed PTSB customers who received letters today saying they had been sold to a Vulture. Amazing, most are in a restructure (engaged) and meeting obligations and still been sold . Shocking stuff. Blatant lies from PTSB & their mouthpieces
It’s is now clear that PTSB either incompetently or purposely sold families who had engaged, entered restructure arrangements , made the payments despite their’s & their mouthpieces public utterances . They lied . These loans must not be sold
Co-archived David Hall
*** PTSB shutting down Mortgage support pages***
At a risk of having this page shut down after 5 years I am going to highlight this! A support page for PTSB mortgage holders was set up a couple of months ago you may remember me sharing it, well today that page was shut down by FB because PTSB reported the page & the email address of PTSB was sent to the person running the page. So now it seems we have no right to support each other or organise ourselves, be a sheep with no voice or they will shut you down... As most of you know without this page we would have been sold on to the Vultures clueless, without support & as little as we achieved we still highlighted these Vultures for what they are... It's time to wake up folks take the power back from the banks & start protecting your family homes!!
At a risk of having this page shut down after 5 years I am going to highlight this! A support page for PTSB mortgage holders was set up a couple of months ago you may remember me sharing it, well today that page was shut down by FB because PTSB reported the page & the email address of PTSB was sent to the person running the page. So now it seems we have no right to support each other or organise ourselves, be a sheep with no voice or they will shut you down... As most of you know without this page we would have been sold on to the Vultures clueless, without support & as little as we achieved we still highlighted these Vultures for what they are... It's time to wake up folks take the power back from the banks & start protecting your family homes!!
Co-archived IBRC Mortgage Holders
Dad was just telling me about a friend’s daughter who was looking to rent a room in Bray.
She saw one listed for about €530 per month so she went to view it. So she meets the landlady and is shown a standard enough room with a double bed. Grand. except the landlady then tells her that this side would be her half of the bed and the other would be for another tenant.
For €530 per month, this wagon was telling her she had to share a bed with a stranger.
How does anyone think this is acceptable?? What the actual fuck?! If it had been me I would have gone off on that woman. She should get in the sea. And so, the horror stories of looking for places to rent continues.
I do not know the people involved, nor how to contact them. This was something I heard from my parents (because they like to tell me things from their friends) which I’m sure resonates with many and has happened to a few. We need to change this.
She saw one listed for about €530 per month so she went to view it. So she meets the landlady and is shown a standard enough room with a double bed. Grand. except the landlady then tells her that this side would be her half of the bed and the other would be for another tenant.
For €530 per month, this wagon was telling her she had to share a bed with a stranger.
How does anyone think this is acceptable?? What the actual fuck?! If it had been me I would have gone off on that woman. She should get in the sea. And so, the horror stories of looking for places to rent continues.
I do not know the people involved, nor how to contact them. This was something I heard from my parents (because they like to tell me things from their friends) which I’m sure resonates with many and has happened to a few. We need to change this.
Co-archived Laura
I am appealing to the people of Co Meath for help. A young homeless Eastern European man has been refused help by Meath County Council and Dublin City Council. The young man who was working here for over six months became homeless when his landlord put up his rent and he subsequently lost his job.
It was brought to my attention that he was sleeping in a field in a small village in Co Meath this week. After making contact with him and bringing him food on my way to work I rang Meath County Council's emergency phone number. I was given the personal numbers of two housing officers.
I rang one and got no answer so then decided to text both asking " Could I bring the man to Buvinda House the next morning so he could register as homeless and be given Emergency Accommodation. In my text I gave the man's name date of birth and PRSI number.
I couldn't believe the amswer I got by text from one of the housing officer the next morning. I was told "Not" to bring the man to Buvinda House but to bring him to Gardner Street and they will repatriate him if he cannot afford to live here.
Then after work I collected the man brought him to my workplace arranged a shower and breakfast for him and then headed to Dublin. I was advised to bring him to Parkgate Hall where Dublin City Council provides homeless services
There I was told that because the man hadn't got his passport he couldn't be put on a list for a place in a hostel that night. The man showed the receptionist a picture of his passport he had on his phone and again gave his PRSI number. The gentleman at reception was prepared to accept that but after checking with his supervisor his request for a bed was refused by Dublin City Council.
We are now back to square one. I am leaving work this morning with food for this man who is a fellow European and Irish tax payer who the state refused to help.
To say I am angry is am understatement I am furious with the lack of basic humanity shown by MCC and DCC
So much for a "Cead Mile Failte "from official Ireland. I know the people of Co Meath will help me show this man some kindness generosity and basic humanity that is so sadly lacking from the state.
It was brought to my attention that he was sleeping in a field in a small village in Co Meath this week. After making contact with him and bringing him food on my way to work I rang Meath County Council's emergency phone number. I was given the personal numbers of two housing officers.
I rang one and got no answer so then decided to text both asking " Could I bring the man to Buvinda House the next morning so he could register as homeless and be given Emergency Accommodation. In my text I gave the man's name date of birth and PRSI number.
I couldn't believe the amswer I got by text from one of the housing officer the next morning. I was told "Not" to bring the man to Buvinda House but to bring him to Gardner Street and they will repatriate him if he cannot afford to live here.
Then after work I collected the man brought him to my workplace arranged a shower and breakfast for him and then headed to Dublin. I was advised to bring him to Parkgate Hall where Dublin City Council provides homeless services
There I was told that because the man hadn't got his passport he couldn't be put on a list for a place in a hostel that night. The man showed the receptionist a picture of his passport he had on his phone and again gave his PRSI number. The gentleman at reception was prepared to accept that but after checking with his supervisor his request for a bed was refused by Dublin City Council.
We are now back to square one. I am leaving work this morning with food for this man who is a fellow European and Irish tax payer who the state refused to help.
To say I am angry is am understatement I am furious with the lack of basic humanity shown by MCC and DCC
So much for a "Cead Mile Failte "from official Ireland. I know the people of Co Meath will help me show this man some kindness generosity and basic humanity that is so sadly lacking from the state.
Co-archived Alan Lawes
*MALE VACANCY*
YOU WILL SHARE THE ROOM WITH 3 GUYS !!
( SINGLE BED you have your own wardrobe !!
5min to tesco
40 min to city center
Bus stop in front of the house
15 min to grafton college
15 min to portobello
Location : Dublin 6W
DEPOSIT : €400
RENT : €435 INCLUDE ALL BILLS !
YOU WILL SHARE THE ROOM WITH 3 GUYS !!
( SINGLE BED you have your own wardrobe !!
5min to tesco
40 min to city center
Bus stop in front of the house
15 min to grafton college
15 min to portobello
Location : Dublin 6W
DEPOSIT : €400
RENT : €435 INCLUDE ALL BILLS !
Co-archived Raphael Pazini
Kennedy Wilson are a global real estate investment trust who specialise in hoovering up cheap properties and maximising the return for their investors and to hell with the human cost. They were invited to Ireland courtesy of Fine Gael's finance act in 2012 that offered properties at knockdown prices from NAMA with massive tax breaks, so much so they paid no tax on €1 billion worth of assets in Ireland in 2015. They are now a fast growing residential landlord with many apartments and houses in prime city locations such as Clancy Quay, Grand Canal, Dublin Docklands, etc.. Kennedy Wilson also actively lobby the Government against Rent controls and security of tenure. All of us renting live under the constant threat of eviction, sky high unaffordable rents and have even had our meagre tax relief scrapped.The social consequences are immense with evictions and we are being priced out of our areas and communities are being ripped apart. Time for us all to join up and fight for real security of tenure, rents linked to Income, an independent rental board, that vacant houses be opened, public houses be built directly by local authorities.
Join us all on Friday to tell Kennedy Wilson and their Government Facilitators that Housing is a human right not a commodity used for profit.
Join us all on Friday to tell Kennedy Wilson and their Government Facilitators that Housing is a human right not a commodity used for profit.
Co-archived Dublin Renters' Union
Corofin was back in court today in Ennis where Brian and Tommy faced attachment and commital proceedings before Judge Gerald Keys. Mid proceedings while Brian was trying to present his case and to try and keep himself and Tommy out of jail, this was very difficult as Judge Keys constantly interrupted, in walked 8-10 Gardai and encircled the courtroom. Straight away everybody knew that something was strange and that Brian and Tommy were being set up and indeed Brian immediately questioned Judge Keys as to the necessity of all these Gardai and that he was in fear and felt severe intimidation and was now under duress, up to this point everything was very civil from everybody who had travelled from all over the country. Fearing that this was indeed a set up Brian immediately asked the Judge was he free to leave, picked up his file and left the den of equity to which Judge Keys then left the bench. On his return and after a few interactions in the court room Judge Keys then ordered everybody out of the courtroom and then left the bench again. On his return after lunch once again supporters and anti eviction activists were once again denied entry and the case continued behind closed doors and was eventually adjourned until October. So much for 'justice must be seen to be done' and thankfully Corofin still stands and nobody was jailed but the courts are getting tyrannical and unfortunately our Gardai are just following orders and are using fear and intimidation to get people to bow down to the Kings Inn judiciary who have lost the plot of late. Thanks to all the great people who travelled and offered support, ye are all wonderful human beings who only want true justice for all, take a bow.
Co-archived Anti-Eviction Taskforce Limerick
Just to give a flavour of the games being played on the housing issue. At our September Council meeting the Council Management has managed over time to get these two housing issues to come together on the agenda at the same time. One is already very controversial and involves commandeering parts of green spaces in Springfield in Tallaght for 57 Housing Units for the Elderly. The other a land deal with a private developer for 71 acres, enough to build 892 units with the Council getting 30% instead of the normal 10% along with some cash to apparently make up the full market value of the land. Sinn Fein who lead the ruling group are backing the Management on both issues to the delight of the next biggest group, Fine Gael. The logic at Springfield could be extended to any green area or park while the Council plays God with by far the biggest land portfolio in our County. They have the Councillors fighting over the scraps and the Councillors fall for it every time because it suits them. Sinn Fein continue to play really disgraceful role on these issue and have even resorted to quoting bullshit legal advice to cover their tracks. Our best hope is from a movement from below lead by the likes of these women in the Abberley Hub to cut across this ongoing madness.
Co-archived Mick Murphy
This afternoon, I’ll be speaking at the ‘Day for Danielle’ in Dublin, organised by the brilliant Michael Caul. Danielle Carroll was a 27-year-old homeless mother of two. She was found dead in her emergency accommodation last year after taking her own life.
In recent weeks, many of you have contacted me with your own stories. Most of them are heartbreaking to read and a damning indictment of our country and its leadership.
Due to the large volume of people seeking an outlet in which to air their issues, I have been unable to reply to you individually and I am sorry about that.
I know many of you understand that there are very few journalists working in the field of corruption.
Those of us who are, are simply swamped with cases.
In recent days, we have seen how Fine Gael is attempting to put pressure on the likes of Facebook to curb free speech.
While you can still use Facebook, my advice is to tell your own story here, be it on video or in writing. Don’t libel anybody. Just describe your own experience at the hands of the state - be it the Gardai, GSOC, politicians, solicitors, barristers, the HSE, TUSLA, or any other organ of the establishment. You will find you are not alone.
The powers-that-be in Ireland are robbing people of their basic civil rights every day and allowing corruption to thrive. In a functioning democracy, they would be held to account by the media, but in Ireland, most reporters are muzzled and too frightened to do their jobs.
The government needs to be shamed for what they are doing to our people and that has been left in your hands. Those in the ‘I’m alright Jack’ camp who continue to stay silent, knowing full well about the corruption, and social and economic carnage all around them which might not have visited their door YET, should hang their heads. Silence in the face of oppression is complicity with the oppressor.
Thank you again for all of your messages. Please continue to write, even if I cannot reply to you individually.
Most importantly, do whatever you can to raise awareness about corruption in your own community, by challenging it publicly, holding meetings or running for public office in the upcoming election. We are a rich country but our wealth - your tax - is being squandered by a spoilt elite who care only for themselves.
Corruption is the beginning and end of all of our problems in Ireland. Change is badly needed. But it is up to us to make it happen.
#ENDCORRUPTIONNOW
In recent weeks, many of you have contacted me with your own stories. Most of them are heartbreaking to read and a damning indictment of our country and its leadership.
Due to the large volume of people seeking an outlet in which to air their issues, I have been unable to reply to you individually and I am sorry about that.
I know many of you understand that there are very few journalists working in the field of corruption.
Those of us who are, are simply swamped with cases.
In recent days, we have seen how Fine Gael is attempting to put pressure on the likes of Facebook to curb free speech.
While you can still use Facebook, my advice is to tell your own story here, be it on video or in writing. Don’t libel anybody. Just describe your own experience at the hands of the state - be it the Gardai, GSOC, politicians, solicitors, barristers, the HSE, TUSLA, or any other organ of the establishment. You will find you are not alone.
The powers-that-be in Ireland are robbing people of their basic civil rights every day and allowing corruption to thrive. In a functioning democracy, they would be held to account by the media, but in Ireland, most reporters are muzzled and too frightened to do their jobs.
The government needs to be shamed for what they are doing to our people and that has been left in your hands. Those in the ‘I’m alright Jack’ camp who continue to stay silent, knowing full well about the corruption, and social and economic carnage all around them which might not have visited their door YET, should hang their heads. Silence in the face of oppression is complicity with the oppressor.
Thank you again for all of your messages. Please continue to write, even if I cannot reply to you individually.
Most importantly, do whatever you can to raise awareness about corruption in your own community, by challenging it publicly, holding meetings or running for public office in the upcoming election. We are a rich country but our wealth - your tax - is being squandered by a spoilt elite who care only for themselves.
Corruption is the beginning and end of all of our problems in Ireland. Change is badly needed. But it is up to us to make it happen.
#ENDCORRUPTIONNOW
Co-archived Gemma O'Doherty
Bank of Ireland are trying to repossess the home of a seriously ill Limerick woman Despite the fact that she only owes €16,000 on a home valued at €300,000. She fell behind on her repayments when she became seriously ill. Time to #endcorruptionnow
Co-archived Anna Kavanagh
Inchicore Eviction Update :
I secured an extension with the landlord today and we also have applied successfully for homeless hap. Focus Ireland appointed place finder will engage with couple on Monday. So no eviction,legal or otherwise for now. Thankz everybody for your support. I will inform you all if anything changes.
I secured an extension with the landlord today and we also have applied successfully for homeless hap. Focus Ireland appointed place finder will engage with couple on Monday. So no eviction,legal or otherwise for now. Thankz everybody for your support. I will inform you all if anything changes.
Co-archived Damien Farrell
Lets be clear, HAP is a major part of the problem, it gives no extra security to tenants, every year your hoping the landlord will renew..It costs the state alot of money as it pays full market rent and increases as the market dictates in fact its contributing to the rental crisis. It would be more cost effective to build public housing, those homes are state assets constantly earning revenue, people have secure homes to raise families which creates a better society, the cost of paying for Hubs, hotels and private landlords is gone... So people affected see the logic of securing a permanent tenancy and are willing to fight for it, what do the state dictates say, well if you don't take HAP we might just put you on the streets proper..
Co-archived Niamh Mc Donald
While sitting in the square yesterday with my daughter's.. we witnessed a homeless man firstly highly unwell...and then being attacked. We also noticed how even though I went to this man to help...no one else sadly would....many looked away simply shaking their heads. I was very shocked and disheartened for the first time in a long time that a very clear and apparent blind eye was turned at a time a man needed help. Would we walk past a fallen child and not offer a hand up...or a pregnant lady? An elderly lady or gentleman who trips and falls in the street? We would not. Beneath the ragged clothing of a rough sleeper is a person...a person equally entitled to human rights and a home. All lives matter. We are a community group in a deliberate attempt to raise awareness and have our homeless brought back into the folds of their community...so I'm sure folks can understand how seeing a sick homeless man during a busy lunchtime...utterly ignored and then attacked by others...hits hard. I felt after the last few years of doing this...I'd failed miserably in having our homeless treated in a better way. The man is thankfully currently okay and recovering.
Co-archived Dundalk Homeless Support Group
Excellent news.
Government approves bill to protect homeowners facing possession orders
Seemingly, people in mortgage arrears MUST to engage with the Government Schemes in order to find a solution.
''The Government has approved the drafting of legislation to provide further protections for homeowners facing possession orders''
- The bill provides that the court, when considering an application for a POSSESSION ORDER in such a case, MUST give regard to:
1. the overall proportionality of the application for a repossession order;
2. the circumstances of those resident in the property;
3. the DETAILS of, and responses to, ANY PROPOSALS put forward by either party which would ENABLE the BORROWER to remain in the property,
4. The participation in a Government scheme for distressed mortgage holders (for example, the Mortgage to Rent Scheme or the ABHAILE SCHEME ); and
5. where the mortgagee is not the original mortgagee that granted the loan or mortgage to the mortgagor, the amount paid for the purchase of the loan or mortgage by reference to the amount of debt outstanding in respect of the loan or mortgage.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said the bill “has its genesis” in the KEEPING PEOPLE IN THEIR HOMES BILL introduced to the Dáil by his Cabinet colleague Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran.
Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran said: “The proposed Bill reflects the Government’s resolve in addressing the issue of mortgage arrears and it now offers the Courts the opportunity to assess possession orders on a proportionality basis as set out in EU LAW.
“This legislation is very important to me and I am pleased that Cabinet has approved drafting today. I look forward to seeing this Bill on the statute books as a further protection for those facing repossession orders.”
Government approves bill to protect homeowners facing possession orders
Seemingly, people in mortgage arrears MUST to engage with the Government Schemes in order to find a solution.
''The Government has approved the drafting of legislation to provide further protections for homeowners facing possession orders''
- The bill provides that the court, when considering an application for a POSSESSION ORDER in such a case, MUST give regard to:
1. the overall proportionality of the application for a repossession order;
2. the circumstances of those resident in the property;
3. the DETAILS of, and responses to, ANY PROPOSALS put forward by either party which would ENABLE the BORROWER to remain in the property,
4. The participation in a Government scheme for distressed mortgage holders (for example, the Mortgage to Rent Scheme or the ABHAILE SCHEME ); and
5. where the mortgagee is not the original mortgagee that granted the loan or mortgage to the mortgagor, the amount paid for the purchase of the loan or mortgage by reference to the amount of debt outstanding in respect of the loan or mortgage.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said the bill “has its genesis” in the KEEPING PEOPLE IN THEIR HOMES BILL introduced to the Dáil by his Cabinet colleague Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran.
Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran said: “The proposed Bill reflects the Government’s resolve in addressing the issue of mortgage arrears and it now offers the Courts the opportunity to assess possession orders on a proportionality basis as set out in EU LAW.
“This legislation is very important to me and I am pleased that Cabinet has approved drafting today. I look forward to seeing this Bill on the statute books as a further protection for those facing repossession orders.”
Co-archived Court case watch-Ireland
BREAKING NEWS!!! The lady who was jailed in the High Court a number of weeks ago on a contempt of court charge for refusing to hand over her family home to a vulture fund in a substantial receivership case, thus making herself and her 2 teenage children homeless, was this afternoon returned to the Dochas Women's Detention Centre in Mountjoy prison. Senior council for Grant Thornton have said her fate is in her own hands; all she has to do is purge her contempt and give up her family home. The lady, known as Yvonne, steadfastly refuses to do so and she believes her constitutional rights support her. The case has been put back until the 12th of June when Yvonne will be given one hour to establish the merits of her case. According to people close to her, Yvonne is in good spirits despite what many people believe is her illegal detention. Her teenage children are being cared for by family. Unsurprisingly, there is no mainstream media reporting on this case.
Co-archived Mayo Land League
Happy Mayday!
Say nothing about the 3,646....
THREE THOUSAND
SIX HUNDRED
FORTY SIX
HOMELESS CHILDREN
It only upsets the minister.
Definitely say nothing 27 empty houses for each one of those kids, the property developers & banksters want to keep that quiet. So shhh....
Just fight away among yourselves
Say nothing about the 3,646....
THREE THOUSAND
SIX HUNDRED
FORTY SIX
HOMELESS CHILDREN
It only upsets the minister.
Definitely say nothing 27 empty houses for each one of those kids, the property developers & banksters want to keep that quiet. So shhh....
Just fight away among yourselves
Co-archived Noreen Murphy
A Co Galway couple were overcharged €1.23 million by KBC Bank Ireland after they were incorrectly moved to higher interest-rate mortgages on their properties instead of a tracker rate.
It is the biggest single case of overcharging by a bank to emerge in the tracker mortgage scandal, which has cost almost €1 billion and so far affected at least 33,700 customers.
John and Christine Foye of Milltown, Co Galway, were overcharged by the Belgian-owned bank on loans across a portfolio of investment properties. They were incorrectly moved off a fixed interest rate to a higher variable rate instead of a lower interest tracker rate tied to the European Central Bank rate.
The bank has offered the Foyes almost €380,000 in compensation.
It is the biggest single case of overcharging by a bank to emerge in the tracker mortgage scandal, which has cost almost €1 billion and so far affected at least 33,700 customers.
John and Christine Foye of Milltown, Co Galway, were overcharged by the Belgian-owned bank on loans across a portfolio of investment properties. They were incorrectly moved off a fixed interest rate to a higher variable rate instead of a lower interest tracker rate tied to the European Central Bank rate.
The bank has offered the Foyes almost €380,000 in compensation.
Co-archived The Hub - Ireland
A single bed in a kitchen in Dublin's Stoneybatter is being advertised on a property website at €800 per month.
The property, located in the Stoneybatter area of Dublin, is described as a "self-contained studio".
The description reads: "Recently refurbished small single bed studio apartment available to rent in the popular area of Aughrim Street This self-contained studio comprises of a single bed. Tiled flooring. And a built in kitchen with all mod cons & features. Aughrim Street is a most desirable location within the ever popular Stoney batter (sic) village. "
Accompanying photos show a single bed with a mattress in what appears to be a kitchen space. There is a broken chair beside the bed.
Photos of a small bathroom have also been posted with the listing. It is not clear if the bathroom is private or shared with the building's other tenants.
Inflatable mattress in a shared room advertised for €325 per month in Dublin
As rent prices continue to rise across the country, renters are scrambling for a place to call home.
Would-be renters are struggling to find suitable properties as a severe shortage of accommodation continues to be one of the most pressing issues within the Irish housing market.
The demand for accommodation has outstripped supply in the private rental market. A lack of affordable housing has caused rent prices to skyrocket.
In its most recent report, Daft.ie concludes that rents in Dublin have increased year-on-year every quarter since 2010, increasing on average 81pc since that low.
According to the Daft.ie report, the average monthly rent nationwide during the final quarte
The property, located in the Stoneybatter area of Dublin, is described as a "self-contained studio".
The description reads: "Recently refurbished small single bed studio apartment available to rent in the popular area of Aughrim Street This self-contained studio comprises of a single bed. Tiled flooring. And a built in kitchen with all mod cons & features. Aughrim Street is a most desirable location within the ever popular Stoney batter (sic) village. "
Accompanying photos show a single bed with a mattress in what appears to be a kitchen space. There is a broken chair beside the bed.
Photos of a small bathroom have also been posted with the listing. It is not clear if the bathroom is private or shared with the building's other tenants.
Inflatable mattress in a shared room advertised for €325 per month in Dublin
As rent prices continue to rise across the country, renters are scrambling for a place to call home.
Would-be renters are struggling to find suitable properties as a severe shortage of accommodation continues to be one of the most pressing issues within the Irish housing market.
The demand for accommodation has outstripped supply in the private rental market. A lack of affordable housing has caused rent prices to skyrocket.
In its most recent report, Daft.ie concludes that rents in Dublin have increased year-on-year every quarter since 2010, increasing on average 81pc since that low.
According to the Daft.ie report, the average monthly rent nationwide during the final quarte
The last few days I've met a lot of the hidden homeless in Galway, like we apparently had 91 on our street last Saturday night and I have lived here a long time so recognise at least most of them but this week I've met many that I would never imagine are, people that you would literally think were just out for a walk to do some shopping or go to work, people that never sit at the side of the street but keep moving so they never draw attention, people that do not have substance abuse issues, people that have spent years here or were even born here, people that until recently had homes to rent which provided them an opportunity to live and work, people that keep their stuff in storage lockers so they have clean clothes etc and use the public pay for showers in salthill as much as possible to feel clean and normal, people that do not feel safe availing of the only opportunities presented to them by official channels, people that look absolutely normal in no way destitute and literally only need a roof over their heads to live and succeed in life, people that look in no way different or act in no way different than anyone else that has a home. The only difference I've noticed is the long off look in their eyes as they search for somewhere to go. Our system imagines that the rich getting richer makes the poor get richer too, but the reality is what is classed as poor has finally reached middle class, as the rich take more resources what is left for the poor is increasingly pushing upwards what is considered the poverty line. A few hours ago I met a guy that has lived in this city for 17 years and had a life a home and profession until only last November so I thought of him writing this, he told me all he needed was a roof over his head and a shower to wash himself and he would be absolutely fully capable in living his life. I don't know how much more these hidden numbers have to increase until they are no longer hideable but I honestly can't imagine much longer, all those that Hid for the winter will soon swell and we will get hit by a new official reality of not 10k homeless but 50 maybe 60k. I'm not unique in my homelessness I feel exactly the same as that man I met earlier.
Co-archived Sol Tierney
Hi I'm a homeless disabled guy in Galway that desperately needs help to defend my dwelling, I have been living in a derelict building with no light heat or water for 7 months but I've been treated with the guards to get out by a representative of the owner, this house has been abandoned and borded up since 1999 I've literally dug it out of brambles etc that were growing right over its roof it's and is ironically owned by a disability charity, I heard him on the phone to the guards saying that I broke windows to get in but I didn't, the back door was caved in by a tree and a fox was living in here when I moved in.. I have nowhere to go and the streets will kill me with my illness, is there any Galway heads that are willing to help me defend myself, I'm currently trapped in the house on my own with my dog, I need help not fighters just observers even so they don't beat the shite out of me getting me out.
Co-archived Sol Tierney
Was contacted to go toe-to-toe with Labour Party heavyweight Dermot Lacey on Newstalk today. Dermot was ready for his well-rehearsed polite politics. I even tried to give him polite politics. I swear. I tried. But, sometimes, we have to be less than polite.
(For the record, the march is a sublime show of solidarity with our most vulnerable, which will be attended by magnificent people. This is about the corrupt Labour Party trying to exploit that magnificence, not the huge number of people who are trying to do the right thing for all of us.)
(For the record, the march is a sublime show of solidarity with our most vulnerable, which will be attended by magnificent people. This is about the corrupt Labour Party trying to exploit that magnificence, not the huge number of people who are trying to do the right thing for all of us.)
Co-archived Terry McMahon
The Financial Services Ombudsman plays an important role in financial matters. It is a free service also.
It may even assist people in getting compensation from wrongful advice regarding a financial matter, as in this article.
https://www.fspo.ie/
"Ger Deering, the financial services ombudsman, had to resort to legal action last year to enforce a compensation award made against a FINANCIAL ADVISER from Co Kildare".
- O’Grady Financial Services, based in the Curragh, is no longer in business.
- Deering obtained a Circuit court order directing the firm to honour AN AWARD made by the ombudsman in favour of one of its clients.
- The case is believed to be the FIRST of its kind, although a previous ombudsman, Joe Meade, threatened to take Irish Nationwide to court in 2007 after the building society failed to pay all of the compensation he awarded in favour of mortgage customers.
- Ulster Bank topped the ombudsman’s LIST OF SHAME in 2017, with nine complaints against it UPHELD in whole or in part.
- It was followed by Danske Bank, which pulled out of Ireland in 2014, with four successful complaints from customers.
- The other financial services providers on the ombudsman’s list were
. Irish Life Health
. FBD Insurance
. EBS
. Friends First,
. Irish Life
. Bank of Ireland,
. Permanent
. TSB
. RSA Insurance.
- AIB was not among the top 10 providers in terms of complaints, despite being Ireland’s largest retail bank, with a 36% share of personal current accounts.
- Its EBS subsidiary made the list, however.
It may even assist people in getting compensation from wrongful advice regarding a financial matter, as in this article.
https://www.fspo.ie/
"Ger Deering, the financial services ombudsman, had to resort to legal action last year to enforce a compensation award made against a FINANCIAL ADVISER from Co Kildare".
- O’Grady Financial Services, based in the Curragh, is no longer in business.
- Deering obtained a Circuit court order directing the firm to honour AN AWARD made by the ombudsman in favour of one of its clients.
- The case is believed to be the FIRST of its kind, although a previous ombudsman, Joe Meade, threatened to take Irish Nationwide to court in 2007 after the building society failed to pay all of the compensation he awarded in favour of mortgage customers.
- Ulster Bank topped the ombudsman’s LIST OF SHAME in 2017, with nine complaints against it UPHELD in whole or in part.
- It was followed by Danske Bank, which pulled out of Ireland in 2014, with four successful complaints from customers.
- The other financial services providers on the ombudsman’s list were
. Irish Life Health
. FBD Insurance
. EBS
. Friends First,
. Irish Life
. Bank of Ireland,
. Permanent
. TSB
. RSA Insurance.
- AIB was not among the top 10 providers in terms of complaints, despite being Ireland’s largest retail bank, with a 36% share of personal current accounts.
- Its EBS subsidiary made the list, however.
Co-archived Court watch-Ireland(I spy with my little eye
Welcome news for borrowers who have gotten 'restructured mortgages'
Apparently such loans may be reclassified as "performing", and will not be sold to vulture funds.
"PTSB loans move could deliver reprieve for thousands of homeowners"
Bank seeks regulatory approval to pull €900m of loans from massive portfolio sale
- Permanent TSB is seeking regulatory approval to RECLASSIFY €900 million of RESTRUCTURED mortgages as PERFORMING LOANS.
- That would allow the lender to pull the debt from a massive portfolio sale.
- It would deliver a reprieve for borrowers behind 4,300 homes from having their loans sold on – most likely to overseas funds – as the bank seeks to resolve its bad-loans problem a decade after the financial crisis began.
- Speaking to reporters after the lender revealed that it had returned to profit last year for the first time in 10 years, executives said that PTSB has formally asked the European Central Bank (ECB) to allow it RECLASSIFY so-called split mortgages as PERFORMING LOANS.
- The matter is under consideration by a working group involving members of the ECB’s banking supervision arm and the European Banking Authority (EBA), they said.
- “We would be hopeful that we would get an answer on that,” said Stephen Groake, chief risk officer at the bank, adding that the bank had not received an indication yet on when it may receive an answer.
Apparently such loans may be reclassified as "performing", and will not be sold to vulture funds.
"PTSB loans move could deliver reprieve for thousands of homeowners"
Bank seeks regulatory approval to pull €900m of loans from massive portfolio sale
- Permanent TSB is seeking regulatory approval to RECLASSIFY €900 million of RESTRUCTURED mortgages as PERFORMING LOANS.
- That would allow the lender to pull the debt from a massive portfolio sale.
- It would deliver a reprieve for borrowers behind 4,300 homes from having their loans sold on – most likely to overseas funds – as the bank seeks to resolve its bad-loans problem a decade after the financial crisis began.
- Speaking to reporters after the lender revealed that it had returned to profit last year for the first time in 10 years, executives said that PTSB has formally asked the European Central Bank (ECB) to allow it RECLASSIFY so-called split mortgages as PERFORMING LOANS.
- The matter is under consideration by a working group involving members of the ECB’s banking supervision arm and the European Banking Authority (EBA), they said.
- “We would be hopeful that we would get an answer on that,” said Stephen Groake, chief risk officer at the bank, adding that the bank had not received an indication yet on when it may receive an answer.
Co-archived Court watch-Ireland(I spy with my little eye
This morning, six of us made our way down to the High Court to be adjudicated bankrupt with the help of the IMHO. We were met with a crowded court room. This is a day we genuinely thought would never come. We went in with heavy hearts but with our heads held high.
This nightmare has been ongoing for us since 2008. To lose your family home with two young babies, to have to move away from friends and family to make a new life and still be pursued for every penny ever since, is a stress I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Faced with increasing rents, short supply of rental properties, at times it feels like this nightmare will never stop. But it will.
Brian and I are lucky. Despite the continued psychological stress, the pressure to pay, the absolute abandonment by successive governments, the rolling out the red carpet to these vulture funds so that ordinary families like ours are made to suffer further and the consistent spin that we are all uncooperative borrowers, strategic defaulters, somehow gaming a system we didn’t understand, we were at the High Court together to support each other today. If I believed, I’d call it a miracle.
We would like to pay a special thank you to Jana Focsa and David Hall of debt charity Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation. Thanks also to our friends and families and colleagues, who have stood by us through thick and thin.
This issue isn’t going away anytime soon. The Housing Crisis, or emergency as it should be known as, is only continuing to worsen. I will continue to speak out and hold those responsible to account, for their failure to act on behalf of the people.
They didn’t break me. They will regret that.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
This nightmare has been ongoing for us since 2008. To lose your family home with two young babies, to have to move away from friends and family to make a new life and still be pursued for every penny ever since, is a stress I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Faced with increasing rents, short supply of rental properties, at times it feels like this nightmare will never stop. But it will.
Brian and I are lucky. Despite the continued psychological stress, the pressure to pay, the absolute abandonment by successive governments, the rolling out the red carpet to these vulture funds so that ordinary families like ours are made to suffer further and the consistent spin that we are all uncooperative borrowers, strategic defaulters, somehow gaming a system we didn’t understand, we were at the High Court together to support each other today. If I believed, I’d call it a miracle.
We would like to pay a special thank you to Jana Focsa and David Hall of debt charity Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation. Thanks also to our friends and families and colleagues, who have stood by us through thick and thin.
This issue isn’t going away anytime soon. The Housing Crisis, or emergency as it should be known as, is only continuing to worsen. I will continue to speak out and hold those responsible to account, for their failure to act on behalf of the people.
They didn’t break me. They will regret that.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
If you think you have been over-charged by your lender (and I reckon 99% of us have been) you must first obtain all documents relating to your mortgage from them. This is a template of the letter you must send to obtain these documents with a cheque for €6.35. When you get these documents the two most important ones in that bundle are your original letter of offer and the statement of all repayments from the date you first took out the mortgage.
Your Address
Your Lender's Name
Your Lender's Address
10th March 2018
Re: Your Name
Property Address: (Address of Mortgaged Property)
Mortgage Account No: (You Mortgage Account No.)
________________________________________________
Dear Sirs
I/We refer to the above mortgage account.
I/we wish to make an access request under Section 4 of the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 for a certified copy of any information you keep about me/us, on computer or in manual form in relation to my/our above mortgage account number to include a certified copy of all documentation pertaining thereto including the original mortgage application, the original letter of offer which I/we signed, every other document that was generated as a result of said mortgage and any document I/we signed in relation to any change of rate of interest on my/our mortgage account, every internal document that you hold either digitally or manually, every internal memo, letter, note or any other documentation relating to the above mortgage account in your possession, power or procurement including any internal memos either digital or manual of meetings with any managers/representatives of your branch at (insert address of bank you got your mortgage from)
I/we enclose cheque in the sum of €6.35 being the amount payable for this information request.
I/we await hearing from you as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully
________________
Your Address
Your Lender's Name
Your Lender's Address
10th March 2018
Re: Your Name
Property Address: (Address of Mortgaged Property)
Mortgage Account No: (You Mortgage Account No.)
________________________________________________
Dear Sirs
I/We refer to the above mortgage account.
I/we wish to make an access request under Section 4 of the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 for a certified copy of any information you keep about me/us, on computer or in manual form in relation to my/our above mortgage account number to include a certified copy of all documentation pertaining thereto including the original mortgage application, the original letter of offer which I/we signed, every other document that was generated as a result of said mortgage and any document I/we signed in relation to any change of rate of interest on my/our mortgage account, every internal document that you hold either digitally or manually, every internal memo, letter, note or any other documentation relating to the above mortgage account in your possession, power or procurement including any internal memos either digital or manual of meetings with any managers/representatives of your branch at (insert address of bank you got your mortgage from)
I/we enclose cheque in the sum of €6.35 being the amount payable for this information request.
I/we await hearing from you as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully
________________
Co-archived Hilary O'Neill
Met a farmer in his 80s who worked hard all his life and now finds himself facing vulture funds .
There must be a better way
There must be a better way
Co-archived Seamus Sherlock
Did you just see RTE 9pm News...
essentially prepping the groundwork for mass evictions, trying to turn those who can pay their full mortgages against those who can't? It was a pity reduction exercise with no shade or shame. Claiming that your mortgage costs have and will go up via interest rates because of, wait for it, 'strategic defaulters'. I know no-one who risks their kids home by 'strategically defaulting'. The homes being sold off to vulture funds were also mentioned in this piece creating an association between make-believe strategic defaulters and all those poor families being sold-off, the mass majority paying what they can, some not in arrears at all.. This is also prepping us for a general rise in interest rates and asking us to point the finger at the hard-up who in today's Ireland are many indeed, myself and yourself probably, as those that got 'deals' are thrown to the wolves with higher rates, more on the list for the vultures. On the one hand, the guy in the news piece said the banks have lots of money to do deals. On the next breathe he says they are broke because of 'strategic defaulters' and have to raise interest rates. They are raising interest rates because they have to feed their fat faces and egos with material made from the hearts of broken families. Interest rates are also going to go up internationally soon, I believe in part to try to do damage to Donald Trump, partly because they can't keep them down to nothing anymore, the political reasons for doing so such as the introduction of the Euro, is complete, and the global economy on the face of it doesn't look like it's too rocky. Interest rates mean profits. Rte, by having no-one to counter their own and the Central Bank's spin tonight is every indicator needed that RTE were brainwashing the public, setting the scene for what may become the next land war in Ireland. Their obvious efforts tonight to stem any sympathy for families in trouble with their mortgages is worrying...
essentially prepping the groundwork for mass evictions, trying to turn those who can pay their full mortgages against those who can't? It was a pity reduction exercise with no shade or shame. Claiming that your mortgage costs have and will go up via interest rates because of, wait for it, 'strategic defaulters'. I know no-one who risks their kids home by 'strategically defaulting'. The homes being sold off to vulture funds were also mentioned in this piece creating an association between make-believe strategic defaulters and all those poor families being sold-off, the mass majority paying what they can, some not in arrears at all.. This is also prepping us for a general rise in interest rates and asking us to point the finger at the hard-up who in today's Ireland are many indeed, myself and yourself probably, as those that got 'deals' are thrown to the wolves with higher rates, more on the list for the vultures. On the one hand, the guy in the news piece said the banks have lots of money to do deals. On the next breathe he says they are broke because of 'strategic defaulters' and have to raise interest rates. They are raising interest rates because they have to feed their fat faces and egos with material made from the hearts of broken families. Interest rates are also going to go up internationally soon, I believe in part to try to do damage to Donald Trump, partly because they can't keep them down to nothing anymore, the political reasons for doing so such as the introduction of the Euro, is complete, and the global economy on the face of it doesn't look like it's too rocky. Interest rates mean profits. Rte, by having no-one to counter their own and the Central Bank's spin tonight is every indicator needed that RTE were brainwashing the public, setting the scene for what may become the next land war in Ireland. Their obvious efforts tonight to stem any sympathy for families in trouble with their mortgages is worrying...
Co-archived Louth water metering lets fight back
Storm Emma, Alienation & Fightback
Symptoms of a sick system:
Leo Varadkar said they wouldn’t spend extra money to stop old people freezing to death.
A landlord tried to illegally evict people into the snow in Rathmines.
Homeless people who refused emergency accommodation were sectioned under the mental health act. Perhaps there was no other way to get them out of the cold, but if admitting them to a psychiatric hospital against their will was the only way to do so, you have to wonder how many times they have been failed by the state and other institutions if they refused to get out of that weather.
Some people with a JCB broke a Lidl and right wingers responded by calling for everyone in Tallaght to be sterilised.
And reasons for hope:
Varadkar was shamed into doubling the fuel allowance by the public outrage.
Friends, neighbours and activists managed to stop the eviction in Rathmines.
Housing activists and charities stepped up to try to get people off the streets out of the cold.
People in Tallaght and elsewhere will continue to fight on and show that the bulk of the violence and misery in this country is inflicted by the extremely wealthy and by the state that backs them up. And we’re going to fucking win.
Bonus:
There were some quality igloos built.
Symptoms of a sick system:
Leo Varadkar said they wouldn’t spend extra money to stop old people freezing to death.
A landlord tried to illegally evict people into the snow in Rathmines.
Homeless people who refused emergency accommodation were sectioned under the mental health act. Perhaps there was no other way to get them out of the cold, but if admitting them to a psychiatric hospital against their will was the only way to do so, you have to wonder how many times they have been failed by the state and other institutions if they refused to get out of that weather.
Some people with a JCB broke a Lidl and right wingers responded by calling for everyone in Tallaght to be sterilised.
And reasons for hope:
Varadkar was shamed into doubling the fuel allowance by the public outrage.
Friends, neighbours and activists managed to stop the eviction in Rathmines.
Housing activists and charities stepped up to try to get people off the streets out of the cold.
People in Tallaght and elsewhere will continue to fight on and show that the bulk of the violence and misery in this country is inflicted by the extremely wealthy and by the state that backs them up. And we’re going to fucking win.
Bonus:
There were some quality igloos built.
Co-archived Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin
Prison is the only form of public housing the government has truly invested in over the past decade .
Co-archived P Jay Armstrong
Tonights Outreach Exposed A Careless System Yet Again !
During the course of our outreach tonight, during snow and freezing temperatures,two people presented to us for help accessing emergency accomodation,one a male and the other a female.
Our first port of call was the Housing First Outreach Intake Team mobile number. This service had been increased as part of the incumberant bad weather initiative and we did expect the teams to be busy. However,after five unanswered and unreplied calls and one detailed text with the clock ticking and weather worsening we decided not to wait and took a direct approach.
So around we went to St Catherines Foyer and Community Centre within which the Peter McVerry Trust had opened up to 100 camp beds under heated marquees in the community gym to much fanfare with a RTE SIX ONE NEWS slot.
We explained our presented persons circumstances and their prediciment of having no hostel accomodation and no phone but we got no joy.
We were told that the people in need of help would have to go through Central Placements via the Homeless Services Freephone despite this service being inaccessable until after 10.30pm and if they did not have mobile phones to direct them to one of the local payphones.
Of course we didnt enact that advice because as most of you will already know we are currently at issue with Eir and Comreg becase there is a distinct lack of inservice payphones in the Dublin 8 area and it is literally a game of chance at the best of times for service users.
So we went all the way back to square one again and called Housing First Outreach Intake but this time until they answered,but alas the answer was a surprising negative.
Housing First had actually no available beds at 9.40pm and they also recommended we engage the Freephone Service.
Running out of options and time we decided to take a chance with our female presented person and transported her to the DePaul hostel on Little Britain Street into which she was accepted. And we are much appreciative of this.
We then persevered with our male presented person with the Freephone Service from our mobile from the heat of our volunteers car until we received confirmed accomodation in the Bru Hostel on James Street and 10.41pm.
We drove him there and were happy to do so.
Does this really have the appearance of a system that is mobilised to provide safety and security to human beings as we face into the worse weather this country may have experienced for four decades or more ?
Its not fit for purpose and those who are responsible for it are not fit for office !
Tomorrow we will be enquiring why the Dublin Region Homeless Executive have not sanctioned walk up admissions at all hostels,why have Outreach Intake Teams not been increased to provide a necassary service and why the McVerry Trust in St Catherines would not accept a referral by our volunteers.
Maybe Eileen Gleeson can answer how volunteer groups who are actively providing more than links are constantly being dismissed by some recognoised charitable organisations ? After all that is what she wants to see more of from feeding based homeless outreach groups.
During the course of our outreach tonight, during snow and freezing temperatures,two people presented to us for help accessing emergency accomodation,one a male and the other a female.
Our first port of call was the Housing First Outreach Intake Team mobile number. This service had been increased as part of the incumberant bad weather initiative and we did expect the teams to be busy. However,after five unanswered and unreplied calls and one detailed text with the clock ticking and weather worsening we decided not to wait and took a direct approach.
So around we went to St Catherines Foyer and Community Centre within which the Peter McVerry Trust had opened up to 100 camp beds under heated marquees in the community gym to much fanfare with a RTE SIX ONE NEWS slot.
We explained our presented persons circumstances and their prediciment of having no hostel accomodation and no phone but we got no joy.
We were told that the people in need of help would have to go through Central Placements via the Homeless Services Freephone despite this service being inaccessable until after 10.30pm and if they did not have mobile phones to direct them to one of the local payphones.
Of course we didnt enact that advice because as most of you will already know we are currently at issue with Eir and Comreg becase there is a distinct lack of inservice payphones in the Dublin 8 area and it is literally a game of chance at the best of times for service users.
So we went all the way back to square one again and called Housing First Outreach Intake but this time until they answered,but alas the answer was a surprising negative.
Housing First had actually no available beds at 9.40pm and they also recommended we engage the Freephone Service.
Running out of options and time we decided to take a chance with our female presented person and transported her to the DePaul hostel on Little Britain Street into which she was accepted. And we are much appreciative of this.
We then persevered with our male presented person with the Freephone Service from our mobile from the heat of our volunteers car until we received confirmed accomodation in the Bru Hostel on James Street and 10.41pm.
We drove him there and were happy to do so.
Does this really have the appearance of a system that is mobilised to provide safety and security to human beings as we face into the worse weather this country may have experienced for four decades or more ?
Its not fit for purpose and those who are responsible for it are not fit for office !
Tomorrow we will be enquiring why the Dublin Region Homeless Executive have not sanctioned walk up admissions at all hostels,why have Outreach Intake Teams not been increased to provide a necassary service and why the McVerry Trust in St Catherines would not accept a referral by our volunteers.
Maybe Eileen Gleeson can answer how volunteer groups who are actively providing more than links are constantly being dismissed by some recognoised charitable organisations ? After all that is what she wants to see more of from feeding based homeless outreach groups.
Co-archived D8HAC Altogether Now
Unbelievably scenes on our streets. I swear this country is turning into a place where people do not matter.
Outside the GPO people turned up for food and sleeping bags. Freezing cold. Confused about emergency beds. Ringing numbers and getting no answer. Seriously distressed people and even a person talking about suicide.
Yet inside a posh event of some sort was going on inside the GPO. They had blinds so you couldnt see in but at the end they pulled the blinds up.
We certainly do not live in a socialist country. Not even remotely socialist. Capitalism all the way for mother ireland.
So angry tonight. Everyone always says "the snow is lovely but wouldnt you pity anyone homeless in that". Well I tell you now my heart is broke tonight. Ive seen a seriously distressed homeless woman with an obvious mental illness. And at least 5 people were still in doorways in this weather. Another man so distressed he wants to die literally. Very very upsetting.
Outside the GPO people turned up for food and sleeping bags. Freezing cold. Confused about emergency beds. Ringing numbers and getting no answer. Seriously distressed people and even a person talking about suicide.
Yet inside a posh event of some sort was going on inside the GPO. They had blinds so you couldnt see in but at the end they pulled the blinds up.
We certainly do not live in a socialist country. Not even remotely socialist. Capitalism all the way for mother ireland.
So angry tonight. Everyone always says "the snow is lovely but wouldnt you pity anyone homeless in that". Well I tell you now my heart is broke tonight. Ive seen a seriously distressed homeless woman with an obvious mental illness. And at least 5 people were still in doorways in this weather. Another man so distressed he wants to die literally. Very very upsetting.
Co-archived Tracy Duggan
Hey all we are looking to have a sit in protest in the next week or so if anyone is available or wants to join in few different queries we have and can put on placards during a tribunal in the rtb offices they seem to be very landlord friendly and accept evidence and other stuff from landlord on the day but for tenant its 5 working days so just to clarify a few issues please let us know if interested thanks
Co-archived Patrick Nelis
Today I am going to contact KBC Bank and some Members of the Oireachtas for some clarification about the attempted eviction in Balbriggan two nights ago.
I am doing so on the basis that it is being stated that the family have not missed one payment in six years.
I am also doing this , as I hope to allay panic and fear which must be setting in amongst ordinary families in mortgage arrears, who have been paying their mortgage for the last few years.
it has also been alleged on social media that the family are awaiting an appeal in the Court system.
If this is the case, then a Sheriff surely would not be able to evict?
But on the other hand, a Sheriff does not appear to have been in attendance on the night.
I am doing so on the basis that it is being stated that the family have not missed one payment in six years.
I am also doing this , as I hope to allay panic and fear which must be setting in amongst ordinary families in mortgage arrears, who have been paying their mortgage for the last few years.
it has also been alleged on social media that the family are awaiting an appeal in the Court system.
If this is the case, then a Sheriff surely would not be able to evict?
But on the other hand, a Sheriff does not appear to have been in attendance on the night.
Co-archived Martina Doyle
GOOD NEWS.....
Good news emerged over the last 24 hours for homeowners...last night a security firm thought to employ ex-loyalist paramilitaries and British soldiers tried to evict a family from their home in Balbriggan. They were put running however by a large group of activists, yes many of them declared and proud Republicans (not SF btw, they're too 'in' now to lower themselves) and the surrounding community. I wasn't there myself but i spoke to some that were. The security guards reportedly attacked with kitchen knives and baseball bats, the Gardaí with their batons, but as the defenders numbers grew, the state couldn't control the situation and advised the hired thugs to leave, which they promptly did after destroying the family home, smashing sinks and cisterns as they left, but the family are still in their home and with it powder put to musket.......On another note, two friends had both the banks applications for possession orders on their home thrown out of Dundalk Circuit court today. I am delighted for both of them, for the first time in years they can have a sound sleep in their beds tonight and smile at the breakfast table with their kids in the morning. There is a change coming, a turn in the road. As the reality bites with PTSB and other banks about to sell scores of thousands of families' futures to vulture funds, the ball has just landed on the turf for the start of the match....
Good news emerged over the last 24 hours for homeowners...last night a security firm thought to employ ex-loyalist paramilitaries and British soldiers tried to evict a family from their home in Balbriggan. They were put running however by a large group of activists, yes many of them declared and proud Republicans (not SF btw, they're too 'in' now to lower themselves) and the surrounding community. I wasn't there myself but i spoke to some that were. The security guards reportedly attacked with kitchen knives and baseball bats, the Gardaí with their batons, but as the defenders numbers grew, the state couldn't control the situation and advised the hired thugs to leave, which they promptly did after destroying the family home, smashing sinks and cisterns as they left, but the family are still in their home and with it powder put to musket.......On another note, two friends had both the banks applications for possession orders on their home thrown out of Dundalk Circuit court today. I am delighted for both of them, for the first time in years they can have a sound sleep in their beds tonight and smile at the breakfast table with their kids in the morning. There is a change coming, a turn in the road. As the reality bites with PTSB and other banks about to sell scores of thousands of families' futures to vulture funds, the ball has just landed on the turf for the start of the match....
Co-archived The National Land League of Ireland
Make No Mistake The Beast Is Coming !
Folks over the next coming days this country is set to experience severe weather in the form of sustained below zero temperatures,freezing winds,hail,sleet,snow,ice and rain.
All of these weather combinations spell danger for homeless people and those who may risk sleeping outside could be putting themselves in mortal danger.
We strongly encourage all our service users to waste no time in securing accomodation. Apparrantly the Dublin Region Homeless Executive has provided an additional 104 emergency "beds" and the services emergency freephone is 1800 707 707.
And we appeal to our supporters and the general public to assist homeless people where they can and in a safe manner to access the service where public payphones are not in service. But we do stress priority to personnel safety.
Members of the public can also provide vital intervention and assistance by contacting the Housing First Outreach Intake Team on 086 813 9015. This service has been increased for the incumberent weather and its function is to engage homeless people who are outside in order to encourage them to take emergency hostel beds. However the service will be under the strain of incresed demand and we recommend that where members of the public do not receive a reply immediatley that they text message their contact information and location details of those requiring the service.
The publics awareness of our increasing homelessness issue can be positively applied if we do so in an intelligent manner. No amount of hot cuppas and sleeping bags will replace the safety and warmth of a secured state operated facility.
Or alternatively we can be contacted on 085 270 8970.
Folks over the next coming days this country is set to experience severe weather in the form of sustained below zero temperatures,freezing winds,hail,sleet,snow,ice and rain.
All of these weather combinations spell danger for homeless people and those who may risk sleeping outside could be putting themselves in mortal danger.
We strongly encourage all our service users to waste no time in securing accomodation. Apparrantly the Dublin Region Homeless Executive has provided an additional 104 emergency "beds" and the services emergency freephone is 1800 707 707.
And we appeal to our supporters and the general public to assist homeless people where they can and in a safe manner to access the service where public payphones are not in service. But we do stress priority to personnel safety.
Members of the public can also provide vital intervention and assistance by contacting the Housing First Outreach Intake Team on 086 813 9015. This service has been increased for the incumberent weather and its function is to engage homeless people who are outside in order to encourage them to take emergency hostel beds. However the service will be under the strain of incresed demand and we recommend that where members of the public do not receive a reply immediatley that they text message their contact information and location details of those requiring the service.
The publics awareness of our increasing homelessness issue can be positively applied if we do so in an intelligent manner. No amount of hot cuppas and sleeping bags will replace the safety and warmth of a secured state operated facility.
Or alternatively we can be contacted on 085 270 8970.
Co-archived D8HAC Altogether Now
97 REPOSSESSION CASES. GALWAY, TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2018.
Aine Trainor and many others in the city of Galway have had enough with the housing crisis. After experiencing self-organised occupations — that is, large-scale squats that are started by networks of activists but run by the residents — in Europe and in the Canary Islands, she believes it could be a quick short-term fix for the housing crisis here. “Essentially it’s about reclaiming private or public land that is vacant, so it’s not being utilised, and utilising it". Census data from 2016 show that for every 1,000 people in Galway city there are more than 36 dwellings sitting vacant. And as temperatures take a turn towards freezing this week, the plight of the homeless is difficult to ignore. While occupations may help the people on the street now, it’s the evictions, “renovictions”, and repossessions caused by larger economic trends and allowed by government policy that will force more and more people into homelessness. "There’s a collective onus on everybody. It’s all of our responsibility to try and do something, in whatever that is. Even if it’s just talking about the crisis, not normalising homelessness, and not normalising the huge rent increases". Aine and members from the Galway Housing Action group will be in attendance at the Galway repossessions court this Tuesday the 27th of February where 97 repossession cases will be heard. They will be there to provide tea, coffee and support to all those facing eviction on what promises to be a bitterly cold day in more ways than one. There will also be a public demonstration outside the court. “With the action at the repossession court, it’s small, but it’s within our means right now. There’s a lot more that we’d like to do and there’s a lot more that should be done generally. People are really, really angry about what’s going on, and rightfully so. So it’s about channeling that in a positive way.”
Aine Trainor and many others in the city of Galway have had enough with the housing crisis. After experiencing self-organised occupations — that is, large-scale squats that are started by networks of activists but run by the residents — in Europe and in the Canary Islands, she believes it could be a quick short-term fix for the housing crisis here. “Essentially it’s about reclaiming private or public land that is vacant, so it’s not being utilised, and utilising it". Census data from 2016 show that for every 1,000 people in Galway city there are more than 36 dwellings sitting vacant. And as temperatures take a turn towards freezing this week, the plight of the homeless is difficult to ignore. While occupations may help the people on the street now, it’s the evictions, “renovictions”, and repossessions caused by larger economic trends and allowed by government policy that will force more and more people into homelessness. "There’s a collective onus on everybody. It’s all of our responsibility to try and do something, in whatever that is. Even if it’s just talking about the crisis, not normalising homelessness, and not normalising the huge rent increases". Aine and members from the Galway Housing Action group will be in attendance at the Galway repossessions court this Tuesday the 27th of February where 97 repossession cases will be heard. They will be there to provide tea, coffee and support to all those facing eviction on what promises to be a bitterly cold day in more ways than one. There will also be a public demonstration outside the court. “With the action at the repossession court, it’s small, but it’s within our means right now. There’s a lot more that we’d like to do and there’s a lot more that should be done generally. People are really, really angry about what’s going on, and rightfully so. So it’s about channeling that in a positive way.”
Co-archived Mayo Land League
Nearly out of food clothes all but gone people still turning up bitter cold here going on the out reach now going around looking for people tea sandwiches sleeping bags
Co-archived Tom Duffy
Still kills me still thousands of children in hotels and B&Bs we have a hap home its better than nothing but still don't know the day or hour the landlord will want us to leave the house we have made home
Co-archived Carol Mc
We have serious concerns about the sale of 4000 buy-to-lets as part of the PTSB loan book.
It is inevitable that homeless figures will continue to rise once the vulture funds start to pursue aggressive repossession procedures, unless key measures are put in place – including a code for buy-to-let arrears.
The experiences of residents and some of are our former clients living in Cruise Park in Tyrellestown, Strand Hill in Limerick, Leeside Apartments in Cork and Robin Hill in Dublin will bear this out. It is just over a year since the actions of vulture funds necessitated the introduction of the Tyrellstown amendment, legislation which was aimed at protecting tenants from eviction when ownership of medium-sized and large-scale developments were sold in bulk to vulture funds.
Tenants in properties which are in receivership are in a very precarious position. Tenants’ rights in relation to upkeep of the property, deposit return and adherence to the existing terms of the tenancy are often ignored when receivers are appointed or when lenders seek to repossess a mortgaged property that is being rented.
It is inevitable that homeless figures will continue to rise once the vulture funds start to pursue aggressive repossession procedures, unless key measures are put in place – including a code for buy-to-let arrears.
The experiences of residents and some of are our former clients living in Cruise Park in Tyrellestown, Strand Hill in Limerick, Leeside Apartments in Cork and Robin Hill in Dublin will bear this out. It is just over a year since the actions of vulture funds necessitated the introduction of the Tyrellstown amendment, legislation which was aimed at protecting tenants from eviction when ownership of medium-sized and large-scale developments were sold in bulk to vulture funds.
Tenants in properties which are in receivership are in a very precarious position. Tenants’ rights in relation to upkeep of the property, deposit return and adherence to the existing terms of the tenancy are often ignored when receivers are appointed or when lenders seek to repossess a mortgaged property that is being rented.
Co-archived Threshold Ireland
This Is How You Tackle Vultures!
The decision of Permanent TSB to sell off distressed mortgages to vulture funds, which has raised the prospect of mass eviction for up to 14,000 households.
These funds bought up billions of Irish properties at a fraction of the price.
NAMA, for example sold off €7 billion of a portfolio known as Project Arrow for a mere €1 billion to Cerebrus.
The vulture funds now reckon that the time is ripe to start selling off some of this property. They want to use financial distress to evict mortgage holders so they can sell their property at a vast profit.
Last year there was a ten-fold increase in the number of High Court cases seeking evictions.
The political establishment are crying crocodile tears overall this. Fianna Fail have even brought in a bill to ‘regulate’ the vulture funds.
But FF and FG created the problem in the first place.
Fianna Fail set up NAMA and gave it a specific objective of ‘attracting international capital’
Fine Gael’s Michael Noonan took this one step further and held many meetings with them. Between 2013 and 2014, for example, there were no less than 65 meeting with vulture funds. The Department of Finance met private investment firms 26 times in 2015 and 34 times in 2016, with Minister Noonan present at six meetings Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have also made sure that Ireland’s financial sector is poorly regulated and allowed to get away with paying virtually no tax.
Vulture funds are allowed to operate as ‘Special Purpose Vehicles’ and are not even monitored by the Central Bank.
They avail of specially created loopholes such as the Section 110 to avoid paying tax. As a result 15 vulture funds paid an average of just €250 each even though they held over €10 billion of assets.
If an Irish government were serious, they would change the tax laws to put the vulture funds under pressure.
They would impose the full 25% non-trading tax on their profits. They would ban any form of shadow banking. And they would nationalise any vulture fund that sought to evade new regulatory and tax measures.
That way, the vulture funds would be under ‘financial distress’ and more amenable to letting go their Irish property.
But FF and FG would never dare do that.
Brian Finucane
People before profit
Candidate in Kerry
The decision of Permanent TSB to sell off distressed mortgages to vulture funds, which has raised the prospect of mass eviction for up to 14,000 households.
These funds bought up billions of Irish properties at a fraction of the price.
NAMA, for example sold off €7 billion of a portfolio known as Project Arrow for a mere €1 billion to Cerebrus.
The vulture funds now reckon that the time is ripe to start selling off some of this property. They want to use financial distress to evict mortgage holders so they can sell their property at a vast profit.
Last year there was a ten-fold increase in the number of High Court cases seeking evictions.
The political establishment are crying crocodile tears overall this. Fianna Fail have even brought in a bill to ‘regulate’ the vulture funds.
But FF and FG created the problem in the first place.
Fianna Fail set up NAMA and gave it a specific objective of ‘attracting international capital’
Fine Gael’s Michael Noonan took this one step further and held many meetings with them. Between 2013 and 2014, for example, there were no less than 65 meeting with vulture funds. The Department of Finance met private investment firms 26 times in 2015 and 34 times in 2016, with Minister Noonan present at six meetings Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have also made sure that Ireland’s financial sector is poorly regulated and allowed to get away with paying virtually no tax.
Vulture funds are allowed to operate as ‘Special Purpose Vehicles’ and are not even monitored by the Central Bank.
They avail of specially created loopholes such as the Section 110 to avoid paying tax. As a result 15 vulture funds paid an average of just €250 each even though they held over €10 billion of assets.
If an Irish government were serious, they would change the tax laws to put the vulture funds under pressure.
They would impose the full 25% non-trading tax on their profits. They would ban any form of shadow banking. And they would nationalise any vulture fund that sought to evade new regulatory and tax measures.
That way, the vulture funds would be under ‘financial distress’ and more amenable to letting go their Irish property.
But FF and FG would never dare do that.
Brian Finucane
People before profit
Candidate in Kerry
Co-archived Brian Finucane
No-one seems to be talking about the tenants in the buy-to-lets being sold off by PTSB.. Telling attitude to those in the private rented sector.
Co-archived Kitty Holland
Just on the line in today's Irish Times that the banks need to sell mortgages to vulture funds in order to allow us as a state "to move on."
The cost this year alone (2017) on the bank guarantee debt will come to €1.7bn.
That is €1.7bn that is not going into hospitals, schools, public transport or housing infrastructure.
There is a direct link between the trolley crisis and servicing the bank debt.
The idea that throwing tens of thousands of Irish citizens to the wolves while €1.7bn of taxpayers money is used to service the bailout is "moving on" just shows the utter contempt that Irish finance has for the Irish people.
Irish finance is rampant with tax avoidance.
This means that the very citizens who the banks want to evict are the very citizens paying tax and helping to service the bank crisis loans.
Irish finance, and their apologists in the Irish Times, deserve nothing but our contempt and anger.
Vulture fund sell off has to be resisted. This is about protecting each other against the very idiots that destroyed this country in the first place.
The cost this year alone (2017) on the bank guarantee debt will come to €1.7bn.
That is €1.7bn that is not going into hospitals, schools, public transport or housing infrastructure.
There is a direct link between the trolley crisis and servicing the bank debt.
The idea that throwing tens of thousands of Irish citizens to the wolves while €1.7bn of taxpayers money is used to service the bailout is "moving on" just shows the utter contempt that Irish finance has for the Irish people.
Irish finance is rampant with tax avoidance.
This means that the very citizens who the banks want to evict are the very citizens paying tax and helping to service the bank crisis loans.
Irish finance, and their apologists in the Irish Times, deserve nothing but our contempt and anger.
Vulture fund sell off has to be resisted. This is about protecting each other against the very idiots that destroyed this country in the first place.
Co-archived Conor McCabe
GOVT GIVE ‘VOUCHERS’ TO FIGHT THE VULCHURS....
Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan has described as "a sick joke", a letter sent from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to a man seeking to avoid repossession of his home, to contact mortgage arrears adviser Abhaile.
Mr Honohan said he has people in his court, on a daily basis, who are struggling to hold off repossession, and he had asked them to contact the Taoiseach to see where they could find mortgage-to-rent as a solution.
Mr Honohan said Abhaile is of no use to these people because it is "merely a voucher for €250 worth of legal advice" before you go to the Circuit Court.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he asked why the Taoiseach's office is so misinformed that it is unable to formulate a reasonable policy to cope with the wave of repossessions that is about to break.
He said if community funding could be resourced, then co-op housing would be the way forward, pointing out that over a million people in Norway live in co-operative housing.
Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan has described as "a sick joke", a letter sent from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to a man seeking to avoid repossession of his home, to contact mortgage arrears adviser Abhaile.
Mr Honohan said he has people in his court, on a daily basis, who are struggling to hold off repossession, and he had asked them to contact the Taoiseach to see where they could find mortgage-to-rent as a solution.
Mr Honohan said Abhaile is of no use to these people because it is "merely a voucher for €250 worth of legal advice" before you go to the Circuit Court.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he asked why the Taoiseach's office is so misinformed that it is unable to formulate a reasonable policy to cope with the wave of repossessions that is about to break.
He said if community funding could be resourced, then co-op housing would be the way forward, pointing out that over a million people in Norway live in co-operative housing.
Co-archived Brendan Ogle
Permanent TSB ! The vulture funds are ready to pounce. The legalese name for these companies are section 110 companies. By definition they are special purpose vehicles, purposefully put beyond the reach of any regulatory compliance in any jurisdiction. Many years ago I worked in the Trustee Savings Bank in Rathmines. I do feel it only right to occupy these premises as a matter of urgency. Also those "men" involved in the dirty work of theses vultures I will name and shame, this won't be my fault as you will do this to yourselves. I have already been contacted about certain individuals involved in debt collection and evictions. No longer can they be allowed to hide behind their regular employment, regardless of it being a uniform of the state, or in private security. I will name your workplace. To be a man you have to stand up to men.
Thank you friends. We cannot allow evictions.
Thank you friends. We cannot allow evictions.
Co-archived Gary Smylie
STOP THE LAUNDRY SELL OFF! Join our campaign for public housing on Seán McDermott Street. Housing, not hotels!
Co-archived North Inner City Campaign for Public Housing
We have been working very closely with families living in St Helen's Court, an apartment block in Dublin.
Last August, the tenants at St Helen’s Court were told that they needed to leave their apartments so that the complex could be refurbished. The RTB has ruled in favour of some of the tenants and this could be a crucial victory against so-called vulture funds using renovations as an excuse to increase rents under.
We will continue to fight for better tenants' rights and better standards in rented accommodation so that no-one lives in fear of being evicted.
Last August, the tenants at St Helen’s Court were told that they needed to leave their apartments so that the complex could be refurbished. The RTB has ruled in favour of some of the tenants and this could be a crucial victory against so-called vulture funds using renovations as an excuse to increase rents under.
We will continue to fight for better tenants' rights and better standards in rented accommodation so that no-one lives in fear of being evicted.
Co-archived Threshold Ireland
There are another 3 houses empty in Sallynoggin.1 in Pearse Park. 1 in Pearse Road. and 1 in Pearse Villas..
Co-archived Pauline Barnes
Another poor man found dead on the streets of Dublin this morning. It is understood that the man was found in a sleeping bag in a known area for people to sleep rough. The body was found next to the Bike Yard, just off Parnell Street close to the Cineworld cinema. How many is that? How many more?
Co-archived Garie Beattie
Up for auction on 28th February 2018. Home taken by Tanager. No. 5 Windtown Road Navan County Meath.
Co-archived LeeAnne Swart
The straw that broke the camels back for residents. This is the day when demolition "best practices" backfired and a building carelessly being demolished was caused to collapse into a heap and onto a public road.
Marlet and their demolition contractors failed to erect safety barriers and did not secure a road closure order or even initiate any kind of a traffic managenent system. This building is right at their own site entrance and was the only entrance used by workers at the time.
Marlet and their demolition contractors failed to erect safety barriers and did not secure a road closure order or even initiate any kind of a traffic managenent system. This building is right at their own site entrance and was the only entrance used by workers at the time.
Co-archived Grand Canal Harbour Residents Alliance - GCHRA
Illegal eviction attempt in tallaght by gomer group at 3pm need help
Co-archived Patrick Nelis
Saoradh Community Support are back out at the GPO Tomorrow night Tuesday 16/01/18 from 7.30 until 10.30. The weather isnt looking good for this week with possible snow in parts. We need your support to be able to ensure we can do as much as we can for our pals sleeping out in such cold temperatures. At the moment we badly need small bottles of water , sugar, coffee and hot chocolate.
Co-archived Saoradh Community Support
"At what point do we start f*cking rioting over this shit?"
Co-archived Lovin Dublin
Unfortunately, we have been here before. I have vivid memories of a massive ICTU-organised anti-austerity march in Dublin in 2010 that drew people from most sections of Irish society who braved absolutely freezing conditions to challenge the butchering of Irish society and economics by the Irish political class (of which ICTU is part since accepting the Mussolini model of 'social partnership').
They marched us up the hill to listen to rousing speeches, then left us to fuck off home - if we still had one - and suck up all of the consequences of austerity, force-fed to us not just by Fine Gael but by pseudo-Labour.
We know what happened with previous attempts to rehabilitate pseudo-Labour following the usual post-election sell-outs in 1992 and 2011.
We were fooled once, then twice, now we are supposed to be fooled three times?
If and when there is a successful coup within 'Labour' by proper Labour women and men to oust the charlatans who currently own the party, then give me a shout. Until then I will not associate myself with any march that contains and seeks to rehabilitate that anti-democratic crew to whom an election manifesto is just a ploy to channel anger, increase their numbers, and then to renege on every commitment.
I'm not going to be marched up that hill again, however worthy the cause. Been there, did that, felt used and abused.
I will, as usual, take part in a sincere protest that is driven by rage at a system that creates homelessness and a housing crisis and turns it into a massive profit generator for the private sector. Pseudo-Labour was a central player in the imposition of that vile policy, and would do it again.
So count me out.
They marched us up the hill to listen to rousing speeches, then left us to fuck off home - if we still had one - and suck up all of the consequences of austerity, force-fed to us not just by Fine Gael but by pseudo-Labour.
We know what happened with previous attempts to rehabilitate pseudo-Labour following the usual post-election sell-outs in 1992 and 2011.
We were fooled once, then twice, now we are supposed to be fooled three times?
If and when there is a successful coup within 'Labour' by proper Labour women and men to oust the charlatans who currently own the party, then give me a shout. Until then I will not associate myself with any march that contains and seeks to rehabilitate that anti-democratic crew to whom an election manifesto is just a ploy to channel anger, increase their numbers, and then to renege on every commitment.
I'm not going to be marched up that hill again, however worthy the cause. Been there, did that, felt used and abused.
I will, as usual, take part in a sincere protest that is driven by rage at a system that creates homelessness and a housing crisis and turns it into a massive profit generator for the private sector. Pseudo-Labour was a central player in the imposition of that vile policy, and would do it again.
So count me out.
Co-archived Tom Stokes
Such thuggish behaviour here from Paul Howard, a landlord who obviously believes the law, tenancy regulations and the rights of individuals not be physically assaulted don’t apply to him and his henchmen.
‘Their solicitor Gary Daly, who was present at the scene on Sunday, said the injunction remains in place and he will take instructions on Monday as to whether to seek to have Mr Howard removed from the apartment and arrested.
“There are two separate issues here. There are the potential assault charges and the breach of the High Court injunction.’
‘Their solicitor Gary Daly, who was present at the scene on Sunday, said the injunction remains in place and he will take instructions on Monday as to whether to seek to have Mr Howard removed from the apartment and arrested.
“There are two separate issues here. There are the potential assault charges and the breach of the High Court injunction.’
Co-archived John Lyons
The Irish Times doing god's work boosting the property market but not basic background checks?
I was astounded to see that a house on Kildare Road, Crumlin went for €545,000 as per the linked article. I thought it was fishy then checked it on the Property Price Register. 147 Kildare Road sold for €372,000 on the 3rd of January this year then on the 5th of January sold for €545,000 (see pic) as per the PPR. To my mind the first sale amount makes some sense (in a nonsensical housing market). The second price is way out of line to my mind for the area and house type. I can't understand what is happening here. Why would a house seemingly jump by €173,000 in 2 days? Why would the IT not report on the original sale on the Wednesday or the general sale price on Kildare Road and instead focus on an odd outlier? What do you all think?
I was astounded to see that a house on Kildare Road, Crumlin went for €545,000 as per the linked article. I thought it was fishy then checked it on the Property Price Register. 147 Kildare Road sold for €372,000 on the 3rd of January this year then on the 5th of January sold for €545,000 (see pic) as per the PPR. To my mind the first sale amount makes some sense (in a nonsensical housing market). The second price is way out of line to my mind for the area and house type. I can't understand what is happening here. Why would a house seemingly jump by €173,000 in 2 days? Why would the IT not report on the original sale on the Wednesday or the general sale price on Kildare Road and instead focus on an odd outlier? What do you all think?
Co-archived Joan Collins TD
Did you know that the Building Societies Act 1989 required the various societies to insure their mortgages against default, for example EBS Building Society used a company called Genworth.
Genworth Financial is an S&P 400 insurance company. The firm was founded as The Life Insurance Company of Virginia in 1871.
The company has undergone several major acquisitions, beginning in 1986 when Life of Virginia was acquired by Combined Insurance for $557 million, which became AON Corporation the following year.
In 1995, almost a decade after the acquisition, GE Capital (Remember those charlatans, GE Capital Woodchester) , the financial services unit of General Electric, announced its plan to buy most of AON Corporation’s life insurance business, including Life of Virginia, the company grew to include mortgage insurance, Mortgage Insurance (also known as mortgage guarantee and home-loan insurance) is an insurance policy which compensates lenders or investors for losses due to the default of a mortgage loan.
So when the like of EBS (Acquired by AIB) and ICS (Acquired by BOI) are destroying families by taking their homes remember that when the mortgage was defaulted on EBS received at least 65 % of the loan back from Genworth.
Genworth Financial is an S&P 400 insurance company. The firm was founded as The Life Insurance Company of Virginia in 1871.
The company has undergone several major acquisitions, beginning in 1986 when Life of Virginia was acquired by Combined Insurance for $557 million, which became AON Corporation the following year.
In 1995, almost a decade after the acquisition, GE Capital (Remember those charlatans, GE Capital Woodchester) , the financial services unit of General Electric, announced its plan to buy most of AON Corporation’s life insurance business, including Life of Virginia, the company grew to include mortgage insurance, Mortgage Insurance (also known as mortgage guarantee and home-loan insurance) is an insurance policy which compensates lenders or investors for losses due to the default of a mortgage loan.
So when the like of EBS (Acquired by AIB) and ICS (Acquired by BOI) are destroying families by taking their homes remember that when the mortgage was defaulted on EBS received at least 65 % of the loan back from Genworth.
Co-archived Lay Litigation Ireland
Interesting that overholding has become the only way to avoid emergency accommodation. Regulations and legislation is not there to protect those at risk of loosing their home .
We need to implement legislation that a family or tenant cannot be evicted into homelessness
But this won't happen because homelessness is a big industry compared to prevention
We need to implement legislation that a family or tenant cannot be evicted into homelessness
But this won't happen because homelessness is a big industry compared to prevention
Co-archived North Dublin Bay Housing Crisis Community
We have called for greater transparency on the use of figures today as a new Government report claimed that 26,000 social housing tenancies were provided last year.
The breakdown shows that nearly 18,000 of the 26,000 homes were provided under the Housing Assistance Payment scheme.
The Government must clarify how many of the HAP homes provided were actually new tenancies and not simply transfers of households from the Rent Supplement to HAP.
We strongly believe that only new tenancies provided in 2017 should be included in the totals and not transfers from one scheme to another.
Meanwhile, while we welcome that nearly 4,000 people were supported to exit homelessness last year we maintain that the Government strategy is still failing to get to grips with the deepening crisis. You can read more herehttps://www.focusireland.ie/…/focus-ireland-welcomes-govt-…/
The breakdown shows that nearly 18,000 of the 26,000 homes were provided under the Housing Assistance Payment scheme.
The Government must clarify how many of the HAP homes provided were actually new tenancies and not simply transfers of households from the Rent Supplement to HAP.
We strongly believe that only new tenancies provided in 2017 should be included in the totals and not transfers from one scheme to another.
Meanwhile, while we welcome that nearly 4,000 people were supported to exit homelessness last year we maintain that the Government strategy is still failing to get to grips with the deepening crisis. You can read more herehttps://www.focusireland.ie/…/focus-ireland-welcomes-govt-…/
Co-archived Focus Ireland
Lots of media coverage today on the most recent developments relating to our fight to stay in our homes!
Co-archived Leeside Anti-Eviction Group
Less then a week into 2018 and we hear of another death on our streets. Another forgotten soul who's sleeping bag became his body bag. May he rest in peace finally safe and warm
Co-archived Friends Helping Friends
I see Leo’s Communication Unit is starting the spin early in the year.
Housing/ homelessness is a massive failure on the part of Fine Gael.
They want you to believe that it is homeless people who are to blame.
It is a callous & a cruel tactic.
Housing/ homelessness is a massive failure on the part of Fine Gael.
They want you to believe that it is homeless people who are to blame.
It is a callous & a cruel tactic.
Co-archived Gary Gannon
It has transpired that a certain deponent has resigned from Tanager, the deponent who grounds the Civil Bill: we bet an awful lot of people are going to have to subpoena her into Court: and when she does not turn up, the case folds!
We are reliably informed that the certain deponent was served a Summons for perjury (yes there are perjury laws in Ireland, you just have to know where to look): we said 2018 was going to get interesting.
Happy New Year Ms O’Brien.
AND then you have this Article to rubber stamp Tanager’s problems:
A High Court judge wants the Court of Appeal to decide significant legal issues "clearly of considerable public importance", potentially affecting hundreds of repossession cases.
The issues, raised in an appeal by Tanager Designated Activity Company over being refused a repossession order for Rolf Kane's family home in Clonsilla, Dublin, concern the potential consequences of Bank of Scotland’s transfer of a charge on the property to Tanager when Bank of Scotland had not registered itself as the owner of the charge.
The issues could potentially directly affect hundreds of cases and he would like them to be determined by the Court of Appeal before he decides Tanager's appeal, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said.
We are reliably informed that the certain deponent was served a Summons for perjury (yes there are perjury laws in Ireland, you just have to know where to look): we said 2018 was going to get interesting.
Happy New Year Ms O’Brien.
AND then you have this Article to rubber stamp Tanager’s problems:
A High Court judge wants the Court of Appeal to decide significant legal issues "clearly of considerable public importance", potentially affecting hundreds of repossession cases.
The issues, raised in an appeal by Tanager Designated Activity Company over being refused a repossession order for Rolf Kane's family home in Clonsilla, Dublin, concern the potential consequences of Bank of Scotland’s transfer of a charge on the property to Tanager when Bank of Scotland had not registered itself as the owner of the charge.
The issues could potentially directly affect hundreds of cases and he would like them to be determined by the Court of Appeal before he decides Tanager's appeal, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said.
Co-archived The Hub - Ireland
Interesting article by Charlie Weston in the Irish Independent this morning. It reports on yet another overcharging scandal by banks. It makes you wonder why we have a Central Bank at all.
They are the ones charged with regulating the banks yet they have allowed the banks bankrupt the country. They have allowed the banks rob people's hard earned money through overcharging on their Tracker Mortgages and now Start and Tanager have been caught over charging their costumers on their mortgage arrears.
Instead of people losing their houses their sanity and sometimes their lives people at the top of the Central Bank should be losing their jobs.
The only good news to come out of this is that according to Charlie Weston people in arrears at both Start and Tanager have already been told that repossession proceedings have been dropped.
They are the ones charged with regulating the banks yet they have allowed the banks bankrupt the country. They have allowed the banks rob people's hard earned money through overcharging on their Tracker Mortgages and now Start and Tanager have been caught over charging their costumers on their mortgage arrears.
Instead of people losing their houses their sanity and sometimes their lives people at the top of the Central Bank should be losing their jobs.
The only good news to come out of this is that according to Charlie Weston people in arrears at both Start and Tanager have already been told that repossession proceedings have been dropped.
Co-archived Alan Lawes
So the latest news from the feel good Liebour party here in Wexford with people waiting on trollys , people waiting on a list to get housed 10 to 15 years , people waiting to get into Oznan House , the womens refuge bursting at the seams no emergency accomadation, 8 tents and sleeping bags given out since 1st week in Dec
And we are to get a peoples park now thats what i call looking after the electorate
And we are to get a peoples park now thats what i call looking after the electorate
Co-archived Wexford Housing Action Group
Cold and wet out on the streets over the last few weeks we,ve had alot of homeless people who are sleeping rough around the City present to our team seeking foot wear and warm clothing such as warm coats, jumpers, jeans, tracksuits etc to keep them warm amd dry whiles sleeping rough
Co-archived Feed Our Homeless
On Dec 26th, Tamara and Dominic lost their mobile home and all their belongings to a devastating fire. Like many others in Ireland, they were waiting for months to be housed by the local council. Fingers crossed they will be allocated somewhere safe, secure and most of all, liveable. Until then, I hope to gather some funds to help them get back on their feet. They lost everything but were lucky not to be in. However, they are still heart broken.
Co-archived Ireland Says No
With the weather due to get worse and a forecast of snow we are appealing to anyone that might be able to give us hats , gloves, underwear or sleeping bags. Sometimes a sleeping bag can literally be the difference between life and death ❤ thank you
Co-archived Friends Helping Friends
KCC has announced that in addition to it's existing emergency accommodation services, a further six emergency beds are being made available in Michael Garry House in Newbridge for people who are sleeping rough. This Cold Weather Initiative will come into effect at close of business tomorrow and will continue throughout the Winter Months to cater for people sleeping rough in the County and will operate through the Out of Hours Information & Advice Freephone Number run by the McVerry Trust - If you or anyone you know needs to avail of these services the number to call is 1800 804 307.
Co-archived Joanne Pender Independent
Interesting that overholding has become the only way to avoid emergency accommodation. Regulations and legislation is not there to protect those at risk of loosing their home .
We need to implement legislation that a family or tenant cannot be evicted into homelessness
But this won't happen because homelessness is a big industry compared to prevention
We need to implement legislation that a family or tenant cannot be evicted into homelessness
But this won't happen because homelessness is a big industry compared to prevention
Co-archived Martina Doyle
The roads are pure desperate out on the soup run, we will be out here until at least 4am. We've got as many as we can into bed and breakfast so far and we've also taken a few service users into our own homes, which is not advised but necessary to prevent deaths due to hypothermia for those who are very vulnerable. We have a lady kindly sponsoring another bed in a bed and breakfast for a service user, which is an absolute God send. Sure you wouldn't leave a dog outside in this weather ☹️ a big thx to everyone out with us tonight and to all the amazing people who prepared hot food. Thx to everyone on the page too for your support.
Co-archived Dundalk Homeless Support Group
What the hell is wrong with this country when €500,000 can be spent on lowering the height of a wall in Clontarf so that motorists will have a better view, while there are currently almost 200 people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin?
Co-archived Dublin GAA Fans
The number of people homelessness will be a five figure number very soon... 10,000 people homeless. (9,400 today) But hey, let's continue giving donations to Focus Ireland and other charities because they will fix it, right? No. Wrong! I must be the only one who believes a homeless industry has been created and people are actually earning a living from a crisis that could be fixed tomorrow. If there weren't big charities who are basically being allowed to act as Govt agencies, the Govt would be compelled to change their policy on public owned housing.
Co-archived Mark McAuley
Another disgusting article via our pals at the Irish Times.Telling that the outgoing chief of the Housing Agency continues to use his platform to attack homeless families rather than call out the system they are supposedly "gaming". It seems the problem is never the lack of housing! It seems people should merely accept overcrowded housing, precarious charity from friends or family and not have any aspiration to actually have a safe, comfortable and secure home. If your housing situation means that you are actually better off trying to raise children in a hotel room then there is a real problem.
Co-archived Kieran Mahon