Squatters linked to the worldwide ‘Occupy’ movement have found abandoned NAMA properties around Dublin, in which they are planning to create a “mass occupation”.
The movement to occupy the abandoned houses and flats is being led by 27 year-old Irish-language speaker and graduate from Galway, Liam Mac an Bháird.
The Guardian reports that Liam and some of his friends occupied an abandoned house in Dublin’s northside, which was valued at €550,000 during Ireland’s economic boom, but has since seen a decline in value with a listing of €200,000. Their autumn occupation was said to help draw attention to homelessness, as well as the “way builders and banks were bailed out by the taxpayer.”
While Mac an Bháird openly acknowledges that squatting is illegal, he is more concerned that he and his group are making a valid political point. "There are thousands homeless in this country with about 2,000 on the streets of Dublin alone tonight. Yet across the city there are thousands of flats, apartments, homes lying empty – some could be fit for human habitation,” he said.
Indeed, Mac an Bháird has a point, as there are not only thousands of abandoned properties in Dublin, but there are reportedly up to 400,000 properties “lying empty in the Republic.”
Ireland’s National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) warns that the number of vacant properties could keep house prices low for years.
"Our occupation is a way of making a point about the system we are living under. These properties could lie vacant for up to 10 years or more – so why not put homeless people into them?" posited Mac an Bháird.
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"Ultimately we should be talking about moving a large number of people into one of our 'ghost estates', which otherwise will lie and rot."
Mac an Bháird insists that should such “ghost estates” become occupied by Ireland’s homeless, strict rules will be put in place to retain order and civility. "There are no drugs or drink tolerated in these places during our occupations because we are making a political stand. It is also wholly non-violent, like the Occupy movement. And we do not take anything that doesn't belong to us in the properties we squat in."
Additionally, the groups will survive by “skip-eating,” or gathering leftover food from supermarkets.
Currently, Mac an Bháird and his group have their eyes set on one particular structure that is owned by NAMA and could be used for squatting. "It will be interesting to see if they [Gardai] are prepared to put homeless people out of the building, given that it is owned by the state and hence the people, and given that it will be likely to lie empty for years.”
And with the announcement of further cuts in the December budget, Mac an Bháird predicts growing support from the middle class. "Even at the Occupy camp at the Central Bank, there are middle-class people coming up and telling us they agree with our stance. It is the middle classes who are now paying for the greed of the bankers and the builders, and this corrupt system. They can see the logic behind taking over buildings that otherwise would be left to rot for years."
6 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.BARNEYKX | Jan 17, 2012, 03:34 PM EST
good luck to them to survive in ireland of today you need to be healthy and wealthy
CaptainCon | Jan 08, 2012, 06:48 AM EST
The real thugs in Washington DC are the corporate officers you call Congressmen and Senators. Except they don't like to get their hands dirty so they use the police instead. Washington is just a brothel- the President does nothing but play the piano for the corporate customers.
irishcoffeekid | Jan 07, 2012, 10:57 AM EST
that whole occupy movement is a load of rubbish. i live in DC and watching those losers ruin our parks is the greatest aggravation around DC. They are hated by people and their support has gone right downhill because a) they've no clear mission b) they look and behave like thugs and c) its getting them nowhere, costing the public money becuase of their protests and yet they claim their protesting abuse of money - they're part of the problem - arrest them and get them out of our parks!
IrelandNorth | Jan 06, 2012, 06:18 AM EST
A practical soultion to an irrational problem. Possession is 9/10 thes. of the law. If these properties are owned by the nationalised bank NAMA, and Laim Mac An Bhair is an Irish national, does that not mean that he and we actually own all these properties. Hence he's repossessing not squatting. I rest my case.
SteveMD2 | Jan 06, 2012, 04:45 AM EST
merefalow - who ripped off the world economy - the banks and wall street speculators. In the USA alone, $15 trillion in assets of the people disappeared, thats almost as much as a whole years GNP the collapse was just a bigger version of the Enron bust some years ago. Assets that werent worth the paper on which they were printed. But leveraged who knows - a hundred times over, and hidden from view via scams that are almost impossible to understand for us common folks. the occupy people should be occupying the banks. Toss out the mgt and bring all the records to the govt to examine. I talked with an FBI official (our federal police). I told him I knew of 4 families via the news, where not only did the father commit suicide, but he first killed his whole family. Depression can be the ultimate horror But there is more - the FBI agent told me the real number was like a hundred families. the people who were the real creators of the great depression under Bush should be tried for manslaughter. Essentially they pulled the virtual trigger
merefalow | Jan 05, 2012, 12:40 PM EST
homelessness is bad,taking over someone else's property is bad.unless its some big multi national exploitative shareholder rip off outfit that leave houses empty 4 ever till the prices go to a level most people cant afford or you spend your whole life paying off the rip off interest .in which case tough,go for it.of course then you will feel the full force of the law to protect the status quo.