Irish ‘Occupy’ protesters plan to squat in Ireland’s abandoned NAMA properties

Liam Mac an Bháird wants to move homeless into Dublin ‘ghost estates’

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Protester outside Central Bank in Dublin at the Occupy Dame Street demonstration

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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."

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