A US-based Irish woman has offered her family home in Meath to a Dublin couple about to be evicted from their rented property by ACC Bank.

Massachusetts based Pam McMahon made the extraordinary offer after learning of the plight of pensioners Martin and Violet Coyne.

The 42-year-old Meath native was shocked when she read that Martin (71) and Violet (61) face eviction after their landlord failed to meet his bank loan.

ACC Bank has appointed a receiver to sell the house in Carpenterstown, West Dublin, despite the fact that the Coynes have lived there as tenants for the past 14 years.

The Irish Independent reports that the old age pensioners are waiting on the Dublin sheriff to evict them after they failed to vacate their home by midnight on Tuesday.

A judge is also to decide whether they are to be jailed for contempt of course after they were ordered to vacate the property.

They have been given a five-week adjournment on their court date but believe they could still be evicted if the county sheriff executes a court order for possession of the rented property.

Now American resident McMahon has said she wants to offer her family homestead, a bungalow in Meath, to the couple.

She told the Irish Independent: “I was just appalled by the story. It’s so hard not to be frustrated by the system, the Irish system is a reactive system.

“The couple have a right to say on some level,‘the system should support us.’

“I thought I’d reach out. I lost my sister and my parents to cancer and I always felt I’d give back in some way. I was young when I saw a lot of loss, and I said I’d always give back.

“I thought that the distress was written all over their faces.”

A shortage of rental accommodation in Dublin and rising rents has stymied the Coynes in their efforts to find a new home.

And they have been told they could have to wait up to four years for social housing by Fingal County Council.
Massachusetts resident McMahon added: “There’s only so much in the end that someone can be expected to take.

“They deserve a new beginning. I’m a big believer in having goals. Like, what are you going to do now? What are your goals? Where do you see yourself a year from now?

“I want them to be an inspiration for someone else.”