Housing protesters defy court order and refuse to leave occupied building
DOZENS of protesters are refusing to vacate a property in Dublin city centre despite a High Court injunction ordering them to leave.
Activists from a number of homeless groups have been occupying the house on North Frederick Street over the last week in response to Ireland’s housing crisis.
TDs Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett were in attendance, with Mr Murphy saying the resistance could become the “next Apollo House”.
On Tuesday, Mr Justice Michael Quinn granted Patricia Ní Greil, the owner of 34 North Frederick Street, Dublin 1, injunctions requiring persons unknown to vacate and cease trespassing at the four-storey building.
Activists responded by organising a protest for 1.30pm yesterday and have refused to leave the premises.
“This is going to be a long day, we’re not going anywhere,” a spokesperson for Dublin Central Housing Action said.
A bag of pellets connected to a firework was thrown at the group of protesters. Nobody was injured in the incident and it is not known who threw the firework.
Masks
Protesters were shouting chants of “Murphy, Murphy, Murphy, out, out, out” and some wore masks of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.
A small number of gardaí attended the scene, but neither the landlord nor security per- sonnel were seen. In an affidavit posted on the door of the house, Colm McGreal, the father of the owner, said they intend to transform the property into a guest house.
“Instead of this becoming yet another hotel for short-term residents, we will continue to demand that Dublin City Council place a compulsory purchase order on the property, so it can be returned to the community for use as permanent public housing or as a community resource,” Dublin Central Housing Action said in a statement.
Last week, protesters attended Leinster House in an attempt to meet with the minister over the number of vacant properties currently lying idle across Dublin.
A spokesperson for Mr Murphy said the department had attempted to meet with the activists last week but they had failed to show.
“We agreed to meet the group last Thursday – we had a number of meetings in Leinster House that day,” the spokesperson said.
Names
“The group agreed to meet in Leinster House.
“They refused to provide a list of names for the ushers on the gate and didn’ t show up to the meeting scheduled for 3pm.”
This is the second occupation of its kind this month, as the same group of activists took over a property in Dublin’s Summerhill Parade in early August.
Up to 120 tenants were evicted with only 48 hours’ notice due to “fire safety reasons” from a number of houses on Summerhill Parade in May.