Grangegorman Resists Eviction.

In Blogby Fedayn13 Comments

Photo Paul Reynolds

Photo Paul Reynolds

 

 

The residents of the Grangegorman squat in Dublin 7 are winding down around the heat of their bonfire following a day that lurched from apparent defeat and loss of their home to apparent victory – for the time being at least.

 

Bailiffs arrived with angle grinders in the morning and events escalated throughout the day as an apparently illegal eviction was backed up by Gardaí. This evening saw residents knocked from a 4m high gate, beaten with steel poles, rammed by a van and culminated in Dublin Fire Brigade and Ambulances attending the scene as at least one resident was hospitalised.

Reports indicate the injured parties may have been run over by the van and beaten with a pole as seen in the video and photo above.

The residents negotiated a climbdown with Gardaí who agreed to the bailiffs and security leaving the site, according to spokespeople inside.

The long-abandoned site has become home to 27 residents over the last two years and it also contains a community garden and social space. It is understood the bailiffs and Gardaí undertook today’s eviction without court approval. The site is understood to be in NAMA.

Follow the residents’ Facebook updates here.

Comments

  1. For the Gardai too be standing idly by while this criminal act was perpetrated is nothing short of a Disgrace !!
    All should be suspended with immediate effect !

  2. The police think you are beneath them. Always remember that.

  3. I just wanted to say thanks to Rabble for posting about this stuff and helping to get the word out!

    However, I just want to be pedantic about something for a second. Since a time last night a few people now have been referring to the private security company involved (LAS Group) as “bailliffs”, and this is spreading. Can I just say that they’re not bailiffs? The reason it’s important is because a bailiff is an officer appointed by the court, and calling them bailiffs implies that there was a court order authorising the attempted eviction yesterday; however, there was none. It was a completely illegal eviction attempt.

  4. I am reading the news about the Grangegorman evictions with disbelief. Disbelief that some individuals feel it is acceptable to move into properties that they do not own and then feel they have a right to live there for a prolonged period of time. Regardless of who owns them (and I am not a fan of NAMA by any means) what is clear is that the so called “residents” do not own them, have not paid for them and have no right to be there.

    I am sorry but although I feel sorry for these people who may have nowhere else to live, I simply have to side with the Gardai and the company tasked with removing them as this site is currently owned by the taxpayer. We have a right to sell it and get the proceeds paid back into NAMA and subsequently the Irish Government. A small group of individuals cannot just take ownership of land owned by the Irish people and expect to get it for nothing! You are just living off the other Irish Citizens who are paying tax, paying mortgages and repaying debts!

    1. ‘A small group of individuals cannot just take ownership of land owned by the Irish people and expect to get it for nothing! You are just living off the other Irish Citizens who are paying tax, paying mortgages and repaying debts!’

      Is this supposed to be satire? It’s absolutley hilarious, do you have no sense of irony whatsoever?

      1. Bobby, In order to be satirical there needs to be some humour. There is nothing humorous about a group trying to take something for nothing at the expense of other citizens! This situation can and most probably will only end in disaster. Already one individual has suffered broken bones. For the squatters to actually believe that a society can tolerate actions that are nothing short of anarchy is naive. I have recently emigrated abroad and I am watching the news with disbelief at what these freeloaders think they can get away with. Prior to leaving Ireland I tried all legal means to survive and provide for my family. Unfortunately it proved impossible and I was forced to relocate abroad. I miss my home country, my parents and my siblings greatly on a daily basis and hope to return home as soon as possible. What I did not do in order to remain in Ireland is steal or do anything illegal. So to answer your question it most deffinately is not a Satire.

        I just think it is so insulting to families like mine who have made every effort to survive in Ireland and earn a living and who have been forced to take drastic actions, that a group feel it is any way acceptable to steal from thier fellow countrymen and to expect some sympathy!

        I have no interest any making further comment other then to state that MY opinion is that they should pack up, get out of property they do not own and either rent or buy a roof over thier heads like the vast majority of people who can at least look in the mirror in the morning with some level of pride.

        1. “There is nothing humorous about a group trying to take something for nothing at the expense of other citizens!” – the squatters, or the property owners who came by the property by default and left it rotting for years?

          To some extent I agree with your sentiment about ownership of property and that the idealism in squatting is not sustainable on any large scale, but your language is terribly offputting, judgemental and unpleasant. If you can look in the mirror with pride in the morning with that attitude, I don’t want to feel what you consider pride.

        2. ‘that a group feel it is any way acceptable to steal from thier fellow countrymen and to expect some sympathy..’

          Grand so, as long the rich keep stealing from the poor and the ‘Global North’ keeps stealing and pillaging what it can from the ‘Global South’, and does so without looking for sympathy, then everything is okay!

          I feel sorry for you. You are looking for your enemy in the wrong place, that I can assure you.

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