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TENANTS WHO WERE evicted from a privately owned Dublin property yesterday have now regained access to the building, activists have said.
The building, which has been involved in a legal dispute, was sold two months ago by a property fund to another entity.
Video footage emerged showing security staff moving the belongings of tenants at the north Dublin property out onto the street yesterday.
At least three gardaí also attended the scene.From the footage, it appears tenants had initially called them for assistance.
Dublin Central Housing Action / Twitter"I've told you already, it's not my responsibility if you're homeless" says the Garda to one of the 9 tenants illegally evicted last night in Phibsboro.
— Dublin Central Housing Action (@D_C_H_A) August 13, 2020
It is, however, their responsibility to oversee the eviction apparently. (No, it's not) pic.twitter.com/sTUwJpQBgf
In the video, one of the gardaí tells a tenant that the security firm had handed in documentation to gardaí, adding “you have no right anymore to be here”.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has written to the Garda Commissioner to request information about the presence of gardaí and the public order unit at the eviction yesterday.
The ICCL said: “Video footage emerged this morning which showed gardaí inside a private dwelling as an allegedly illegal eviction was occurring, interacting with the tenants and informing them they ‘had no right’ to be there.
“It is reported that the tenants had not received proper notice of the eviction and that at least one of them is in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).”
The council said it has also asked the Commissioner for an update on guidelines on garda attendance at private evictions
“ICCL considers An Garda Síochána should not be playing a supportive role in private evictions unless it is a necessary and proportionate response to actual or threatened criminal behaviour.”
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon also said he has written to the local Garda Chief Superintendent to ask why gardaí allowed the eviction to go ahead.
‘Quickly stood down’
In response to a query from TheJournal.ie, An Garda Síochána said legal representatives for the owners of a premises on Berkley Road attended Mountjoy Garda Station to inform gardaí that they intended to secure their premises.
“Gardaí noted the proposed activity but did not attend the premises at the time. At approximately 11am a number of garda units attended the same address following a 999 emergency call. The number and type of units attending was based on the contents of the call and the majority were quickly stood down.
“Subsequently a number of garda personnel remained at the scene with the primary function to prevent breaches of the peace and ensure the safety of all persons involved.
“No injuries occurred and no damage was caused. An Garda Síochána liaised with local councillors at this incident and emergency accommodation was arranged for all affected persons.”
In relation to the footage of the eviction, it said An Garda Síochána “does not comment on video footage published online, the context and reliability of which cannot be determined”.
‘No court order’
The property has been involved in a legal dispute, with proceedings started by property finance fund Beltany against the landlord in 2017.
A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, which controls the fund, said the property was sold on 2 June, but for confidentiality reasons they could not disclose the identity of the buyer.
There has been speculation online that KBC Ireland currently owns the building but the bank has confirmed to TheJournal.ie that it does not hold the loan associated with this property.
Solicitor Gary Daly, who is representing two of the tenants, told TheJournal.ie “there is no legal document circulating which would form the basis for a lawfully authorised eviction”.
“My clients have not been served with one and to best of knowledge gardaí were not in possession of a court order or order of Residential Tenancies Board authorising the eviction of tenants from the property,” he said.
The Inner City Helping Homeless charity has said it arranged and paid for accommodation for the tenants last night.
CEO Anthony Flynn said they are still trying to establish who currently owns the property.
“There seems to be a dispute between two companies about it but whatever the dispute is, that’s between the companies. In the documentation there is a cease and desist notification and it seems to be on that basis that they were asked to remove themselves and their belongings from the property. There is no court order.”
Flynn said gardaí have been informed of the legal advice and the nine tenants have now gained access to the building they had been renting.
However activists say there is damage to the property, including the toilet facilities.
A spokesperson for Dublin Central Housing Action told TheJournal.ie that internal doors were removed and the property was left in an “uninhabitable condition”. The spokesperson said some property belonging to the tenants, including laptops, were also damaged when they were removed from the building yesterday.
He said neighbours and the local residents’ association have offered their help today and some of the damage is now being fixed.
“Regardless of who owns the property, tenants are still tenants and the sale doesn’t void their rights. Some of them are living there for eight years and then they’re woken up with no notice whatsoever,” he said.
‘Evictions like this will continue’
Just Transition Green TDs Peter Kavanagh and Neasa Hourigan have called on the government to re-introduce a ban on evictions during the pandemic.
A blanket ban was recently lifted, with protection from eviction now limited to tenants who cannot afford to pay their rent due to a loss of earnings as a result of the pandemic.
“The eviction ban recently legislated for by the government does not provide the necessary protections for most people, and unless we act now, evictions like the one yesterday will continue,” Hourigan said today.
“The narrow requirements of the legislation passed just before the Dáil break, to stop evictions based on rent unpaid due to Covid, do little to protect tenants like those in Phibsboro.
“As we have witnessed with the reintroduction of lockdown measures over the last week in the midlands the pandemic has not gone away. Pushing families into homelessness at this time is not in the public interest and is not best practice in terms of public health during this crisis.”
Kavanagh said events like those seen in Phibsboro are “what was feared when the government allowed evictions to continue in any form”.
“People are being put out on the street, and forced into already under-pressure homelessness services, in the middle of a pandemic, right as the ‘R number’ for the disease begins to rise again.”
The Department of Housing said it does not comment on individual cases. However it said under the Residential Tenancies Act 2005-2019, “carrying out an illegal eviction which includes prohibiting access to the property or making the property uninhabitable by disconnecting services, can result in damages of up to €20,000 being awarded to the tenant”.
“The Residential Tenancies Board can seek an injunction from the courts to reinstate the tenant and will continue to prioritise these cases during the emergency period. Additional powers and functions were conferred on the RTB through the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 to investigate and administratively sanction landlords (up to €30,000) who engage in improper conduct, including non-compliance with the enhanced tenancy termination provisions.”
The department said the national housing charity Threshold can provide advice to those experiencing tenancy problems and households at risk of becoming homeless can seek assistance from their local authority.
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I didn’t need to read that I read the headline….. pay up.
@John Hayes: Here’s me after reading the whole article agreeing with you John..
@Paul Gorry: sorry Paul I never jump in but unfortunately this is one of those times. These people have suffered enough.
@John Hayes: absolutely agree with you John.
@John Hayes: Agree 100%
@John Hayes: Show me the MONEY!
Whilst everyone can agree that the survivors should be looked after mentally and financially I do not believe that it should be paid for by the state. It was not the state that sent them into these institutions and it was not the state that ran them. The church got away with paying all of the money into the redress funds for what they did to children and so now must be held solely liable for any financial cost these survivors.
@lorcmulv: Even here in Germany it is well known that the church and the Irish Government were in this together. The state financed it while the church executed it. And yes…. lets not forget the ordinary people. They facilitated it with their shame
@lorcmulv: I agree, additionally it was men who got them pregnant and deserted them. They are liable, as are their own families who put them in their. The church is responsible for the bad treatment but not the state
@lorcmulv: I agree, additionally it was men who got them pregnant and deserted them. They are liable, as are their own families who put them in their. The church is responsible for the bad treatment but not the state government
@lorcmulv:The state knew what was going on and did not do anything about it.So church and state to blame.
@Johannes Baader: They would not have; ‘Shame’ but because of the Catholic Church , Church made the community ashamed of having a Girl among them having a Baby, outside wedlock. The Catholic Church ruled through fear, and shame, and naming people from the altar, after this; a person so shamed would loose their job, and not get work anymore in that community of Fear. The founder of Christianity Jesus was merciful and loving, he knew what it was like to be marginalized he was rejected, his mother Mary Conceived Jesus outside Wedlock, she would have experienced Fear in that situation until Joseph Married her.
Growing up in such a Community the Mother would have to depend on the charity of those people influenced by the Catholic Church. I am so glad they no longer have that control of minds.
@lorcmulv: whilst I see your point and agree on some level, personally I would struggle to separate or disentangle church from state with particular reference to the 1940’s through to the 1980’s. In recent decades the stranglehold of the church on Irish people has dissipated significantly, but for me there is no way that a nation of people so heavily cowed by the power of the Catholic God almighty, so mired and immersed in the fear and shame that breaking Gods holy rule brought, could be governed independent of Church involvement or influence
@Tom’s: and it was the men that got them pregnant in first place so why not sue sue the descendants of these men – that is the same as making the current taxpayer pay for what happened over 50 years ago.
It’s time the catholic church sold off their enormous property portfolio and paid up. Happy Easter boys!
@merely ed: we live in hope merely.
@Paul Gorry: They were poor mouthing the other day about money not coming in.
@David Corrigan: I find it funny that they can come out and have the poor mouth, when their boss in room literally sits on a gold throne, with more security to protect him than Biden does as US president, I mean they literally have their own city and complain cos covid has cut back on the collection plate….id say if they even sold off a third of their assets in Ireland they could pay victims, be sorted during covid and still have money left over for a new car
@merely ed: Dr Michael Woods of Fianna Fail signed a legal agreement with the Catholic Church to limit its liability and commit Irish taxpayers to pay all the bills. If any other Gov did a deal like that to cover up the abuse of innocents there would be public outcry, police investigations and jail for the corrupt. Irish people prefer to not know.
@David Corrigan: Pope asking for the Cardinals to take a pay cut from their Salary Of; € 5,000 a month.
What about them asking their own families who put them there – for compensation? The families and the church were in cahoots.
What about the men who got them pregnant and abandoned these women and their children. They are liable, not the state.
@Bleurgh: I am adopted. The church and the state contributed to my community’s mistreatment. The fact that government depts like the dept of foreign affairs organised so many passports for children to be trafficked, that it was reported on in national, US and German newspapers, is evidence alone that the State was directly involved.
Also the institution I was in was infamous as being a place where vaccine trials, drug trials and food/formula trials were conducted on us unaccompanied infants, mostly by British pharmaceutical companies and Irish universities. Ultimately whose responsibility was this? As I and other children were ‘wards of the State’, then the Irish State was responsible at the time and remains responsible still for this illegal and unethical experimentation and negligence.
@akaalison: whilst every compassion can be afforded to you as a survivor the brass tacks are that the majority of mothers got pregnant and the fathers wanted no more to do with the mothers of their children and the mothers own family forced them into these institutions out of some sense of shame fuelled by the church. The church ran the institutions and whilst the state had to be involved in some sort of collision – that was the state of government then and to maintain that the current taxpayer is solely financially liable is not fair or reasonable. A way should be found to make the families that put these women and children into these homes pay, as well as the fathers along with the church who ran the homes pay the majority of any financial costs.
@lorcmulv: so you can afford me compassion, but not redress!?!
And no one said “that the current taxpayer is solely financially liable”. The article doesn’t even hint at that.
Anyone responsible including the State, the religious orders, the State inspectors, the Adoption Board, the adoption agencies, the social workers, the private nursing homes, the county councils, the nuns, priests, bishops & archbishops, those who discarded babies & mothers bodies, the medical schools who used bodies as cadavers, the TD’s, the pharmaceutical companies, the universities, the hospitals, the deceptive medics (DeValera), the staff of institutions, the aircraft carriers who trafficked the ‘Banished Babies’.
ALL who were responsible &/or were complicit by doing nothing should be held accountable
…finally!
The state should pay some compensation and fully acknowledge the disgraceful atrocities that occurred at the mother and baby homes, but the pressure should be put on religious orders to pay up for not just this but other disgraceful acts they have been found to have been involved in…..and if they don’t do it, either start taking them and use the money to pay the compensation via the state or send in CAB and seize assets to sell off
FG/FF allowed this infanticide and slave labour to happen, for around 80 years.
So while the state oversaw this, it is the Church wealth that should be repossessed to compensate as they had a stranglehold on “Catholic Ireland” with their ‘purity’ views from a ‘holy’ book filled with atrocities.
Trials, repossessions and disband them.
Shame on the Roman Catholic Church & Government of the day. The Catholic Church can’t step any lower in the eyes of many people. The Catholic Church is already selling off property in secret and moving the funds.
Hi, can someone answer this for me please. At the time of the adoptions, were the actions (save for those cases where birth certs were altered) of the authorities/facilitators legal?
@Susan Keane: we don’t know. I’m adopted and am actively prevented knowing most of my info. For example, did my birth mother give informed consent to my adoption? Was I taken from my birth mother before the waiting period for full consent had elapsed? Was my birth mother informed of her entitlement to withdraw her initial consent? Was I forcibly taken or without her choice? Was I used as a guinea pig, unlawfully and unethically in vaccine trials, drug trials and food/formula trials while I was in an institution as ‘a ward of the State’?
Who was charged with my “care” and were they adults. Were they qualified to care for vulnerable children? Was I neglected, abused or did I receive medical attention for an incidents and/or accidents?
And there are MANY, MANY, more questions.
@akaalison: I also was adopted and always wonder about the same questions.And I know I was with my adopted family within around six weeks of my birth when legally you couldn’t adopt a child until the child was at least six months old.
As an adoptee who was in St Patrick’s home, I am deeply, deeply offended by the headline on this article.
What a ro**n headline trying to make survivors look like money grabbers!
The church was responsible for sending women who had their children taken from them, if they weren’t adopted they were placed in orphanages. They didn’t give their consent to have their children used as guinea pigs, no consent was sought from their parents it was illegal, A lot of children were made wards of court by the state, If a child lost a parent the state would take the child/children away from their surviving parent usually their fathers, so the state was responsible for their welfare. The state should compensate them
ask the state to pay, what? ask your real families to pay, they gave u away
have your say