Press Statement: Anti Austerity Alliance (AAA) 22 July 2014 No eviction or jailing of those in housing crisis * stop bank repossession of Castleknock house * protest will take place at Four Courts 9.30am Wed 23 July * challenge to Joan Burton to act The Anti Austerity Alliance is fully supporting Martin and Violet Coyne, Dublin 15 pensioners put in the impossible position of choosing either homelessness or jail. The Coynes are being evicted from the house they have rented for 15 years because it is being repossessed by a receiver for ACC bank. They cannot find anywhere else to rent on rent allowance and Fingal Council have nothing to offer. A High Court judge has threatened to jail them on Wednesday should they not vacate the house. Dublin West AAA public representatives have been supporting the Coynes. Cllr Sandra Kavanagh, AAA councillor for Castleknock, said: To jail or evict this couple would be absolutely scandalous. The choice is simple here: evict these pensioners -- and put them in hotels or hostels at the taxpayers expense -- or let them remain in this house paying rent to the receiver for the bank. There should be no evictions whatsoever while a housing crisis rages. This has arisen because successive governments have stopped building social and affordable housing. The Free Legal Aid service have said that they will be unable to provide assistance because they are booked up. In this country it seems justice is only there for those who can afford it, if youre just an ordinary Joe Soap you have to do without. The Anti Austerity Alliance and Housing Action Group has been highlighting the human misery being caused by the failure to act on the housing crisis. Social housing must be built to cater for couples like the Coynes and thousands of families in homelessness or overcrowding. Ruth Coppinger TD said: It would appear that the warned-about tsunami of homelessness has arrived. Increasing numbers are contacting now whose rented properties are being sold for receivers or banks. It is criminal that the people who bailed out the banks will now be turfed out onto the streets because of those banks! This couple are victims of the whole Celtic Tiger, having lost their own house some years ago and are now placed at the mercy of private landlords and receivers. What an indictment of capitalism that thousands of building workers are on the dole or emigrating, while there is a glaring need for social and affordable housing. I call on Joan Burton to outlaw all evictions of anyone who cannot source an alternative home. This is a family in her constituency and she says housing is her top priority, so I challenge her to announce when homes will become available for the 4,000 Dublin West families on the housing list.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 11:10:01 +0000
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