Witness the recent case of a couple, Brendan and Asta Kelly, who were evicted from a detached house in Killiney after they had failed to make a payment on a €2 million mortgage since 2009 (Sunday Times 22nd April).
It turns out they previously "ran a successful arts and crafts business called Irland Haus", according to the same source. They also had a "significant property portfolio across Ireland".
Yesterday's Irish Times put some meat on that "significant", reporting that they had purchased "up to" 21 properties in the late nineties and early noughties and "are still the owners of the bulk of these apartments".
Now they are camping outside their Killiney pad - sorry, the bank's Killiney pad - after bailiffs finally moved on a repossession order made against them two years ago. There's more. They are also, according to the Irish Times, "the owners of 13 apartments" in London.
Incredibly, the Irish section of the Occupy Movement (recently of the Central Bank, Dame Street) staged a sit-in in the Dublin City Sheriff's Office in their support. Now I know the make-up of many such movements are, regrettably, very middle-class... but this is incredible even by their standards. Was it not prices-can-only-ever-go-up large-scale property investors who created the bubble and bust in the first place, by adding to their greedy portfolios while pricing those who wanted to nest rather than invest, out of the market?
Ireland is a strange place.
A place where the most privileged are the most militant when shouting about their "rights", be they Irish Language hobbyists and careerists, teachers, doctors, consultants or property investors. These are the voices you hear all the time in Ireland.
Reacting to the fiasco, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said something that made sense for once when he drew a distinction between people who wanted to stay in their homes and professional landlords - “We have no pledge to keep people in 21 different homes and we must distinguish between people who can’t pay and people who won’t pay", he observed.
That's a first for Noonan - a lucid observation. Though I'm sure the Occupy protesters springing to the defence of our Capitalist investors would disagree.
Perhaps this new alliance is just an expression of class solidarity, Irish style?
As I say... it's a strange place.
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10 comments:
The Victorians would have classed them as"Distressed gentle folk".
Yes, I laughed when I saw the so called left, giving them support. Funny, not so long ago these folks would not have given them the time of day. I wonder how long the other gated community people will tolerate a tent on the driveway??
GM + John - I was flabbergasted when I heard the landlord investors in Killiney had been visited by a party from the Occupy Dame Street Movement. (Former neighbours?,anything is possible here)- far too late for an April Fool's Joke! Attached is a link to their group
http://www.occupydamestreet.org/our-statement
anyway... 3rd para in "Our demand is that the private bank debt that has been socialised and burdened upon the population of the country who had nothing to do with it be lifted"
- it's exactly people like this "elderly" couple in Killiney who have saddled the rest of us with their debt. Mad stuff..and being supported by a group who purport to be against that kind of thing!
It's surreal, and illustrative of a disconnection with reality, or cause and effect, or whatever you want to call it.
Yes, it's the debts of failed, greedy investors we are all saddled with now.
I'm hoping for a very, very cold snap.
"Ireland is a strange place- A place where the most privileged are the most militant when shouting about their "rights", be they Irish Language hobbyists and careerists, teachers, doctors, consultants or property investors. These are the voices you hear all the time in Ireland."
HEAR, HEAR!!!!!!!!
THis bit is Straight out of Ross O'Carroll Kelly- his mother Finola is Always banging on about the rights of the upper classes-
In fact the above action, camping out when evicted from your mansion, would be Just like what Finola O'Carroll Kelly would do.ANYWAY I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE QUOTE FROM GM ABOVE- Yes always the upperclass going on about their 'rights' when any new law is proposed- whether it is consultants pay, pay of judges, the top teachers pay, pay of top civil and public services- and these rights Really only boil down to ONE,'Our right to Unjustly Enrich ourselves, usually at the expense of the more humbly paid of the Irish population is under threat- Quelle Horreur.!!!!!'
And as for the orindary Joe O'Soaps?? -silenced as they don't have the advantages and arrogance inculcated by state subsidised Private education- and also having an attitude of subservience bred into them.
Bloomberg also reported this with a very annoying headline: Irish Bank Evicts Pensioner After $155 Billion Losses: Mortgages!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-24/irish-bank-evicts-pensioner-after-155-billion-losses-mortgages.html
I look forward to the future articles from Bloomberg on other "pensioners" like Warren Buffett and Rupert Murdoch.
In the end it was a case of lazy journalism by all involved.
Strange doesn't fully describe it GM. On one level it's as interesting as Belgium, on another, as feckless as 1970s Albania, on another, as compliant as North Korea and as creepy and paranoid as the USSR.
I was surprised that some nominated rep from the Occupy Movement didn't utter those immortal Irish words "don't you know we are the leaders of the future." It always takes the umph out of any protest in this "wonderful" country. Cronyism, nepotism...
I'd say they pitched their tent in Killiney because those other immortal Irish words were uttered "eviction," and everyone jumped on the Irish hobby horse, ah yes, the celtic bandwagon. And as for the illustrious celtic property magnets? Well they shouldn't have bothered.
It all leaves one asking, on a deeper level, why there was this fundamental fusing of the "lifestyles" GM?
Unfortunately the Occupy Movement didn't have much in their Ahem... Occuping. The Irish are not Scandanavian and are not great at joining dots. (When all is said and done with regards to the Occupy Movement, they had a go. They should be commended for that). If it doesn't hit them in the pocket the Irish don't care. A lesson the "Labour" Party will wish they had learned as well (Labour are the Greens and PDs, FF/FG poodles).
Oh yes GM, it must also be acknowledged we witnessed with the battle of Killiney, not only a reenactment of a 19th century eviction, we also had a front row seat at the stalling of that other Irish preoccupation, of SAVING FACE. Pity the context was bizzare, but it is Irealnd.
GM, just on that point, all the damage is done below the legal radar in Ireland, SAVING FACE, has produced a population of greasy, leery, imbeciles. All classes are as bad as the other on this Island. I would even venture to say, that one is indistinguihable from the other.
I have to say I feel zero sympathy for this couple. My understanding is they got a repossion order 2 years ago. If it happened to me my reaction may of been "o.k , I cant really afford this place. I'll sell a 'few' of my apartments and buy a new place"
But then again if it were me I wouldnt of bought so many properties so ensure I could live off of/ exploit the rent and labour of other people......
This story is unbelievable in many ways. Did you listen to the phone interview Mr. Kelly gave to a radio station minutes before the eviction? http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2012/04/Eviction-clip-final-cut.mp3
I think they still believe they have done nothing wrong.
I wonder if the guys from Occupy would show up here if I'd lose my job and can't afford my rent any longer... Ehm, no, sorry, no property portfolio ... Silly me.
IF the Occupy Movement ever made sense here in Ireland - they now have lost a fair bit of trustworthyness and people's support I'd say - at least mine.
Laim Smullen
Now the very reason I will not
support the so called
anti-household tax Campaign
because events like this comfirms
all my Suspicions about this
Campaign being all about selfish protection of Private wealth.
All this anti-household tax
Campaign has done is give a poor mouth to most privated sections
in any capitialist society I.E.
the properties owners.
I bet you they didn't pay their
house charge,and they won't have
buy a six man luxury tent if
their local "socialist" T.D.
was't running anti-property
Campaign.
They also placed a banner on the
tent called Occupy Killiney.
more links below:
http://bocktherobber.com/2012/04/killiney-eviction/
http://bocktherobber.com/2012/04/a-
fairer-property-tax-than-big-phil-
household-charge/
Here this author argues property
tax could be wealth tax in the
irish context.
http://smarttaxes.org/2012/04/08
/property-tax-is-a-wealth-tax-in-
ireland-by-ronan-lyons/
and so those the OCED
http://smarttaxes.org/2012/04/25/oecd-on-property-taxes/
http://smarttaxes.org/category/site
-value-tax/
More the class structure of
tax system.
http://www.ronanlyons.com/
2012/04/10/paying-tax-in-ireland-
where-the-richest-and-poorest-pay/
Here this other author argues
that we giving away valuable national resources’namey Oil and
gas.
Archive for the ‘Offshore, the great oil and gas giveaway’ Category
http://colmrapple.com/?cat=7
I am greatly relieved reading through all your comments. I think we are all unanimous on the "plight" of our defaulting landlords. Cheers for all the links too.
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