Photo & Video Gallery - Dundrum 'Vultures Out' Protest
Tuesday (May 11) saw a successful ‘Vultures Out’ protest take place outside of the Fernbank apartments in Dundrum in south Dublin. The protest was the latest in a series of housing related protests, public meetings and direct actions that the local Éirígí ciorcal (branch) have organised in the area over the last number of years.
The message was clear - Vulture Landlords Out! Out! Out!
All 262 apartments in the Fernbank development were sold by the developer Michael Cotter to Irish Life Investment Managers and its Canadian parent company Great-West Lifeco for in excess of €100m in May, 2018. Prior to the sale up to 1,000 people had registered their interest in purchasing a home in the development. All were left disappointed.
At the time of the Fernbank sale, Michael Cotter was still a NAMA ‘client’, meaning that the sale would have received the approval of the state agency before going ahead. One month after the sale of Fernbank Cotter bought his way of NAMA after refinancing €300m worth of loans with the state controlled Allied Irish Bank and the Bank of Ireland. This is just one more example of how the government has actively facilitated the vulture takeover of Irish housing.
A VULTURE LANDLORD OWNS THESE 262 HOMES - Éirígí raising community awareness of the vulture takeover.
During the course of the one hour protest scores of passing motorists signaled their support by beeping their car horns. And passing pedestrians also voiced their support for an end to the vulture takeover of housing. Such support came as no surprise in an area that has seen development land and thousands of homes snapped up by the vulture landlords since the property crash over a decade ago.
Éirígí has been to the fore of highlighting and opposing the vulture takeover of housing in the greater Dundrum area over recent years. Research conducted by party activists has identified thousands of local homes that already owned by vulture landlords and the sites upon which they intend to build thousands more. The full extent of the vulture footprint in the area and across the country can be seen on the #TrackTheVultures interactive map here.
Éirígí’s #TrackTheVultures project is identifying every vulture-owned housing development in the country.
Over the coming weeks Éirígí will be stepping up its campaign for an outright ban on the corporate ownership of housing and for the creation of a new system of Universal Public Housing. If you’re interested in joining Éirígí in the fight for housing justice in south Dublin or anywhere else in Ireland please get in touch today here.