Students from Take Back Trinity are among occupiers who have failed to vacate a property on North Frederick Street this morning. The occupiers were issued with a notice by property owner Patricia Ní Greil yesterday at around 6pm. The occupiers were requested to leave the property before 10am this morning.
Yesterday’s notice requested that occupiers vacate the property, remove all items brought into the property, including banners hung on the facade of the property, and refrain from preventing the owner from exercising her rights over the property.
It is now clear that Ní Greil intends to bring “an application before the High Court seeking orders” in the terms set out in the notice. She also notes that she will “fix those present on the property with the costs of any such application and proceedings that become necessary”.
The occupation has now lasted seven days, beginning on August 17, following a march from a property in the Summerhill area of Dublin. Some activists entered the property prior to the march, with many protestors also assembling outside.
The group expressed their anger at the property owners, who the protestors claimed had allowed the property to lay vacant for three years. They said that “enough is enough. Insurance companies should not be allowed to sit on potential homes in the middle of the most acute housing crisis since the founding of the state”.
This occupation of North Frederick Street follows the vacating of a property in the Summerhill area of Dublin last week. The occupation lasted 10 days and was ended after an injunction issued by the High Court. The application was applied for by property owner PJ O’Donnell, who is currently holding the properties for a number of current and former employees.
The occupation started as a protest against the eviction of tenants from the property with only one day’s notice. Each of the properties at 33-39 Summerhill Parade held up to 20 residents. It was argued by the property owners that the properties were vacated due to fire safety concerns.
This vacating of the second property follows a day after activists failed to meet with Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy. The group occupied the Custom House, and refused to vacate the building until the minister agreed to meet them. Following complications in this meeting, housing activists refused to take part. The group instead marched to the Department of Housing and read aloud a letter to the minister calling for his resignation.
The occupations come during the Festival of Direct Action happening this month. Trinity students have engaged in multiple occupations and demonstrations across the capital to bring awareness to the housing crisis. The festival will end with a day of action across the capital on August 25.
