Occupy protesters pledge solidarity with evicted couple
Members of the Occupy Dame Street protest movement have travelled to the former Dublin home of Brendan and Asta Kelly to pledge support for the couple.
Qualified accountant Mr Kelly, 71, and his wife Asta were filmed as sheriffs escorted them from the plush property in St Matthias Wood, Killiney on Wednesday.
Their eviction from their gated-community residence — which was valued at €3.75m at the peak of the property market in 2008 — prompted outrage after it was captured on video and circulated on social media websites.
However, the public reaction was tempered after it emerged the couple retain a large property portfolio in Ireland.
Earlier Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that the Government has pledged to keep people in their homes, but not in ''21 different homes''.
"We must distinguish between people who can't pay and people who won't pay," the Minister said.
However Occupy campaigner John Rogers said the couple were removed from the property with brutal force, which was unacceptable.
“It doesn’t matter how many properties they have in their portfolio,” said Mr Rogers.
“They are in negative equity like much of the country and the bank should have given them a chance to make smaller payments or come to some kind of arrangement.
“But to drag an old man from his home kicking and screaming is not right. If anyone in this country doesn’t see that then they mustn’t have a heart.”
Yesterday the Occupy movement staged a sit-in at the Dublin Sheriff’s office to protest against the role he has in repossessing homes.
Mr Rogers said the Sheriff’s position should be axed in modern society, pointing out that it was first created when Ireland was under English rule in medieval times.
“The Sheriff shouldn’t be in this country. We haven’t moved forward in 100 years,” he said.
Occupy protester Finbar Markey defended Mr Kelly for taking out a mortgage he later could not afford.
He said the banks were responsible for knowingly creating a credit bubble that would burst.
“That man was just doing what he was told,” said Mr Markey.
“He was doing what was part of our culture.”
