Terry McMahon delivers powerful speech to ‘awaken our national dormant spirit’
Last weekend a group of people did something remarkable and incredibly important.
Home Sweet Home volunteers, the Irish Housing Network and other leaders occupied Apollo House, a Nama building on Tara Street in Dublin, and began moving people in.
“With a view to doing one single action that might, in the Centenary of 1916, make us feel like we haven’t entirely lost our spirit.”
These actions have highlighted the cold severity of austerity and poverty in our society.
“This was an act of defiance as much as an act of humanity.”
Film director Terry McMahon has lent his support and in collaboration with Damien Dempsey, John Connors, Dean Scurry, Jim Sheridan, and Maverick Sabre has produced this speech.
McMahon says that “it’s a different war now”, one where “bullets are banks and bombs are big business” and one where “people are profit-margins now.”
The incredibly powerful speech is “about strength” and McMahon’s battles to keep his voice steady as he speaks about “our Ireland” where we have “failed miserably”.
“Where the census office can report a quarter of a million empty properties and the homeless can fuck off and die.”
McMahon says: “That night the NAMA building was taken and something magical was born.”
That magic took an “absurd ambition” and reminded us that this is our Ireland.
