Evicted couple claim bank refused to talk to them

An elderly couple who were yesterday evicted from their Dublin home say Anglo Irish Bank refused to hold talks with them in the days before the repossession.

Brendan and Asta Kelly were removed from their property in a gated Killiney community by bailiffs, and spent last night sleeping on the street.

The Kellys had a mortgage of €2m with Irish Nationwide, and were served with a repossession order nearly two years ago.

Seventy-one-year-old Brendan Kelly admits he and his wife overstretched themselves when they borrowed to buy their home eight years ago, but he says the house was valued at €3.75m at the time.

He says he tried to renegotiate their mortgage debt with their bank the day before the eviction, and that the couple wanted to regain entry to their home.

" I want to get back into my house. My office is there. I can't work…We have no clothes. We have been put out of our family home.

"I talked to (the bank the day before yesterday) and asked them to postpone the eviction…Finances have somewhat improved in the last two or three weeks. They refused to postpone it.