Silage blockade receives support

A Co Limerick farmer, who has blockaded the entrance to his home with tons of baled silage to prevent a threatened eviction over unpaid bank loans, is continuing to get support from all over the country.

The protest commenced after Seamus Sherlock had received a letter last Thursday from the county registrar’s office, warning him that he faced eviction.

Mr Sherlock, 46, said yesterday: “I have heard nothing from the Bank of Scotland or the country registrar since I got the letter. But I have got a huge swell of support from the people of Co Limerick and from all over Ireland.

“To see up to 90 people congregate at my front gate in support, it’s just incredible.

“We just want to say a sincere thank you to all the people. We have shops sending up food and people have brought up portable buildings in case it will rain. They are talking about the country on its knees but this country has risen up here in the past few days.

“When I got that desperate notification on Thursday last, I stood with my five children here and said we have two options — either we stand together and we never got to option two, because they all said that’s the option we were taking.

“These kids of mine said they were not standing behind me, they were standing beside me. I just think there is great hope for the future.”

Bank of Scotland, he said, had secured a court order against him over borrowings on his home and some land for “a sum of about €250,000”.

Mr Sherlock, who lives at Feohanagh near Newcastle West, said he had tried to deal with the matter claiming that, last year, he lodged a substantial sum of money with his solicitor but the bank would not agree to his offer.

The bank would not comment.

Mr Sherlock runs his own pro bono advice service Life after Debt to assist people with debt and home repossession problems.