‘This is our house, the kids’ house. We are not going’

This is the human face of Ireland’s mortgage arrears crisis — a couple clinging to each other for support as they face eviction.

Martin and Claire O’Sullivan wept openly in the kitchen of their Kanturk home yesterday as they waited for the county sheriff to arrive to repossess their family home.

And they issued a direct plea to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to do more to help them, and thousands of families like them, who are struggling to meet their mortgage repayments.