Protesters disrupt latest property firesale
The start of bidding for the 116 properties was delayed for about 40 minutes while security staff carried out extra checks on people queuing to enter as protest groups chanted slogans and handed out leaflets urging bidders not to buy.
There was jostling between security men and protesters after a small number of men managed to get past barriers.
Security staff ran after the men and tried to physically stop them reaching the doors of the RDS Concert Hall in Dublin. It had been moved there after protests forced the abandonment of the July auction at its regular venue in the Shelbourne Hotel.
Other protesters used the commotion to open the barriers and make their way to the doors where they pleaded with people not to support the auction.
Allsop had required prior registration, a €200 deposit, and photo ID checks to try to deter protesters — four gardaí were also on site from early on but reinforcements were called in when the scuffles broke out.
Seventeen uniformed officers were in place by the time bidding began.
Protester Margaret Hanrahan from Tipperary, who has fought a protracted legal battle over three repossessed properties, which were not part of the auction, was critical of the garda presence.
“Imagine the taxpayer is paying for security to enable people’s property to be taken from them. It’s shameful,” she said.
Paul Coyle from Kildare, who described himself as a concerned citizen, addressed the queue. “You are buying people’s misfortunes,” he said. He also highlighted warnings from the Law Society since the last Allsop auction that buyers could have trouble reselling properties in future because owners were not relinquishing title. Mark Fitzsimons from the Dundalk Anti-Eviction Group said buyers shouldn’t be surprised if anti-austerity groups turned up on their doorstep to protest. “And if somebody buys a business I have no problem asking people to boycott it.”
Many of those registered to bid took leaflets handed to them but most declined to engage in discussion with the protesters.
Inside, two women who ran the gauntlet of the chants said they felt intimidated.
One said: “I never saw a day of the Celtic Tiger. If I get a bargain here it might be my chance to do something for myself.”
Her companion said: “I feel sorry for anyone who has lost their property and I feel a bit guilty being here but nothing I do is going to change what’s happened to them.”
Allsop director of auctions Robert Hoban told bidders that none of the properties were repossessed family homes.
