Irish courts order repossession of over 300 homes in first half of 2019

Over 300 home repossessions were granted in Irish courts in the first half of this year.

In total, there were 314 repossessions with 246 of these relating to primary homes.

According to details released under the Freedom of Information Act, banks were given permission to repossess 290 homes in circuit and district courts in the first six months this year.

Forty-eight orders were granted in Dublin, which was closely followed by Meath, where banks got the go-ahead to repossess 40 homes.

There were 30 granted in Cork, 20 in Kildare and 15 in Offaly.

The only counties were banks didn't get permission to repossess homes were Kilkenny and Sligo.

Land league campaigner Gerry O'Boyle says he's not surprised by the statistics.

"There are a lot of families out there suffering with this," Mr O'Brien said. "They are ordinary, decent people.

They got caught in the crossfire.

"We have a lot of farmers to come downstream here - they are going to lose their farms," he said adding that "agriculture is the backbone of rural Ireland".

A further 24 orders were granted in the High Court, after banks took firm against those in arrears on their mortgages.