Workers Solidarity Movement

The massive complex of squatted buildings at Grangegorman was evicted for a second time in early August, this time its likely to be permanent at the plan is to build a huge number of expensive to rent student apartments on the site.

The eviction was anticipated and a lot of material was moved over the days around August 11th when 'heavies' broke through the gates but were told to back off and allow time for material to be moved out when the Garda arrived.  The squatters were quietly moving to another large abandoned building nearby that had been squatted recently, the Debtors Prison on Halston street. Central Dublin is full of such abandoned buildings despite the worst housing crisis in the history of the state. Welcome to Ireland 2016 where protecting the rights of vulture funds to make millions come far, far ahead of needs of those without secure accommodation.

The government are trying every trick to delay a referendum to repepeal the hated 8th amendment. Every day they do so means another 12 women have to make the difficult journey to England to access abortion. Department of Health figures reveal that 25,000 people from Ireland have had to travel to access abortion in the last five years.

Starting at 5am today two women making the journey are tweeting about their experiences of doing so.

Follow & retweet the account @TwoWomenTravel as two women travel to England for an abortion & tweet @EndaKennyTD at each stage.

Last night (18 August) saw a protest against homophobic attack in Phoenix park take place at the Central Criminal Court at Parkgate street.

Last night we shot some video inside the squatted Debtors prison in Dublin - the courts have ordered those living here to get out by midnight on Sunday, 11.59 to be exact. The abandoned prison in Dublins inner city has been occupied to be used as shelter and an arts space. The prison lies just behind Capel st, the entrance is on Halston st. Many of those occupying were recently evicted from Grangegorman squat The occupation was announced via Grangegorman Resists Eviction page last week.

What may have been the largest squat in Europe, at Grangegorman in Dublin, was recently evicted for the second time. A major hardship for the 30 people living there but one that was rapidly improved on when many of them moved a kilometre down the road and occupied a long abandoned prison.

The Debtors Prison on Halston street was built in 1794 and actually lies between Halston Street and Green Street. The ‘U’ shaped 3 storey building is built of granite and limestone and was built as a luxury prison for the wealthy who had run up gambling debts. There were 33 such rooms / cells which were rented either furnished or unfurnished. If you weren’t rich you were thrown into the basement, Dublin at the time had 5 debtors prison and this one alone could accommodate 100.

An important demonstration against homophobia takes place tonight in Dublin in the aftermath of a frightening mob attack on a Polish gay man in the Phoenix park at the end of last month. The protest will take place on the steps of the Parkgate street court complex because of its location close to the scene of the attack and because of the Garda disinterest in investigating it.

As the organisers of tonights protest explain “On 30th July 2016 a gay man was viciously attacked in Phoenix Park by a gang of over 10 young men. They made homophobic threats and insults, chased him, hit him with an iron bar and made him fear for his life by beating him and attempting to run him over in a car. He ran, screaming for help until he found someone and the gang finally fled. He was taken to hospital and treated for his injuries.

The 2016 Census has again revealed there is no housing crisis. In fact about 1 in 8 houses were empty, a massive 259,562 dwellings in all.

So why are their hundreds of homeless on the streets and thousands in emergency accommodation. Why are rents soaring, particularly in Dublin, to level that mean most people can no longer afford to rent there? Why have house prices continued to increase far, far beyond the reach of the average worker?

It seems clear the answer is to be found in homes being left empty while people sleep on the streets. A situation that only favours landlords and property speculators who want to keep available supply low in order to keep rent and house prices high. And all while courts and Garda evict those amongst us who decide to solve their housing problem by occupying some of these vacant properties.

O’Connell St, July 22nd - amid Ireland’s worst housing crisis in decades, people gather outside Lynam’s hotel to protest the eviction of five homeless families, including ten children. Fifteen of the twenty families granted temporary shelter at the privately ran hotel have already been pushed out by DCC, and now find themselves forced living off the couches of friends and family. The remaining families who do not want to leave, deciding to take a stand against the apathy and cruelty shown to them by the Irish state now find themselves under huge strain and uncertainty as their quality of life hangs in the balance.

Due to a small group of sexist whingers, the beautiful Repeal the 8th mural by Maser at Project Arts in Dublin has been removed.

Over 200 letters of support were sent to the centre thanking them for their support of the campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which equates the life of a foetus to that of the mother and sees that anyone who has an abortion in Ireland will spend 14 years in jail.

Dublin City Council claimed the mural was in violation of the Planning and Development Acts and that the mural changes the tone of the street and impacts on the area. If they think a bit of street art is bad they’d want to take a look at how denying bodily autonomy to half the population and treating them like criminals impacts upon people.

TDs voted against Mick Wallace’s bill July 7th to allow for abortion in cases of Fatal Foetal Abnormalities. This is the second time that TDs have voted this way when Clare Daly’s bill was shot down last year.  The vote comes less than a month after the UN Human Rights Committee declared Ireland’s abortion laws to be a violation of human rights.