TENANTS in the Shannon Arms apartments on Henry Street, Limerick City, held a meeting this week to discuss plans for resisting the evictions they now face.
Following the meeting, organised by the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU), Cian Prendiville and Richard Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit (PBP) wrote to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and the Limerick Council chief executive Pat Daly on the matter.
PBP also said they will be raising the issue in the Dáil and plan on naming the high profile Irish businessman who is one of the major landlords responsible for these evictions.
“People Before Profit have been contacted by tenants in the Shannon Arms, and have been working with the tenants’ union CATU to help organise resistance to these evictions. Already from the work we have done, it is clear many of the termination notices issued are completely invalid, and in some cases, the landlords never even registered the tenancies with the RTB,” Mr Prendiville claimed.
“It is inspiring to see the solidarity and determination of the tenants to fight these evictions and push for improvement in the building going forward. We have had similar eviction threats defeated before, including the Strand Apartments and Fisherman’s Quay here in Limerick, which I was involved with, and I am confident that these evictions can be defeated as well through solidarity.”
Mr Prendiville has described the situation Shannon Arms tenants find themselves in as “a shocking case of super-rich landlords turfing long-term tenants out onto the streets, including families with small kids”.
“As well as assisting the tenants, People Before Profit are demanding the government step in and bring this building into public ownership. These are almost entirely rented out by the state through HAP and RAS already – bringing it into public ownership will not just protect the tenancies, but also save the State money in the long run,” he concluded.
