Mock citizen’s arrest of “property vulture”
Workers’ Party members picket property developers conference in Dublin today (Friday, 14th October)
The Workers’ Party has condemned as grossly inappropriate the attendance of Dublin City Council planners at a conference organised by and for Irish property developers in Dublin today (Friday, 14th October).
At a demonstration outside the annual Irish Property Development Conference, which takes place today at the Marker Hotel in Dublin 1, the Party said it hoped to raise awareness between the “cosy and inappropriate relationship” between property developers, speculators and government in Dublin.
Cllr. Éilis Ryan and Jimmy Dignam with the captured vulture this morning
The party this morning staged a “citizens’ arrest of property vultures” outside the conference, during the opening speech of Real Estate Investment Trust mogul Pat Gunne.
Speaking from the protest, Workers’ Party councillor Éilis Ryan said: “Property developers and speculators caused the economic crash in Ireland, and the devastating bailout which followed. We want to highlight how these property vultures should be treated – as criminals – instead of the red carpet they consistently receive from our government.”
Cllr. Ryan and other Workers’ Party members carried out the mock arrest of a “property vulture,” to highlight what they believe is the “inappropriate endorsement of property vultures by supposedly neutral bodies – like Dublin City Council and the Irish Planning Institute.”
The Workers’ Party recently succeeded in passing a landmark motion at Dublin City Council which called for the implementation of a new 100% public, mixed income approach to building housing. The motion was almost immediately overturned by councillors, with council officials claiming it was “unimplementable.” Cllr. Ryan said the presence of Council officials at a €450/head property conference shows up the vested interests involved in getting the motion overturned. She concluded: “The speed with which a motion contrary to the interests of property developers could be overturned showed us yet again that public housing which is cost efficient is something we will have to fight tooth and nail for in this country. That’s what we are here to do.”
The Workers Party has also noted a report in today’s media coincides with a significant increase in the cost of new homes occurring within hours of the publication of this week’s budget. Cllr. Ryan pointed out that this had been predicted by the Workers’ Party as the inevitable result of the government’s focus on the private building sector instead of on public housing.