"Ugly Eviction" provokes House Raid in Strokestown
A Roscommon TD is calling for calm after eight people were injured in a raid on a house in Falsk near Strokestown over the weekend.
The incident happened at approximately 5.30am on Sunday morning at a farm in Falsk near Strokestown.
Roscommon TD Michael Fitzmaurice condemned the violence but also criticised the "ugly eviction" of a local farmer at the property last Tuesday.
The Raid
A dog was killed, three people taken to hospital and four vehicles burned out, when a gang of men approached security staff guarding the house and adjoining farm which had recently been repossessed.
Local Fianna Fail deputy Eugene Murphy has said he's contacting the bank involved to see if anything can be done to ease tensions in the area and that people are "quite distraught" that people have been "turfed out" of their home at this time of the year.
Banks and Vulture Funds
Meanwhile, The Irish Mortgage Holders Association says it's an unacceptable approach to evict people from their homes before Christmas.
Speaking today, CEO of the association David Hall has said banks and vulture funds don't understand that this is what happens when you upset people and their behaviour running up to the eviction was unacceptable.
Gardaí believe the incident, which began just after 4am on Sunday, was planned and highly organised.
Up to 20 men are believed to have been involved, many of them wearing high-vis vests and carrying baseball bats.
During the attack the road to and from the building had been blocked by bales of hay as well as other obstacles.
This made it difficult for both the fire services and Gardaí to come to the scene.
Video footage as well as footage from body-cams, which were worn by the security guards at the eviction, will be examined as part of the investigation.
