Couple to continue protest until allowed back in to Killiney home

A COUPLE who were evicted from their south Dublin home have said they will camp outside the property “indefinitely” until they are allowed back in the house.

Brendan Kelly (71) and his German-born wife Asta (63) were turned out of their home at St Matthias Wood, Killiney, on Wednesday on foot of an eviction order granted to Irish Nationwide, now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, in June 2010.

The eviction, which was filmed by a neighbour and posted on YouTube, attracted widespread media coverage yesterday and was raised in the Dáil by Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald. She claimed the incident was symptomatic of the State’s housing crisis.

The incident also prompted members of the Occupy Dame Street group to stage a sit-in protest at the Dublin City Sheriff’s office in Temple Bar.

Mr Kelly told The Irish Times yesterday: “The situation is this they have taken my family home. They have also taken my livelihood. My office is in that house . . . all my papers, files, my computer . . . everything.

“The Government said it would do everything in its power to keep people in their homes. For a wholly-owned State bank to send these people [bailiffs] out here, to behave in the way they did . . . in an absolutely brutal manner . . . people are incensed and incredulous at what has taken place . . . we might as well be back in the 19th century.”

St Matthias Wood is an exclusive cul-de-sac development of five luxury detached homes situated off Church Road in Killiney.

Mr Kelly and his wife, who own a significant property portfolio in Dublin and elsewhere, purchased the house in 2004 with a €2.2 million mortgage from Irish Nationwide. At the time, the property was valued at €3.2 million.

The outstanding mortgage on the house is understood to be in the region of €2 million. The couple last made a mortgage payment on the house in 2009.

Mr Kelly, a chartered accountant originally from Sligo, said he was a landlord by profession and rented quite a number of “good quality” properties.

However, he declined to give specific details about his financial affairs outside of confirming that he held a number of mortgages with Permanent TSB and Bank of Scotland (Ireland).

Asked why he and his wife had not sold some of their properties to meet their debts, Mr Kelly said it was practically impossible to sell a property in the current climate.

In a statement, the IBRC confirmed that a repossession order had been served on a residential property in Killiney.

“The decision to repossess any residential property is highly regrettable and comes only after all options have been fully exhausted and the mortgage is deemed to be unsustainable,” the bank said.

Several financial advice agencies yesterday queried how a 63-year-old man, Mr Kelly’s age at the time of the purchase, was given a mortgage of €2.2 million.

The couple had originally operated a successful business in Germany, selling arts and crafts to German holidaymakers, under the brand name Irland Haus.

At one point, they operated two shops in the exclusive north German island resort of Sylt, and another on the shores of Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria.