In recent days Lasair Dhearg activists systematically removed a significant number of boards across Derry City which were erected by unscrupulous profiteers trying to buy homes from those facing financial difficulty.
Typically, properties would be bought at significantly below the actual worth in order to be sold on for profit, taking advantage of the homeowner.
Speaking from Derry, Lasair Dhearg’s Lorcán Ó Duine said, “For too long now housing in Ireland has been used and abused by investors and profiteers. They buy up housing and hoard it so that demand for housing increases and the cost of the homes they’ve hoarded goes up, giving them bumper profits.
He continued, “Quite literally hundreds of thousands of homes are lying empty across Ireland because of this, enough to house everybody if the political will existed to do so.
“When it comes to property vultures, you have a number of individuals across Ireland that are really scraping the bottom of the barrel to make a profit.
“They offer quick cash for your home, targeting those facing financial difficulty, buying it up for less than its worth so that they can sell it on for more. To them, your pain is their gain. If you see their boards up in your area, take them down.
“Lasair Dhearg is a Socialist Republican organisation and in a Socialist Republic there would be no more landlords or profiteers, all homes would be seized for the common good. All housing should be taken into public hands. Houses are homes, not commodities.”
