Unlock NAMA (UN) hit the headlines in January after occupying a NAMA building in Great Strand Street, Dublin 1. The aim of the occupation was to open a NAMA building to the public for a day and hold a series of talks on the subject. The group, along with around sixty supporters, were eventually evicted by the Gardaí after the intervention of the receiver but that was only the beginning of the campaign.

On Saturday 28th January Unlock NAMA opened an occupied building in the center of Dublin for a day of lectures about NAMA, Ireland's 'Bad Bank.' The event was cut short by a large number of police who turned up and ordered them out of the building. In this 40 minute interview Andrew Flood interviews Cat & Moira from Unlock NAMA about the occupation, what NAMA is and what Unlock NAMA demands.

Image: All rights reserved by Paul C Reynolds - used with permission

New Beginings a group of lawyers and professionals who have been directly helping mortgage holders in legal battles with lenders, are planning a series of meetings across the state to sign up hard pressed householders to a national campaign.

Journalist and writer Conor McCabe’s book ‘Sins Of The Father’ attempts, in the author’s own words, “…to shine a light on the reasons why Ireland has the businesses it has, and why banks and speculators yield so much power and influence.”  The book has been acknowledged as a significant contribution to the analysis of the political and economic decisions that have brought the Irish economy to ruin.  James McBarron interviewed McCabe for Irish Anarchist Review  

“People who got mortgages they can’t afford to pay back were greedy and foolish and should suffer the consequences…They signed a free contract, they’re adults and they have to take responsibility for their actions”. This is the kind of thing that gets thrown around a lot in recessions. It conveniently ignores a few things.

The recession in the economy means that working people are having to come to terms with growing house repossessions, below inflation pay-increases, and a steep rise in the cost of living. Meanwhile, property developers and banks are busy using the credit crunch and the downturn in the housing market to get Government bail outs, despite the fact that it was their speculative polices that helped created the mess in the first place.

While the rest of us are coming to terms with a deepening recession, growing house repossessions, stagnation in rises and steep rise in the cost of living. In the face of a so-called downturn in the housing market and credit crunch, the wealthy in the form of parasitic property developers and speculators expect to be bailed out by the Government for their calculated error in borrowing too much from Banks and leanding to first time buyers