House repossession case against Offaly 'hunger striker' adjourned to October

AROUND 20 people tuned out in support of well-known environmental campaigner, Tom Roche, from Tullamore and Rhode, who staged a 24-hour hunger strike outside Tullamore courthouse recently to highlight court proceedings against him for the repossession of his home.

The proceedings, taken by Mars Capital Finance Ireland DAC, have been adjourned to the court sitting of October 7 next.

Mr Roche, who has campaigned to help distressed mortgage holders in the recent past, represented himself in court as he said he could not afford the services of a solicitor and barrister.

Asked about why he decided to go on hunger strike to highlight his plight, Mr Roche said; "In pre-Christian Ireland, fasting was used as a means of protesting injustice. In more recent times it has been used to raise issues of various concerns to individuals and groups - the death of 10 men in the 1981 [on hunger strike was to prove a defining moment in the struggle between the Provisional IRA and the British government or, to be more precise, the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher."

"Hunger strikes have played a major role in ending slavery, challenging dictatorships, protecting workers from exploitation, protecting the Earth’s biological diversity, promoting equality for women, opposing racism and many other important societal issues. In ancient Ireland, going on hunger strike was a form of 'distress' called 'troscud' (or 'fasting'). This practice was socially significant and had legal support as an act of due process and fairness."

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Mr Roche described the impact home repossessions are having on families as utterly devastating. "One of Ireland’s most senior high court officials, Edmond Honohan said, some banks who were 'cheerleaders' of the Celtic Tiger were 'reverting to type' and pursuing people to the 'bitter end' even when they 'had no money'. He went on to say the 'new debt set' have 'legal rights' but some are made 'feel like outlaws' In the same article Mr Honohan said he had met ['several widows of people who had been driven to suicide because of the distress of debt."

Added Mr Roche: "The mental and physical impacts of the distress and trauma mortgage arrears has caused me personally has been enormous. Over the past 15 years I have exhausted every legal avenue open to me to come to an equitable resolution to my mortgage distress situation. What is taking place is the anatomical unfolding of a home repossession scandal initiated in the first instance by Permanent TSB (PTSB)."

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