I got a big fright when they were hammering away at the door. They said I was to get out straight away and that they were going to take it for good. They were shouting, saying the house doesn’t belong to me anymore and that I had no right to be there. I’ve been here years and I told them where to go. This is my home. It has been for years and there’s no chance I’m leaving it.
Dunmanway resident Eileen O’Neill, 67, who is refusing to allow bailiffs to evict her from her west Cork home.
She shares the home with her son Michael, who took out a €150,000 loan with a lender company – which was later bought over by sub-prime lender Pepper Finance – to renovate it.
The house had been passed down to him through his family and he decided to make refurbishments in 2008 when his business was doing well.
At the time, his blossoming cabinet-making business had hired two staff but the recession crippled his firm.
A fire also destroyed his workshop a short time later but his property wasn’t insured. His income plummeted and he could only afford to repay €50 a week – which Pepper deemed insufficient.
The finance firm took him to court and Michael was ordered to stay away from the house, which he complied with, but he was imprisoned for contempt earlier this year as he tried to keep a roof over their heads.
Eileen, who has lived in the house for years and has been on her own there since August, claimed bailiffs acting for Pepper damaged part of her home.
Triple Distilled Communications 
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