It’s the story that has gripped the nation just one week before Christmas.
Elderly siblings, beaten, battered and flung out of their home by their ears onto the cold, dark winter’s roadside.
Now, thankfully back in their home, the McGann family have thanked the public for their support, prayers and kind wishes over their horrible ordeal at the hands of KBC bank hired heavies.
The family said the following via Matt Carthy: “Our family has been overwhelmed by the levels of support we have received and we wish to pay special thanks to our neighbours and friends who have greatly helped us during a very traumatic time.”
“We would also like to pay tribute to the people from across the four corners of Ireland whose sympathy and solidarity has been of great assistance in our time of need and to the people who travelled long distances to stand in solidarity with us.”
“The forced eviction from our home has left our family shocked by unforeseen events that were thrust upon us. Our ordeal has been further compounded by the inaccurate and ill-informed media coverage of our eviction, and the subsequent events that have occurred.”
“We wish to make clear we condemn all forms of violence and want to see the rule of law upheld but we have also been deeply upset by the use of inflammatory language that has characterised much of the media reportage.”
“We believe our plight has been exploited by some wishing to further their own narrow agendas and we were particularly disappointed at comments made today by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil. His remarks, we believe, are a deliberate attempt to deflect attention from some of the very serious issues relating to our eviction.”
“He has yet to adequately respond to the actions of unidentified security personnel who forcibly, and with considerable violence, removed our family from our home in front of a massive Garda presence that oversaw the eviction nor has he responded to concerns about the legality of the eviction notice.”
Today I spoke with members of the McGann family in Strokestown who were subjected to a forced eviction last week. Subsequently the McGann’s, who are family friends, requested that I release the following statement on their behalf: pic.twitter.com/hfdsgTxmAl
— Matt Carthy MEP (@mattcarthy) December 18, 2018