LOCAL TDS HAVE condemned an attack on a property in Roscommon over the weekend, which left eight people injured and caused significant damage.

The incident took place at a farmhouse outside of Strokestown in the county early yesterday morning.

Gardaí said it was an incident of “criminal damage and assault”. A number of vehicles were set alight and three of those attacked required hospital treatment. A dog was also seriously injured and had to be put down as a result.

A video posted by local The Democrat Newspaper, Roscommon showed vehicles in flames at the property.

It is believed that the property in question had recently been repossessed and security personnel were guarding it at the time.

Local TD Michael Fitzmaurice last week raised the issue of the repossession in the Dáil.

“Yesterday in County Roscommon a group of 20 or 30 men with dogs came from the North, aided and abetted by An Garda Síochána who blocked off two roads,” he said.

The group of men pegged three people, two of whom were elderly, out of a house and left them on the side of the road.

In a statement, KBC bank said that it was aware of the incident but would not be making any comment:

“We are aware of the situation in Roscommon and that the matter is being dealt with by An Garda Síochána. Unfortunately, we cannot provide comment on individual cases,” a spokesperson said.

Condemnation

Following the incident local TDs in the area said that violence was not the answer to the problem, but the bank should engage in negotiations with the property owners.

“Last Tuesday there was people injured, there was violence; from what we’re hearing there was violence last night,” Michael Fitzmaurice told RTÉ News.

That’s not going to solve any problem. The only way you will solve problems is by talking and negotiations with banks.

Fianna Fáil TD Eugene Murphy said that “the people of the area do not want this”.

“But also they would like to see the family back in their house if possible. I went to school with those people. Two of them are in their mid-50s, one early 60s.

I know them well, they would be very well-known in the area and I think the general consensus is we should be able to try and get them back in to their home if at all possible.

In a statement carried by RTÉ, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said that he had requested that his officials examine the regulation around personnel enforcing court orders by the Private Security Authority.

With reporting from Adam Daly