7th November, 2002
You know the way most of us amble through life,
doing what’s right, paying our taxes, road tax for our cars
- when you know that only 13% of what is collected goes on our
roads, but we pay it. We are a controlled race. Some experts
maintain that over 700 years of colonial rule has made us this
way. Go for a meal, order a fillet steak, very well done please,
it comes out, and when it’s cut, it’s pink in the
middle. Don’t make a fuss, eat what you can and leave the
rest. How many things make you angry, but you shrug your
shoulders and say, “Sure, we can’t change it,” and
life goes on. Nobody ever told us that life was fair. Some will
tell you that ‘life’s a bitch’, maybe they’re
right. Life goes on and then something happens and you say,
“This is wrong, I have to make a stand - say my piece”.
Well, this day has come!
I bought my house in 1981, and everybody who has had a mortgage
will know what it’s like, tough times, hard times, recession.
But we struggle on to keep not just four walls, but a home. Our
house was built by McInerney Builders in 1964. A few years after
we moved in I began getting a solicitors letter from the UK
seeking money for somebody known as Henry Hunt. Something about
ground rent was mentioned. This went on for years, and I ignored
them, and they stopped. I since learnt that Henry Hunt is a
company owned by McInerney Builders. They build you a house, they
sell you the house, but they own the ground under it!! I
eventually paid off my mortgage last year, and it was a good
feeling, but now my past has come back to haunt me! I got another
letter from a different firm of solicitors in Dublin,
representing Ellard Lipson. It seems that Ellard Lipson now owns
my little plot. It did some research, it seems Henry Hunt (aka
McInerney Builders) sold my ground rent to Ellard Lipson, in 1992
for £10. In fact, McInerney sold 3,200 ground rents for £32,000
to Ellard. Ellard Lipson is based in London and they’re
giving me seven days to come up with hundred of euros or else I’ll
be named in the press (I’ve done that now!). It could affect
my credit rating (the financial people I deal with know my
character). It goes on with pieces of subtle intimidation. I also
discovered that almost all the army barracks and old garda
stations pay ground rents. The landowners are people such as Lord
what’s his name, the Duke of something else... the list goes
on and on. I’ve just realised that as I’m sitting
writing this piece that a man I’ve never met owns the piece
of ground under me!!
I have a few questions for Ellard. Do you own the back and front
garden also, and the hedges? If so, when was the last time you
cut the grass, trimmed the hedges, fed the nestled birds in their
nests within the hedges. So, one final message to McInerney
Builders, Henry Hunt and Ellard Lipson - I’ve had enough. A
man must stand up for what he believes in, and I believe this tax
is something out of the 18th century, and shame on an Irish
building company, which makes millions of euros from house
buyers, such as us, selling our ground to agents in London. At
the end of it all, what did we really achieve in 1922?
Good to see my old friend John Horgan going from strength to
strength with his driving school. John captained the ‘Rockies’
to an historic treble many moons ago, when they won an
unprecedented three All Ireland club championships, something
that has never been equalled. He also won four All Ireland medals
with the Cork Hurling team. Today the soccer fans of Man. Utd.
have their blonde hero in a red shirt, but we had our own blonde
hero in a red shirt, many moons ago, John Horgan. Continued
success John, and thanks for the sporting memories.
Another horror story emerged last week. One word summed it up,
“Letterfrack” What horrors were committed within those
grey walls. Children’s bodies buried secretly in the woods.
Good God it’s like something from the Balkins a few years
ago. The Church leaders talk about forgiveness, a new start. I
believe that the people who were abused are not seeking revenge,
but justice. During the past number of years we have seen old
Nazi’s wheeled into Court or on zimmer frames being led into
court, and some people will say that they are old men and that it
happened long ago. Rubbish!! The dead are entitled to justice, we
owe it to them, they have nobody to speak for them - except us!!
Thirteen year old John Curley died in agony in 1950. He died in
Upton. John, they put you into care, but nobody cared for you or
about you - but I saw your name carved in stone in Upton on a
cold Winter’s day, and I took a photo of the headstone,
which is in my office on the notice board. The dead cannot speak,
but we can speak for them, and demand justice for children who
died ‘in care’. What a word to use for, God only knows,
what they went through. Perhaps God was on vacation, or had lost
faith in mankind. I wouldn’t blame him.
Bye for now,
Michael O’Hanlon.
