Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Frame from a video, shared online, of the eviction which appears to show a member of the gardaí speaking to a man (centre) who is evicting the tenant. CATU Waterford/Twitter
Waterford
Tenants say gardaí 'made eejits' of them after calling for assistance during improper eviction
“You could’ve put anything in front of me, and I would’ve signed it,” the tenant told The Journal.
9.01pm, 14 Sep 2023
73.4k
A TENANT IN Waterford City who was evicted from his home over the weekend said he felt gardaí “made eejits” of him and his finacée after he called for assistance and were still evicted.
Aaron Madigan was evicted from his home after someone acting on behalf of Madigan’s landlord served him an improper notice of termination through a SMS text message, notifying him he had to leave the tenancy.
Madigan, who occupied the residence in Waterford until Saturday, told The Journal that his landlord got him to sign a license agreement – which is commonly used in rent-a-room schemes.
Under this arrangement, the homeowner is not lawfully required to register as a landlord as it is understood that the tenant will be living with the homeowner.
However, Madigan claims that he and his fiancée, Grace, were the sole occupants of the one-bedroom property for the entire duration of their six-month stay.
According to Madigan, he never met the landlord at any point while he rented the property from him, and was told by the landlord’s son-in-law – who was the only person he dealt with – that the landlord lived abroad.
Due to a lack of accommodation available in Waterford City, and because he and and his fiancée were “eager” to find somewhere to live, Madigan said he was happy to take whatever he could get.
“You could’ve put anything in front of me and I would’ve signed it,” he said.
Last month, Madigan received a text message from his landlord containing a notice of termination. He subsequently approached housing charity Threshold and tenants’ union CATU seeking advice.
He said that Threshold and CATU affirmed him that, because he and his finacée were the sole occupants of the property, they were able to avail to the same rights as a normal tenant, despite the initial agreement between Madigan and the landlord.
Under the rent-a-room scheme, a homeowner must establish eight things with their tenant, including the cost, transaction method and frequency of rent, duration of tenancy, the division of utility bills, restrictions on noise levels, notice and rent review periods.
Currently, tenants who avail of the rent-a-room scheme are not protected by the same rights as normal renters, such as a requirement for their landlord to be registered to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).
The RTB told The Journal that its remit “does not include Rent a Room and digs style accommodation” – meaning it cannot settle potential disputes between a lodger and a homeowner.
Threshold recommended that Madigan, who had been living in the property for six months, contact the RTB in regards to the validity of the notice, given it was sent to him through SMS.
Madigan says he did so on 1 September by formally disputing the eviction and told The Journal he has yet to receive a response from the board. He also told his landlord’s son-in-law on multiple occasions that he had done so.
A search of the RTB website does not have any tenancy registered at Madigan’s former address, nor the name of the landlord.
When asked if a dispute had been filed under the address, which was posted by the tenant’s union on Twitter, the RTB told The Journal that it could not comment on individual cases.
The Journal attempted to contact the landlord’s son-in-law, who did not respond at the time of publishing.
‘My back was in bits’
Madigan was evicted last Saturday, a month after the text message was sent.
A crowd, which included some members of the tenants’ union CATU, gathered outside the residence to protest the eviction.
Advertisement
The eviction was attended by gardaí, who maintain they were attending a public order incident but that they had no role in the eviction.
Videos of the event, which were circulated on social media by CATU, appear to show gardaí at the scene while a group of men removed items from the home.
Madigan claims it was he who initially called the gardaí as the group of men who had arrived at the front door were attempting to kick it down to allegedly forcefully remove him from the property.
Madigan told The Journal that he was able to hold the door shut while he waiting for gardaí to arrive as the group pushed from the other side.
Footage from inside the property during the event, seen by The Journal, shows Madigan pressed between the door and the bannister of the stairs, attempting to hold the door shut.
“My back was in bits,” he said of the incident.
Aaron Madigan, a tenant in Waterford, holding the door shut during the eviction on Saturday. Aaron Madigan / The Journal
Aaron Madigan / The Journal / The Journal
Madigan said as soon as he was made aware that the gardaí had arrived at the door, he opened it to plead his case about the attempt to evict him from the property.
However, the group who were attempting to remove Madigan were allegedly “brought into the property” by the members of An Garda Síochána, according to the tenant.
Madigan told The Journal that he received verbal abuse from members of An Garda Síochána, as he lay on the floor of the property due to being in pain from holding the door shut.
“I was shouted at, laughed at and told to get over myself by the gardaí while I was on the floor, injured and crying because they were not listening to me about the RTB dispute,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
We followed the law and the gardaí made eejits of us for doing so.”
He added that he and his fiancée Grace’s mental health has been “heavily affected” by the treatment they received from the gardaí and the alleged violence that occurred during the eviction.
‘Unforgivable’ behaviour from gardaí
A Munster organiser for CATU, Nora Labo, told The Journal this week that the gardaí did not assist the tenant and instead assisted the men who were carrying out the eviction.
Videos from the event, circulated on social media, appear to show members of An Garda Síochána entering the property and speaking to the men carrying out the eviction.
The behaviour from the guards is unforgivable,” Labo said.
A statement from a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said the members attended the scene after responding to a call of an alleged ongoing public order incident in Waterford City.
During the event, a man in his 20s was arrested and detained in Waterford Garda Station under the Public Order Act and was later released without charge.
An adult caution was also administered.
When questioned about the claims Madigan, his fiancée, CATU and eyewitnesses made, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said they do not comment on “remarks made by 3rd parties”.
“Any person who believes they have been subject of inappropriate behaviour by any member of An Garda Síochána is entitled to make a complaint to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission,” the spokesperson added.
The party later said in a statement on Tuesday that “unequivocally condemns the actions of the individual acting on behalf of the landlord” and said it was “vital” for communities to prevent such occurrences in the future.
Sinn Féin TD, and the party’s spokesperson on housing, Eoin Ó Broin commented on the social media posts over the weekend.
Ó Broin said that housing minister Darragh O’Brien must “speedily implement” recommendations about evictions made by the RTB in November 2022.
Speaking on the recommendations, Ó Broin said on Sunday: “They [The recommendations] will produce additional protections for tenants at a time when there is likely to be an increase in illegal evictions.”
In a statement on Wednesday, CATU strongly condemned the “brutal” eviction and called for more accountability from the gardaí present who, they say, allowed it to occur “under their watch”.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
'I was told to f**k off to my country': Our readers on their experiences of racism in Ireland
3 hrs ago
2.5k
Quiz
Quiz: How much do you know about Ozzy Osbourne?
5 hrs ago
7.8k
16
As it happened
Australia v British & Irish Lions, second Test
Updated
15 hrs ago
53.1k
87
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 214 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage . Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework. The choices you make regarding the purposes and vendors listed in this notice are saved and stored locally on your device for a maximum duration of 1 year.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Social Media Cookies
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 149 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 195 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 158 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 119 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 120 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 51 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 48 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 177 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 78 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 111 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 116 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 51 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 65 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 36 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 122 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 126 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 94 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 67 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 116 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 103 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say