Woman ends long distance protest

A TIPPERARY WOMAN has travelled to Dublin on horseback to highlight the difficulties faced by people who owe considerable sums of money to banks.

Margaret Hanrahan, from near Cahir, left home on Saturday at 3pm and arrived at the gates of Leinster House at 6am yesterday.

She said she used three different horses, allowing them to rest in a horsebox pulled by a van.

Ms Hanrahan said she borrowed during the boom years to extend an equestrian centre and teaching school, but ran into financial difficulties.

She said she now owed €1.2 million to ACC Bank and had several properties to sell.

She accepted she owed the money and she had no problem with paying it back, “but my thing is about the fastness and the swiftness of the receiver coming into me”.

She added: “They have ploughed 30 acres and 85 acres to leave me with not one ounce of grass. It’s like leaving a baby without milk, because I’ve 28 horses of my own,” she said.

Asked whether she could sell the horses, she said there was no market for them now.

“It’s like asking me to give away my child,” she added.

Ms Hanrahan said she hoped the Government would intervene to help people in situations similar to hers.

“The fear is the killer. We’re crippled in this country with fear . . Anyone that’s in my situation should come out and talk about it, relieve the tension.

It’s not worth a heart attack. And I’m not going away from my problem. I’m going to stick with my problem. I’ve never run away from anything in my life and I’m not going to run away from it now.”

She said she prayed for the Government every day.

A spokeswoman for ACC Bank said the bank did not comment on individual cases.