Living Outside the Box – Documentary on One, RTE Radio 1, Saturday 27th June, 2pm
Rachel Breslin’s year meeting squatters and property-guardians as she tries to find an alternative way of living and beat the spiralling cost of renting property in Dublin
Rachel Breslin is desperate to find a way around the spiralling rents that are being charged for Dublin property.
And she thinks she has hit on the perfect solution – acting as a guardian for properties that need to be protected from robbers and squatters. Rachel lives in a big old convent in Harold’s Cross about a mile from Dublin city centre. She has two rooms all to herself and the use of massive gardens complete with apple trees. And she only pays rent of €280 a month – and that’s including bills!
But her bubble is burst when the convent is sold to property developers and she is moved to a smaller room for twice the price. Not only that, but lots of students were moved into the building and suddenly Rachel needs a new place to live.
But with Dublin rents spiralling, Rachel Breslin spends a stressful year in the turbulent housing rental market in Dublin.
She meets other guardians living in interesting places like ex-Garda stations and a big abbey at the foothills of the Dublin Mountains.
Rachel also meets Shane, a squatter living in a squat complex in Grangegorman. His situation is far from stable with attempted evictions by the Gardaí and court orders to try and move them. For 23 year old Shane, though, it isn’t a problem. He always has his eye on properties lying vacant and according to his anarchist philosophy, they are there for the taking.
As for Rachel, she doesn’t like the idea of squatting illegally but is determined to find an interesting old place to live in, to come to an arrangement with somebody who might need their building minded. But will she find the unusual home of her dreams?
Living Outside The Box
Presented and compiled by Rachel Breslin.
Production supervision by Nicoline Greer.
Sound supervision by Mark Dwyer