People left homeless in the wake of loyalist paramilitary feuding in Northern Ireland took matters into their own hands by breaking into and occupying a heavily barricaded empty house. A Housing Executive spokeswoman said: “By taking the law into their own hands, these people are riding roughshod over those who need housing.” Another way to look at the situation would be to recognize that housing executives exist only to benefit themselves and when people who need housing take available homes with out their assistance threaten the illusion that these government bureaucracies are necessary. The squatters now have the legal right to stay, until a judge orders otherwise. In the meantime security officers have been hired to stand guard outside other empty properties in the area.