Many thousands of people, media reports estimate the numbers at between 15 and 20 thousand, gathered in Dublin on (Saturday, Nov 26) to support the Raise the Roof Rally for Housing which called for a radical and dramatic change to official housing policy.
The marchers assembled at Parnell Square and made their way to Merrion Square to hear from a range of speakers and musicians. The musical line-up included Lisa O'Neill; Laura Quirke; Martin Leahy; Donal Lunny and Brendan Begley.
Actor Liam Cunningham, who earlier made an impassioned plea on RTE’s Brendan O’Connor Show for affordable housing, was among those leading the march through O'Connell Street to Government Buildings.
Raise the Roof is calling for:
• A State-led housing programme with a mandate to deliver affordable homes for all.
• A new State body with responsibility for housing delivery.
• Emergency measures to reduce homelessness and shorten the time spent in emergency accommodation.
• An end to ‘no fault’ evictions, a freeze on rents, and long-term security for renters.
• A legal Right to Housing.
(View the full Raise the Roof manifesto here: https://ictu.ie/publications/new-deal-housing
The rally was addressed by Congress vice-president Phil Ni Sheaghdha who said, “We know that rents in this city and in other parts of our country have now gone beyond the salaries of many reasonably paid workers,” she said.
“We have members working in this city… nurses, midwives, teachers, guards, and all other professionals that are very necessary to keep our society going, who now are paying over percent of their wages for rent. That’s simply not affordable, they will not stay.'
Focus Ireland’s Louise Bayliss told the crowd that homelessness, or the threat of it, was no longer something that was confined to the poorest in society.
Congress’s campaign manager Macdara Doyle said he’s hopeful a recommendation by the end of the year from the Housing Commission for a referendum on the Right to Housing and this would provide the basis for the “next big phase” of a campaign.
According to the latest official figures, almost 11,000 people were recorded as being homeless, and campaigners say that number is an underestimation.
General Secretary Owen Reidy has described the housing crisis as "the most important issue that the trade union movement is campaigning on at the moment. The crisis affects all strands of society, not just union members and workers but young people who have been let down by the state and cannot afford to buy a house or even rent one because of an extreme shortage of rental homes and soaring rents’ Other speakers included James O'Toole (Tathony House resident) and Lucky Khambule (MASI).
Ahead of the rally nurses’ and teachers’ unions expressed concern at the lack of affordable housing and rental accommodation and warned that services would suffer.
ASTI, Fórsa, INTO, IFUT, SIPTU (Education), and TUI issued a joint statement accusing the government of a failed housing policy that now risks the effective delivery of education services.
In their statement teachers’ unions said “This year we have seen schools and colleges struggle to recruit and retain critical staff, citing severe difficulties in relation to the availability and affordability of accommodation. The effective delivery of education is now fundamentally at risk if we don’t take steps to tackle the chronic housing challenges we are facing”.
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