The Raise the Roof campaign will hold a rally outside Leinster House on Tuesday, June 17th at 6pm, calling for urgent government action on Ireland's housing and homelessness crisis.
The rally is timed to coincide with a Private Members Motion tabled by Opposition parties in the Dáil, and will feature speakers from political parties, alongside a series of singers and spoken word performances, including folk singer Lisa O’Neill, punk singer Meryl Streek, writer and artist Veronica Dyas, folk singers Jimi Cullen and Martin Leahy.
The motion calls for emergency action on the housing and homelessness crisis, including increased investment in public housing, action to protect private renters, and a reintroduction of the ban on no fault evictions.
The Raise the Roof campaign group is coordinated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and includes trade unions, housing and homeless agencies, women’s groups, human rights advocacy groups, and community organisations.
Speaking today at a press conference to launch the rally, Ethel Buckley, SIPTU Deputy General Secretary said:
Ten years into the housing crisis, and that crisis remains the greatest political failure of our time. Workers are being priced out of homes or can only rent or purchase with considerable financial burden.
Alongside the human cost of this, we are seeing the serious knock on effects, with thousands of unfilled vacancies in key sectors, and young people once again choosing to emigrate.
We are deeply concerned at the lack of urgency shown so far by this new government. A government that is content to play the role of helpless bystander to this ever-worsening emergency. What is needed now is a radical reset with sustained action to deliver secure, affordable housing.
Notes to Editors
The Raise the Roof Rally will take place on June 17th on Kildare Street at 6pm ahead of a cross-party housing motion calling on the Government to address the housing crisis through emergency measures on housing accommodation needs providing secure and affordable homes for all - housing is a fundamental human right and must be as such.
The Raise the Roof campaign is comprised of trade unions, housing and homeless agencies, women’s groups, political parties, representatives of older people, Traveller groups, children’s advocacy groups, community organisations and student unions.
For more information, contact Tom Sheppard, Communications and Digital Media Officer, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, 085-8337543.
