‘A roof over your head is seen as a luxury': Hundreds attend housing protest outside Dáil
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Dáil this evening as part of a demonstration urging the Government to take 'urgent action' to address the
housing crisis
.
Sínead Scully and Luke Murphy attended the Raise the Roof protest as they feel locked out of the housing market. Nearing their 30s, the couple moved in with Mr Murphy's parents after two and half years renting in order to save for a mortgage deposit.
With a master's degree and a PhD between them, Mr Murphy said they have another year or two of 'hard saving' before they can move out.
'We're both in very secure jobs and we're in a position to save but we're still not able to afford property in Dublin,' Ms Scully said.
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They don't believe the Government is advocating on their behalf. 'I think they think they're doing a good job, but clearly they aren't,' Ms Scully said, adding that programmes such as the Help To Buy scheme don't have the intended effect when property prices are so high.
'I think it's years and years of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments … applying bandaid solutions to long term problems," Mr Murphy said.
Protestors at The Raise the Roof rally outside Leinster House. Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times
Mother and son Ger Nolan and Evan Sheridan have always regarded housing as a pressing issue for the younger generation. 'It wasn't a worry I had at 16 or 18, but that's the reality nowadays,' Ms Nolan said.
'Housing is where everything stems from. You need people to run services in the country and if they can't afford to pay rent in Dublin, the city doesn't function any more,' she added.
Mr Sheridan said 'housing is a basic human right, it's crazy how something as basic as a roof over your head is either too expensive or is seen as a luxury, and for many young people is a luxury'.
He believes the Government is making housing out 'to be a lot more complicated than it actually is', citing the €14 billion windfall tax from Apple last year as a reason why 'funding is not an issue'.
Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times
Bernard Joyce, a representative of the Irish Traveller Movement, said 'it's really important that we're all here together today'.
Mr Joye said Irish Traveller women and children are disproportionately homeless, and called for 'culturally appropriate accommodation which meets their community's needs'.
Among the speakers were Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Labour leader Ivana Bacik, Rory Hearne of the Social Democrats and People Before Profit's Paul Murphy. There was a considerable presence of their supporters at the demonstration.
The speakers often emphasised what they see as the interconnected nature of social issues such as the housing crisis, economic inequality, and discrimination against migrants.
The demonstration was organised by Raise the Roof, a broad coalition of trade unions, advocacy groups, NGOs, political parties and homelessness agencies.
It coincided with a Bill in the Dáil tabled by Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity and the Green Party, as well as some left-wing independent TDs.
The Bill seeks to implement freezes and caps on rent prices, reintroduce a ban on no-fault evictions, and increase taxes on vacant and/or derelict properties and funding for homelessness agencies.
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