'It's a grim marker': Cork musician to perform his song about housing crisis outside Dáil for 157th time

Irish Examiner

14-05-2025

'It's a grim marker, it's no celebration,' Cork singer-songwriter Martin Leahy said ahead of the three-year anniversary of his weekly housing protest outside the Dáil.
Mr Leahy will perform the song he wrote about the housing crisis while facing eviction, 'Everyone Should Have a Home', for the 157th time on Thursday.
He will be joined by politicians, activists and other musicians to mark the three-year anniversary at the gates of the Dáil.
Mr Leahy, a respected musician who has worked with some of Ireland's biggest songwriters, including Christy Moore and John Spillane, has travelled from West Cork to Dublin every Thursday for the protest.
Mr Leahy wrote the song 'Everyone Should Have a Home' as a personal response to the housing crisis, upon hearing he was to lose his home as his landlord was selling the property.
For the first time in 27 years of renting, he found himself struggling to rent, with prices having risen so sharply he had been priced out of the overheated market in 2022.
Martin Leahy: 'I feel that it's important to lift the shame that is felt by so many people around this housing crisis. People can feel that they have done something wrong in their lives because housing is unaffordable for them, but it's not their fault.' Picture: Moya Nolan
Mr Leahy then travelled to the Dáil out of a sense of hopelessness and despair and staged his one-person protest at the Dáil.
'It was the first time I had ever done anything like this and it felt empowering and worthwhile,' Mr Leahy said.
'I also feel that it's important to lift the shame that is felt by so many people around this housing crisis. People can feel that they have done something wrong in their lives because housing is unaffordable for them, but it's not their fault.
It's a failure on the part of Government. It's important to me to take a stand as one person and say that we should not accept this crisis as part of life.
Homeless figures have continued to creep up since his protest began. This year, there has been a small but steady month-on-month increase in those relying on emergency accommodation. In March, 10,743 adults and 4,675 children were homeless and staying in temporary accommodation.
'When I started, I thought the crisis was at its peak,' Mr Leahy said 'I couldn't have imagined that it would have gotten any worse."
His protest aims to challenge this.
'A lot of people are homeless and not able to afford rent. They might see it as a reflection of themselves and have shame around it.
'But it's not their fault. The fault for this is with the Government in my view. For people not to be able to afford basic human rights, that's not their fault. There should be no shame in talking about it."
Average monthly rents were at almost €2,000 per month nationally, with a 5.7% increases in rental costs last year, according to analysis from Daft.ie.
Cork City rents rose by 10% in the final quarter of last year. In Limerick City, rents were up 19%.
Rents rose by 4% in Dublin last year,to an average of €2,481 per month.
Three years after he first started his protest, Mr Leahy has found somewhere to rent in Bandon.
But it took six months of staying with friends as one of the thousands of 'hidden homeless'. Having nowhere to go other than emergency accommodation was terrifying, he said.
'I felt lucky that I had people to stay with for the six months.
Martin Leahy: 'When I started, I thought the crisis was at its peak. I couldn't have imagined that it would have gotten any worse.'
Both affordability and availability are problems for many renters now, he said.
Having a home to rent now, in Bandon, West Cork, has made him feel 'more secure'.
But he also now feels an extra energy to continue with the protests.
'Because of going through it and hearing about the people in much worse situations than I was. People with families are being evicted.
'If I had my way, there'd be somebody outside the Dáil all the time [protesting].
'I can only do my one day but I just don't think that it should be accepted.
It's a relatively recent thing this crisis. But I feel that it's pushing on so long now I have a fear that it will start to become accepted as part of life here and it shouldn't be.
'That's the reason I keep doing it [protesting].
'It shouldn't be accepted and I want to go up there and just say 'this is not acceptable'.
Mr Leahy will be joined by politicians, activists and fellow musician Jimi Cullen on Thursday from 1pm-2pm outside the Dáil.
Guest speakers will include Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin, Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne, and People Before Profit's Paul Murphy.
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