Large Raise the Roof protest at Leinster House slates Government housing policy

Irish Daily Mirror

4 hours ago

The Government has 'normalised' the homelessness crisis and developed Government policy that disadvantages renters and those trying to buy a home, a protest has heard. Several hundred of people gathered outside Leinster House on Tuesday evening for the Raise the Roof protest.
The group heard from political parties and trade unions calling for a change in the Government's housing policy. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the protest had gathered to 'call out the Government' and their 'spoof and outright lies'.
She said: 'They went into the last election with made-up figures. They told us they were doing great. They told us that they were going to do even better. Well, we've seen the reality of what they're at. It's a game of pretence with them, a game of make-believe. Let's pretend that everything is okay.
'Well, Micheál Martin, Simon Harris and the rest of you, things are far from okay. This is not alright. We are here because we are sick and tired of the housing emergency that they have created and that they sustain. Look around our society, what do we see? House prices way out of reach and then a make-believe scenario that houses for €500 are to be called affordable. Who, in the name of God, came up with that number?'
Deputy McDonald said she grew up in 1980s Dublin at a time of a 'drug epidemic, poverty, mass emigration and unemployment'. She accused the Government of 'normalising' homelessness.
She continued: 'We need you to back us now, because this Government must be faced down. I want to leave you with this idea. I want to leave you with the idea of just how powerful we are, just how powerful all of you are. I know it could be easy, especially for younger people, to fall into despair and simply to say, 'I'm never gonna have my own gaff. It's just not going to happen'.
'It'd be very easy to conclude that, really, if you want a chance at life, you have to go somewhere else. I get that. I know where that comes from. But doesn't have to be that way. In fact, more than that, we cannot allow that to be the way.
'This housing crisis now affects every family, affects every aspect of Irish society. We are in this together, and we are strong, and we will face them down, call them out, force their hand. 'Housing a home is a human right. Dignity is a human right.
"Our renters cannot be again put to the pin of their collar and screwed because the Government wants to lick the boots of cuckoos and vultures and big investment funds. Our message today to Micheál Martin and Simon Harris is, lads, the game is up. The people are at the gate.'
People Before Profit's Paul Murphy told the crowd that 'official Government policy' was that 'rents aren't high enough' and that 'students in private rented accommodation should have no rent protection at all'.
He said: 'The consequences are absolutely clear – Rising homelessness, rising poverty, rising numbers of people trapped at home, unable to move out.' He continued: 'Their greed is absolutely insatiable and the Government wants workers, wants young people, wants renters to pay for their greed.
'What we need is a government that doesn't serve landlords, a government not made up of landlords, instead, a government that serves renters, that serves people who are trying to buy a home, that people who are trying to develop a home, those who are suffering from homelessness, a left government that actually now bow down to the interest of vulture capitalists, but stand up to them.'
Phil Ni Sheaghdha, general secretary, Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), opened the protest by saying that workers in Dublin city are spending over 77% of their wages on rent.
She said: 'It's simply not sustainable. One of our major maternity hospitals recently surveyed midwives who are leaving and 57% of them said they weren't retiring. They were leaving their job because their accommodation was simply not affordable or not suitable for the job that they're expected to do. We can do better than that. We have to do better than that.
'The housing crisis is affecting every aspect of our public service delivery. Trying to get workers to stay and work in our public services is really important. We're recruiting workers from overseas, and they're saying to us, we come here, but nobody told us that we would have to pay over 77% of our salaries in rent. That's simply not good enough.'
Large numbers of people at the crowd were carrying political party flags, including Sinn Féin, Soc Dems and People Before Profit.