SINGER Damien Dempsey joined thousands of protestors in Dublin on Saturday protesting the nationwide housing crisis.
Around 10,000 people took to the streets of the capital for the protest, organised by the National Homeless and Housing Coalition.
Protestors gathered in the capital from around the country, with buses organised to transport people from Galway, Limerick, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Sligo to join the rally.
— Comhlámh (@Comhlamh) April 8, 2018
The movement has called on the government to declare the housing crisis an emergency, as well as making housing a constitutional right and ending evictions.
Latest figures from the Department of Housing show that in February, over 9,800 people were homeless – the highest number in the history of the State.
Of that number, 3,755 were children.
Protestors gathered at the Garden of Remembrance before marching down O’Connell Street and on to the Customs House for the rally.
Anthony Flynn, founder of the charity Inner City Helping Homeless, told protestors: “We’re here today to demand a national emergency and tell the Minister [for Housing, Eoghan Murphy] that if he doesn’t do his job, he needs to get out of his office.”
Singer Dempsey, who gave a rousing rendition of The Foggy Dew at the rally, said ahead of the event that the Government must “show some empathy”.
He said: “I say to those who have the power to change things in Dail Éireann, to show some empathy and respect to the people across the land in dire circumstances by building enough affordable and social housing, and putting a proper leash on insatiable landlords.”
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald was also in attendance.
The party leader accused the Taoiseach of “living in denial while people live on the streets”.
“Neither Taoiseach Varadkar nor the Minister for Housing have the ability to cope with the housing crisis,” said McDonald.
“They have shown this time again in their repeated failure to act decisively and declare a national housing emergency.”
She added: “The Government has said that money is not the issue when it comes to solving the housing crisis, therefore this is an outcome of policy failure on their behalf.”
As well as Sinn Féin, the National Homeless and Housing Coalition movement is supported People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party, as well as the main housing charities and trade unions.
