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PEOPLE ARE LIVID. People want to come out and express their anger.
Activists, politicians and members of the public are expected to gather in Dublin City Centre this afternoon to participate in another demonstration over Ireland’s housing crisis.
Since last summer, the country has seen an increase in activists raising awareness over housing issues, as the rental crisis in Ireland deepens and homelessness continues to increase.
Take Back The City (TBTC) over the summer held numerous protests in Dublin city centre, alongside a range of occupations of properties in the north inner city.
The National Homeless and Housing Coalition (NHHC), which is made up of trade unions, politicians and campaign groups, made headlines in October, after holding the Raise the Roof rally in Dublin city centre alongside a number of other campaign groups, which saw thousands take to the streets.
Most recently, thousands turned out for a major rally held by NHHC on 1 December in Dublin city. That rally was help to mark the anniversary of Jonathan Corrie, whose body was found in a Dublin doorway on 1 December 2014. His death sparked an increase in action from housing activists across the country.
Today’s demonstration kicks off in Dublin at three different locations at 2pm.
“There was a real push from the community groups and the grassroots groups that we work with here in Dublin that we needed to do something in Dublin to keep the momentum going because people are livid. People want to come out and express their anger,” NHHC co-chairperson Tina MacVeigh told TheJournal.ie.
MacVeigh said it will be “hard to say” whether today’s rally will be as large as previous ones.
Today’s rally will see three separate starting locations. The crowds will then march to a “surprise collection point”. MacVeigh wouldn’t reveal any details about the end location.
MacVeigh hit out at the recent homeless emergency accommodation figures for January, which showed that there are now a combined total of 9,987 people homeless and living in emergency accommodation in Ireland, a significant rise of 234 people from December.
She also criticised the “disgraceful” comments made by Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan last month in which he said people may be reluctant to leave homeless services in Dublin because they are now “an attractive” option.
“There’s always stuff that’s happening that’s making people really angry because it’s painfully obvious that the government is not shifting and is not doing anything in relation to advancing the solution, which is to build public housing on public land,” she said.
“People want to vent their anger at this continued reluctance by the government to do what the people want,” MacVeigh said.
Growing movement
This weekend’s rally will be the first major one since thousands took to the streets on 1 December.
When asked by TheJournal.ie if she thinks the housing and homelessness grassroots movement could be losing momentum, MacVeigh said: “Take Back The City movement was amazing last summer with the wave of protests that we saw and occupations. A lot of that was driven by a lot of students who have probably gone back into their college life. They’re organising themselves in their colleges.
“While there might not have been the obvious and visible manifestation of the grassroots work on the streets the way we saw last summer, those same groups are now actually in their communities doing the work that we need to do which is to build at a grassroots level.”
Now, a number of regional demonstrations have been planned nationwide in the lead up to a national rally in May, beginning with today’s in Dublin.
A Raise the Roof rally is taking place in Cork on Monday evening. MacVeigh said there are plans for rallies in around 12 other cities and towns nationwide over the next month.
The Raise the Roof rally in October was held to coincide with a debate in the Dáil on a private members bill on housing drafted and signed by 47 TDs from Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, Solidarity, Social Democrats, Labour, the Green Party, Independents4Change and others.
MacVeigh said today’s rally will highlight that motion which called for “practical measures to be put into place which would at least put a block or a stop to the spiralling out of control of the housing crisis”.
“The government have not listened and we need to be on the streets to say to the government the people spoke last year, not only on the streets but also through our elected representatives.
“Our voices manifested in that motion, the Dáil voted for it, you are ignoring it. We will not be ignored.”
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You can get some dodgy fifty euro notes in the south. This is old news, to me anyhow.
You are dead right Paul. You earn the money you decide how to spend it. If I lived closer to the border I would definitely shop north. The biggest reason for higher prices here is “rip off”. And to all the red thumb merchants. B******s.
Dead right, I buy Irish goods from Irish suppliers and English goods from English suppliers. Why should I buy English goods at inflated prices from an Irish middle man? Only exception I make is on the rare occasion when I have bought Irish goods in England cheaper than in Ireland. Now that’s wrong pricing somewhere surely! Source of origin on food labels is misleading and almost impossible to ascertain. For instance a food product can be imported from abroad and repackaged with a local suppliers ID labelling, so the country of origin is lost to the consumer.
Why tell them that? They are worse than the TD’s stealing from the people. People who shop in the north should go live up there and earn their living up there. If they ever need an ambulance , fire brigade, police, etc go and call the services up north as that is what you are doing by shopping up there. If you want to keep the few people who have jobs in work in the south ie your neighbour or family member than stay and pay a little towards their employment. Dare I suggest you reduce your purchases by 10% in the south and everybody would be better off. When I see the fat people from the south pushing trolled in the stores up north I think they could do with a lot less shopping.
I go up north and do some shopping. I did it last weekend actually! I spent 170 euro on beer, and a net book. Everything else was more or less the same price or cheaper down south. But I didn’t go up north to save money ( although I did ) I went up for the day out. I can’t afford holidays anywhere. I stay at my house for my holidays. I work and have practically zero left ( some months less than zero left) each month. I pay way more than my fair share of taxes and I am entitled to spend 175 euro while I am on my ( holidays).
I assume that you holiday at home, buy only Irish products every week?
Don’t judge me, you don’t know me! Besides, I believe in a United Ireland. Our government has cross border trade and governmental institutions set up. If our government says by it’s actions that it is ok then it’s ok by me. And another thing, the majority of the civil construction tenders are awarded by our government departments to northern construction companies because of price, so cop on and grow up.
I use PayPal for everything
Interesting that you judge me – I may be disabled for all you know! Construction workers are loosing jobs to northern contractors you say – I rest my case. When you are directly impacted it is wrong yet when our retailers and producers are impacted it is not a concern to you. It makes the case for the government shopping up north for cheaper contractors. I think it is wrong yet I am on my own on this I think.
We have plenty of fake banknotes down here. They are called “euros”.
Just use a credit card for shopping And pay it off in full, easiet way.
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