All-island housing rally held in Dublin

The Irish Government and Northern Ireland Executive have demonstrated an inability to address homelessness, the organisers of a major housing protest in Dublin has said.

Hundreds of people participated in a rally between the Garden of Remembrance and Leinster House on Saturday.

Organised by the Community Action Tenants’ Union (Catu), the protest was also supported by opposition political parties, unions and other civil society groups.

Catu said the action was an all-island demonstration critical of Governments in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

It said it believes ministers in both jurisdictions have demonstrated their “inability and lack of commitment to addressing homelessness and housing inequality”.

In particular, it criticised recent announcements to “gut the tenant-in-situ scheme” and changes to rent control in the Republic of Ireland despite a record number of families living in emergency accommodation.

In a statement, it said: “Whether it’s being evicted from your home with a few weeks’ notice, or seeing your children emigrate due to lack of affordable housing, hardly anyone on this island has not been affected by the years of disastrous housing policy in Ireland. ”

It is calling on both the Dail and Stormont to immediately implement a number of measures to protect people across the island from homelessness, including the introduction and re-instatement of the eviction ban; a commitment to ensure no child is living in emergency accommodation by 2026; and a full and proper resourcing of the tenant-in-situ scheme.

The union is also demanding an end to the direct provision system for asylum seekers, and urgent resourcing and provision of culturally appropriate Traveller accommodation.

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All-island housing rally held in Dublin

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