On Saturday, 18th May the trade union led Raise the Roof initiative will stage a mass rally in Dublin in protest at the ongoing and worsening housing emergency. The rally will start at Parnell Square at 1pm.
In recent days, Fr Peter McVerry has described the housing situation as one that has morphed from “a crisis to catastrophe” and most experts believe it will worsen in the short to medium term, unless there is a dramatic change in official policy.
From a TUI perspective, teachers increasingly find themselves locked out of the housing market, unable to either buy or, increasingly, rent an affordable place to live. It is also having a devasting effect on a significant number of students and their families, who are forced to live in the uncertainty of temporary and unsuitable accommodation, often a significant distance from their school or college.
A motion unanimously passed at Annual Congress 2019 expressed disbelief and frustration at the unacceptably slow pace of the Government’s response.
As part of the Raise the Roof, ICTU has put forward clear solutions to this crisis, such as the urgent need to build more public housing and to create a legal right to housing, which already exists in some 80 countries worldwide. A petition in support of the Right to Housing is available at this link: https://www.ictu.ie/raisetheroofpetition
We urge as many members TUI members as possible to attend the May 18th rally to send a clear signal to government that a radical shift in housing policy is needed in order to bring this intolerable situation to an end.