Latest news with #theRoof
Irish Independent
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
John Spillane among Cork musicians to perform as part of ‘Raise the Roof' demonstration
Thousands of people are expected to gather in Cork city centre for a cross-party, trade union-led rally to protest against the housing crisis. The 'Raise the Roof' rally, which is being organised by a coalition of trade unions and left wing parties including Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, Solidarity/People Before Profit, and the Workers' Party, will take place at 2pm at the National Monument on the Grand Parade. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions have confirmed details of the musical acts for the Munster Raise the Roof rally. Cork musicians John Spillane and Martin Leahy will join the Cork housing rally and they will provide live music as part of the demonstration. Martin wrote the song Everyone Should Have A Home as a personal response to the housing crisis after being served with an eviction notice in early 2022 as the landlord wanted to sell the property in Bandon. Mr Leahy has travelled to Dublin every week since May 2022 to stage a protest highlighting the homelessness crisis. He began this unique form of protest as a way to shine a spotlight on Ireland's housing crisis. John Spillane, who grew up in Wilton, is one of the country's most lauded singer-songwriters. The musician performed with bands such as The Stargazers and Nomos before carving out a solo career, starting with his 1997 solo album The Wells Of The World. Spillane, who still lives in Cork is a two-time Meteor Award winner for Best Folk/Trad Act. His songs have been covered by performers including Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, and Sean Keane. There will be short speeches and live music at the National Monument before the crowd will march to Cornmarket Street. Cork Council of Trade Unions representative Joe Kelly said: 'I'm delighted that John Spillane and Martin Leahy will be joining us for the demonstration. I know that there is deep frustration across the country at successive governments' failure to get to grips with the housing crisis. 'Rents are continuing to skyrocket, and home ownership is moving beyond the reach of a whole generation of young people. This is our chance to show that frustration, and I hope to see as strong a turnout as possible,' he added. Raise the Roof is comprised of trade unions, housing and homeless agencies, women's groups, political parties, representatives of older people, children's advocacy groups, community organisations, student unions, Traveller groups, housing academics and experts.
Irish Daily Mirror
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Daily Mirror
Housing protest expected at Dail as Government accused of 'assaulting' renters
The opposition has accused the Government of "gaslighting" and "assaulting" renters ahead of a large housing protest expected to take place outside Leinster House on Tuesday evening. The "Raise the Roof" protest will gather outside the gates of Leinster House from 6pm to coincide with a joint Dáil motion submitted by the opposition. The initiative, initially put together by Ireland's trade unions, will hold another protest in Cork on Saturday. The Dáil will debate an emergency motion on housing on Tuesday, calling on the Government to "dramatically increase" investment in public housing, introduce stronger taxes on vacancy and dereliction and greater use of Compulsory Purchase Orders to bring empty homes back into use. It also calls on it to introduce a rent freeze rather than changing Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs), introducing a ban on no fault evictions and restoring full funding for the Tenant in Situ scheme. Last week, the Government introduced new measures which they claimed will "protect renters". This includes extending the RPZ cap nationwide to limit rent increases to 2 per cent. It will also create six-year tenancies and introduce no fault evictions. However, the plan to allow landlords to increase rents after six years or when a tenant leaves voluntarily has been widely criticised. Speaking at Leinster House, Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin further criticised Government action on housing. He said: "[The motion contains] things that we think could be done immediately, would make a real difference and we want to see them implemented. "These proposals have the support of all of the affiliates of the Raise the Roof coalition. "The Raise the Roof campaign is going to be showing, in its numbers, the strong support from civil society, trade unions, political parties, but also, crucially, people impacted by the housing and homelessness crisis that these are the kinds of emergency measures they want to see, not the all out assault on renters In the private rental sector we've seen from the Government essentially allowing all rent over a period of time to be reset to market rents." Labour's housing spokesman Conor Sheehan, meanwhile, suggested that the measures announced by Government "will throw renters under the bus". He suggested that there was anecdotal evidence that landlords were already putting up rents ahead of the introduction of nationwide rent controls and the change to RPZ legislation next March. He added: "This government does not care about renters and when it claims it cares about renters, it is gaslighting renters. "The confusing, incoherent, ill thought out measures that they introduced last week, or said they would introduce, are going to send rents skyrocketing."
