Housing hero marks three years of Dáil protests

A Cork singer-songwriter will mark three years of his weekly one-man housing crisis protest outside Dáil Éireann on Thursday.

For the last 156 weeks, Martin has travelled to Dublin from West Cork every Thursday to sing his song ‘Everyone Should Have A Home’ at the gates of the Dáil.

To mark the anniversary, Martin will be joined outside the Dáil today from 1-2pm by guest speakers Eoin Ó Broin TD (SF), Rory Hearne TD (SD), Paul Murphy TD (Sol), activist Margaret O'Regan, and musician Jimi Cullen, as well as speakers from Derelict Ireland and Access For All.

Martin wrote ‘Everyone Should Have A Home’ as a personal response to the housing crisis after hearing that he was to lose his home as his landlord was selling the property, an experienced shared by thousands of individuals and families in Ireland in recent years.

Martin said he travelled to the Dáil out of a sense of hopelessness and despair to stage his one-person protest.

“It was the first time I had ever done anything like this and it felt empowering and worthwhile,” said Martin.

“I also feel that it's important to lift the shame that is felt by so many people around this housing crisis. People can feel that they have done something wrong in their lives because housing is unaffordable for them but it's not their fault. It's a failure on the part of Government.”

He added: “It's important to me to take a stand as one person and say that we should not accept this crisis as part of life.”