Cork singer and songwriter to mark a year of protesting housing crisis in Dublin today

A CORK singer and songwriter who has for the past 52 weeks travelled to Dublin to protest the housing crisis will today mark the first anniversary of his weekly demonstration with a performance outside Leinster House.

Every week for the past year, come rain, shine, sleet, snow or a visit from US president Joe Biden, Martin Leahy has travelled from West Cork to Dublin’s Kildare Street to perform his song ‘Everyone Should Have A Home’.

Today will mark the one-year anniversary of his first weekly protest outside the national parliament, and he will perform his song at lunchtime.

Martin said that having protested every week for a year was not an achievement he felt moved to celebrate.

“It’s just another one of the many miserable and depressing housing crisis milestones that we’re marking all the time,” he said.

“We have 11,988 people homeless. Shame on our Government.”

Upon hearing last year that his landlord was selling up, Martin wrote ‘Everyone Should Have A Home’ as a personal response to the housing crisis.

He then travelled to Dublin and staged his one-person protest outside Leinster House.

“It felt empowering and worthwhile and so I continued to do it on a weekly basis,” he told The Echo.

Last month, US president Biden’s visit to Dublin meant that playing outside Leinster House was not possible on the day, but to Martin’s surprise, he was able to play halfway up Molesworth St, his voice echoing in the eerily empty city centre.

He is one of several thousand people facing eviction after the lifting of the Government’s temporary ban on no-fault evictions.

Martin said he is now facing an uncertain future.

Today’s event, which is supported by Raise The Roof and The Cost of Living Coalition, will see Martin joined by other artists and speakers in support of his protest.