WATCH: Crowds march through Cork to demand housing for all 

Close to a thousand people, including political parties, trade unions, charities, activists and members of the public, marched the streets of Cork city centre on Saturday afternoon in a bid to ‘Raise the Roof’ about housing for all.

Chants such as “Taoiseach in your ivory tower, this is called people power” and “When renters’ rights are under attack, stand up, fight back” echoed in the city as people marched from Connolly Hall on Lapp’s Quay down Parnell Place, Merchant’s Quay, and Patrick Street, before finishing at Grand Parade.

Those in attendance included the High Hopes Choir, Cork Penny Dinners, LINC, Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, The Workers’ Party, Socialist Party, SIPTU, the INMO, Fórsa, and Connect Trade Union, among others.

Speaking to The Echo following the march, Sinn Féin councillor Mick Nugent said: “What people are saying is that we need a change. We need a change in the provision of housing.

“I think people feel the government’s policies aren’t working and we need more housing. We need more social housing, we need more affordable housing, we need more housing for all.

“It’s affecting everybody. Lifting the eviction ban has left hundreds more in the months ahead who will have nowhere to go and that’s putting massive pressure on the system.

“I think we need a radical change and that’s what the message is here today.” 

Described as ‘the Mother Teresa of Cork’, Caitríona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners addressed the crowd on Grand Parade following the march.

“We see people one day and two or three days later we learn they’ve died on our streets. They’ve died in the loneliest of circumstances. Their families will forever more be destroyed because of the pain that rips right through them. Can you imagine the loneliness of what’s happening on our streets? And that’s the reality of it.

“We had three just last week and two the week before. That’s five. They’re all ages but the majority of those who actually died on our street are quite young which is a big shame on our government that our young people have no other choice but to live on the street, to stay on the street, to fall victim to the street.

They have no future and everything for them is disrupted. They face health challenges, they face education challenges, they face an awful lot of hardship in their lives, and it gets worse and worse.

She said it is also “so difficult” to see three or four generations forced to live together under one roof in 2023.

“A grandmother is taken in, her son who has to take in his son and his son’s partner and children.

“So, we now have four generations living in one house. We’re going back to a time that we were supposed to have gotten out of and everything seems to be going backwards, it seems to be getting harder.

“We have people that have jobs, some of them have two jobs, and they can’t afford to pay their rents, their mortgages. We have young people who know they will never get a chance to buy a house because it’s priced out of their range completely.

“We need our young people to be looked after, we need our elderly people to look after, in fact, they [the government] need to look after everybody so instead of being happy about what they're doing and what they’re bringing to us, they should hang their heads in shame,” she said.

Socialist Party TD Mick Barry said: "Nearly a thousand people marched through the streets of Cork today with a message to Micheál Martin, Michael McGrath and Simon Coveney - "we're not happy with your housing policies". 

"Growing numbers want housing for people not profit and politicians who don't listen will be very much on the back foot at the next General Election."