'We must unite for housing protest in Cork,' says Cork TD

This is an emergency. There are children growing up in hotels while empty homes rot.

Our young people are on planes to Australia while three-bedroom homes are only occupied by rodents and rubbish.

There is nobody in this state now who hasn’t been impacted by the housing crisis - it has come to their door or the door of their loved one.

Housing is the single biggest social issue of our times, and it is only getting worse under this Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Lowry government.

I understand that people are very angry. I hear it and I feel it.

I am angry when a mother comes to me asking where her children will go to school when they live in a hotel room.

I am angry when a couple tell me they are stuck living in the box room of their parents’ home unable to start an independent life of their own.

I am angry when a pensioner calls me because they cannot afford to pay their rent after working all their life.

I am angry when my daughter’s friends tell me their only future is abroad.

People are sick to their back teeth of tea and sympathy from a government that is unwilling and incapable of solving housing.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael repeatedly tell us that housing can’t be fixed overnight. Who are they trying to fool? They have had more than a decade!

Far from turning a corner, as Taoiseach Micheál Martin claims, this government just goes around in circles.

That is why we will take to the streets of Cork this Saturday, June 21.

Ordinary workers and families in our Rebel County have stood up and fought back time and again when needed. That rebel spirit it is needed again this Saturday.

We need your feet on the streets. We need you to raise your voices for an end to this housing crisis that is damaging the lives of so many.

This is an emergency. We need to take emergency action from a government that for too long has talked a big game on housing but has constantly failed to deliver.

Not one person is housed by a broken promise after broken promise.

This housing protest brings together people from all walks of life - from politics and trade unions and homelessness charities, and many other groups.

We all have different ideas for solving the housing crisis, but we all agree on one thing - what’s happening now is not working and we need a major change of direction.

One which puts the housing needs of workers and families first, not the big profits of wealthy property fund and corporate landlords.

In Cork city right now, there are 99 houses that have been left empty for longer than two years. This is enough homes for the 96 families in emergency accommodation in Cork and Kerry.

Each of these empty homes represents a chance at a future for a family. It represents stability, security, and a bedroom for a child, because every child deserves a bedroom.

Instead, children are stuck in hotel rooms or box rooms with their parents.

I spoke to a woman recently who has been sharing a bed with her adult daughter for 16 years. Can you imagine the indignity and unfairness for that girl as she grew through her teenage years? This is just one story of the human hardship experienced by those caught up in the crisis. There are many more and we hear them every single day.

If any of this resonates with you, if any of it makes you feel angry or frustrated or upset, or if you can relate to any of it, then we need you to come out and join us on June 21 for a family-friendly housing protest.

We need the government to see that it is not normal and that we do not accept that the housing crisis can continue to get worse.

I am very proud to be a member of a party that is not afraid of the streets. We have stood with you on the streets in many vital campaigns - water charges, pension cuts, and on the cost of living.

We will stand with you again on June 21, but we need you there. We need to stand together. Now is the time to start telling your friends and your family.

Tell them that the only way to solve the housing crisis, to make housing a reality again, is to come out on the streets this Saturday. We’ve reached a tipping point on housing. This government needs a big wake-up call. That we’re not going to take this anymore. Let’s give them that wake-up call together.

I’ll be there. The National Monument, Grand Parade, 2pm on Saturday, June 21. I hope you’ll join me.