Martin marks two years of protesting

By Maisie Mould

Today, Thursday, marks two years since Cork musician Martin Leahy began his weekly housing crisis protest.

Martin travels to Dublin every Thursday to sing his anthem ‘Everybody Should Have a Home’ outside the gates of the Dáil, and has now surpassed 100 performances.

He was first spurred to this self-described ‘act of desperation’ when he was evicted after six years of renting and faced with the choice of sky high rent prices or emigration. For this significant Thursday, Martin will be joined by speakers from various housing groups, as well as members of the homeless population. He said that with the housing crisis worsening, and the number of homeless on the rise, he wants to use the anniversary to highlight the need for the no fault eviction ban to be reinstated.

He said: “As this housing crisis deepens by the day, the Government need to re-introduce the eviction ban immediately to stop the flow into homelessness.”