Cork City Council votes to endorse Raise the Roof housing rally

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Cork City Council has passed a motion to formally endorse the Raise the Roof housing rally taking place in Cork on October 4 and to encourage all communities, families and individuals to attend it.

The motion put forward at this week’s council meeting by Councillors Michelle Gould (Sinn Féin), Dan Boyle (Greens), Niamh O’Connor (Social Democrats) and Brian McCarthy (Solidarity PBP) was supported by 21 councillors and opposed by one.

Cllr Gould said she was bringing the motion forward “because the housing crisis remains the single greatest barrier to security, well-being and opportunity for far too many people in Cork City.”

“From young people unable to move out to families trapped in overcrowded or substandard accommodation, dereliction across our city, the reality is clear. The housing system is not working for the people it's meant to serve.”

Cllr Niamh O’Connor said that with 5,000 homeless children in the country, “if those aren't take-to-the-streets numbers, I don't know what are. I'm furious about it, I think we should all be furious about it. Housing in this country doesn't work.

“It hasn't worked for a very long time. Every month we see those figures going up and up and up. So I'll be marching. I think everyone else in the city who's affected by this, which is pretty much everybody, should be marching.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Colm Kelleher defended the government’s housing policy, which he said has delivered over 126,000 new homes since 2020. He said that while he supported the crux of the motion, “I do believe that it's a political rally and dressed unfortunately on the hardship of our nation and what the youth are facing today.”

Raise the Roof is comprised of trade unions, student unions, civil society groups, political parties, and homeless and housing agencies. The trade union-led campaign group is calling for a radical change in housing policy and held protests in Dublin and Cork in June.