Fórsa is appealing to members to get behind a rally calling for action on the housing and homeless crisis. The protest takes place outside Leinster House on Wednesday 3rd October.
The lunchtime rally was called by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), and coincides with a cross-party motion on housing and homelessness being tabled in the Dáil that day.
With enough support, the initiative will put pressure on Government and opposition TDs to support the motion and commit to definitive action on the housing and homeless crisis.
With enough support, the initiative will put pressure on Government and opposition TDs to support the motion and commit to definitive action on the housing and homeless crisis.
The rally is supported by the National Homeless and Housing Coalition and its affiliates including Fórsa. The text of the motion was written in line with the demands made in ICTU’s Charter for Housing Rights.
Fórsa lead organiser Joe O’Connor said unions and housing campaigners were seeking radical policy interventions, which Fórsa has been advocating for some time.
“The protest is calling for a large-scale affordable public house-building programme, legislation to end ‘evictions to nowhere,’ and measures to achieve rent certainty. We want urgent measures to address the devastating impact this crisis is having on people and the fabric of Irish society,” he said.
The protest is calling for a large-scale affordable public house-building programme, legislation to end ‘evictions to nowhere,’ and measures to achieve rent certainty.
Joe added that the protest was an opportunity to frame the forthcoming budget – the last under the current ‘confidence and supply’ agreement – as ‘the housing budget.’
The Charter for Housing rights was developed by ICTU with input from unions, including Fórsa, in response to the escalating housing crisis. It includes a number of principles which Congress is urging the Government to adopt and implement.