'Housing is a right for all' - Raise the Roof rally in Waterford City

On Saturday afternoon November 1, around 100 people came out to the 'Raise the Roof' rally to protest the worsening housing crisis in Waterford and the rest of the country. 

Students, politicians, activists, trade unionists and locals made a call for action as a record-breaking 16,000 people were registered as homeless. 

Sinn Féin TDs David Cullinane and Conor McGuiness attended the event, as did multiple local Councillors including Mary Roche (Social Democrats), Joe Kelly (Independent) and John Hearne (Sinn Féin). 

SETU Student Union representative Avii Olasogba shared a few words about the grinding obstacles facing young people looking to study in the South East. He said: "I know there are lads paying up  to €1,000 for a room, I know there are lads dropping out of college." He said that 66% of students who dropped out of university in 2024 did so due to lack of accommodation and commuting options. 

He said: "We're not getting the opportunity from the Government to get our education as students, we're not being given the ability, we're not given the support we need."

Community organiser Dylan O'Riordan spoke about the thousands of Irish people who have left the country because of the housing crisis. He said: "Over the last 10 years, I've watched the national average rent rise from about €900 a month to €1,700 a month and the average cost of home has gone from just under €200,000 to €375,000.

"In 2014, the figure of people experiencing homelessness was roughly 2,000 people. As of yesterday (October 31) that number is 16,614 and there are thousands more struggling to get by. When people are already pushed to the margins and can't get secure housing, we create a society where safety and dignity become luxuries. All of this has been under the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael."

Deputy Cullinane took a moment to welcome members of the Travelling community at the rally, which coincided with the tenth anniversary of the Carrickmines fire which claimed the lives of ten men, women and children. In the aftermath of the tragedy, it was revealed that Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council had drawn down no funding for Traveller accommodation that year.

The Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Health said of the housing crisis: "10,000 families in the first half of this year were facing eviction and given eviction notices. That's happening at a time when an Irish Government who should be standing up for Irish people have rolled out the red carpet for vulture funds, rolled out the red carpet for international investors. Rolled out the red carpet for the big landlords that get tax breaks in the budget that was gone and yet they couldn't find the money to put a roof over people's heads and to actually build the houses that people need. 

"So shame on this government for putting international investors and landlords over the needs of ordinary working people here in Waterford and across this state."