10 June 2023
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
At the Raise the Roof campaign rally in Cork city this afternoon (Saturday, 10th June), SIPTU TEAC Division Organiser, Adrian Kane, said that the worsening housing crisis will only be resolved by the election of a left-wing government to replace the current failed coalition.
After outlining the devastating impact of the crisis on people in Cork city and the various measures that could be taken to address the shortage of housing, including a major State-led housing programme and a ban on no fault evictions, Kane said: “But the government is not listening. If anything is a testament to this fact, it was surely the last two significant actions concerning housing that this government took: lifting the eviction ban and waiving development fees.
“And I believe it will continue not to listen because it comprises of parties that are united in an ideology of ‘I’m alright, Jack, increase property values so the rich get richer’, and a fundamental disregard for the working people of Ireland.
“That is why I believe the message we must take from our years of marching is one thing: we need political change. We need radical political change. We need, for the first time in the history of our state, a left-wing government.”
He added: “I believe that for the first time in my lifetime, the next general election will offer the opportunity to elect a left majority government; it cannot be squandered, and that will mean parties and organisations genuinely working together, putting aside doctrinal differences, to do what is right and necessary for all people resident in Ireland. This is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity that cannot be lost.”
On the issue of far-right protesters who have used the housing crisis as an excuse to attack vulnerable groups, Kane said: “When you hear the agents of hate blaming a Ukrainian mother escaping war, an Afghan student fleeing the Taliban, or any other of the most oppressed people who have reached our shores for our current housing crisis, remember that these are the same people who would be blaming the single mother or the welfare recipient for our other social ills.
“These people want hate, not change; they pick on those they perceive as weak because they do not have the guts to stand up to those in power.”
He added: “My message to them is simple: you have no place in this debate with your politics of division, your politics based on lies; you do not have any solutions; and you will not derail us from achieving the great republic that can be a home to all that we must create.”