Protesters in Dublin demand action on housing and cost of living

Hundreds of people have marched through Dublin city centre to call for Government action on housing, the cost of living and workers’ wages.

Many at the protest called for wages to be increased and for a rent cap or freeze to be introduced.

Several parents at the protest said they were managing amid inflated grocery and electricity prices, but expressed concern for their children’s ability to be able to pay their rent or to buy a home.

A large number of third-level students attended the demonstration, including around 30 students from University of Limerick who got a bus up to the capital to take part in the protest.

The pre-Budget march, organised by the Cost of Living Coalition, started at Parnell Square and ended at Leinster House, where speakers addressed the crowd.

Those who took part chanted “Out, Out Out” to the names of coalition party leaders Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tanaiste Micheal Martin and Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan.

“The students are definitely rising,” People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett told the crowd as it gathered to hear speeches in front of the gates of Leinster House.

Edana Flynn, Postgraduate Students’ Union vice president at the University of Limerick (UL), said that not being able to afford basic goods was an issue that has been “creeping up over the last four years for students and researchers”.

She said that rent freezes and caps were needed and food prices needed to go down, and that students were “angry”.

She added: “We offer free cereal in our student common room and some students are not eating, post grads are not eating, these guys have tutorials they have to go to and they can’t afford food because they’re paying through the nose for their rent.

“Students can’t afford rent, researchers can’t afford to live on 7.80 euro an hour – and even then it can be considerably lower from faculty to faculty – we’ve just had enough.

“We’re seeing our students day in, day out they’re struggling to get part-time work, they’re struggling to commute. Students and researchers are not living, they’re surviving.”

Cathy Fagan, who works in St Michael’s Family Resource Centre in Inchicore, said that things were “getting really hard”.

She added: “We’re just struggling as mammies and as women and everything is going up and we’re not getting enough pay, the wages aren’t equal.

“My daughter had to move to Mullingar from Dublin because the rent is mad here.

“It’s bigger than what’s in the Budget – just to be able to not worry day to day. Some days it’s ‘do you put your heating on or do you have your bit of food?’ It can be like that for some people, especially older people.”

James Duggan said there needed to be secure tenancies for people, and said he has two children living in Dublin and does not know how they will be able to afford a home in the capital.

Roisin McAleer, a single parent and a teacher based in Dublin, said that the scarcity of teachers is directly linked to the housing crisis.

When asked how she is handling an increase in prices, she said “not very well, I’m very nervous and very careful”, but added that the issues were “wider than the Budget” and not only down to housing and energy costs.

“It was hard enough 30 years ago when I was starting out… There’s an illusion if you’re in a profession that you’re safe enough,” she said.

Theresa Johnson, from Clonmel in Co Tipperary, said that social welfare and disability payments needed to be increased dramatically to match the rate of increase.

“I speak to families on a daily basis who can’t afford to put a breakfast on the table for some of their children.

“They go to a school to a breakfast club to try to save money,” she said.

“The government should be calling an emergency housing crisis… They can put a cap on high rents, people are struggling with high rents.”

The coalition is made up of various representative groups such as the Union of Students in Ireland, the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament, Inclusion Ireland and Extinction Rebellion.

People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and Right2Change took part in Saturday’s protest.

The coalition has called for a 25 euro increase in pension, social welfare and disability payments in Budget 2024.

It has also called for a rent freeze, the eviction ban to be reintroduced, and the abolition of student fees.

There is also a general opposition to one-off budgetary measures, which last year included lump sum welfare payments and three 200-euro electricity credits.

The Government announced a second package of one-off measures worth 1.3 billion euro in February, which was more targeted than the 4.1 billion cost-of-living package accompanying Budget 2023 last year.

Budget 2024 is to be announced on Tuesday, worth 6.4 billion euro, with the details expected to be finalised by ministers and party leaders this weekend.

Recent figures show that inflation in Ireland has not fallen to the levels forecast at the start of the year.

The Consumer Price Index rose by 6.3% in the 12 months to August this year, up from 5.8% in the 12 months to July.