A Cork singer is about to sing his 100th protest song outside the Dáil
Martin Leahy wrote a song as a response to the housing crisis.
And this Thursday, the West Cork singer/songwriter will travel to Dublin for the 100th time to perform ‘Everyone Should Have A Home’ at the gates of the Leinster House.
For almost two years Martin has travelled to Dublin from West Cork every Thursday to sing his song outside the Dáil.
To mark the 100th, Martin will be joined by activists, poets, musicians and politicians including Rory Hearne, Eoin Ó Broin, Richard Boyd Barrett, Jude Sherry and Frank O’Connor of Derelict Ireland and Sophia and Bernard Mulvany of Access For All Ireland.
Along with the speeches, he will also be performing his song once again on Thursday, April 18th from 1pm.
Martin wrote the song as a personal response to the housing crisis, upon hearing that he was to lose his home as his landlord was selling the property, as has been the experience of thousands of other individuals and families.
He says he travelled to the Dáil out of a sense of hopelessness and despair and staged a one-person protest.
“It felt empowering and worthwhile and so I continued to do it on a weekly basis. It was hard to imagine when I started my protest, almost two years ago, that the housing and homeless crisis could get any worse but the figures continue to rise,” he said.
