“How long must we suffer this Government and its policy of market first?” That was the question asked by local People Before Profit (PBP) activist Angus McDonald today as he and his party colleagues prepare for the National Day of Action on Housing which takes Place this Saturday afternoon starting at 2.00 o’clock.
People Before Profit Louth/East Meath, will be out and about in Drogheda on Saturday afternoon (Feb, 26), to protest at the Government’s failure to provide housing for all with its reliance on the private sector.
“As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s as though we have jumped from the frying pan and into the fire” Mac Donald said.
“We were already in the midst of Housing, Health and Education crisis. Income inequality was already exasperated and the working poor made up roughly 9% of the population.
“The covid crisis forced many to re-evaluate our position in the great scheme of things and now, as we emerge from it, we find ourselves in a world where through the suffering of the tax paying public, millionaires and billionaires have turned huge profits from the pandemic.
“Here in Drogheda we find ourselves living in the land that time forgot. Just this week reports suggest that not one single house is available to rent in the town.
“According to Louth County Council 300 people became homeless in December, with half of those in Drogheda alone.
“As a Construction worker myself, I have continuously campaigned for a state/Council led public house build. I do this for two main reasons; the secured provision of cost effective and affordable housing and to address the problems of retention and recruitment within the sector.
“As things stand, we face rising costs to living, a shortage in the supply of housing, a shortage in the supply of skills/labour and a shortage of healthy brain cells in our political representation.
“We have placed all our eggs in the one basket regarding housing. We are entirely reliant on the market for all our housing needs. The same market that required public funds to reanimate its dead Capital and banks.
“The public may have learned some lessons from the recent past but our deeply compromised political elite have not. Or is it just that they simply don’t work for us and instead dance to the tune of the lobbyists of the rich?
“If you are in town, why not pop by for a chat and pick up a leaflet? Better still, why not get involved?
“It’s time we viewed housing as a right and with the help of the public, we believe we can make it happen.”
