A HOUSE IN the west Dublin suburb of Ongar, Blanchardstown has been occupied by a number of homeless families.
The group is accompanied by Anti Austerity Alliance TD Ruth Coppinger and three AAA councillors.
The protest began at 3pm this afternoon in the Hansfield estate during what had been a public viewing of the show house.
Speaking about the protest, Ruth Coppinger said that it aims to “highlight the gross injustice that only private and Nama housing was coming onto the market at a massive profit in the midst of a homeless emergency”.
Speaking about the fact that 10% or less of available housing is social housing, Coppinger said:
This is simply not enough when there are over 6,020 families on the local list and thousands more struggling to pay rents.
In her statement the AAA TD has said that the developer of the occupied site stands to make a substantial profit from the current phase of housing being sold.
“This is an obscenity when young people are being crucified with sky-high rents and 120 families are in emergency accommodation in this area,” she went on.
She went on to say that the properties in the development should be taken over by the State and rented to those in need of social housing.
She ends her statement by calling on the local community to come out and show solidarity by coming to the site.
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