THE GROUP OCCUPYING Apollo House in Dublin city say they are heartened by the public support they have received since moving into the vacant office building.
The Home Sweet Home group moved into the building late on Thursday night, occupying the former Department of Social Protection building, which was vacated last year.
The group includes high-profile names such as musicians Damien Dempsey and Glen Hansard, actor John Connors and others.
Last night, Hansard said the occupation was “an act of civil disobedience”.
The Government will shelter 200 people this Christmas and there’s 260 people between the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal in Dublin.
Hansard’s Late Late Show appearance also saw him appeal for help from volunteers. That call has been answered, Rosi Leonard of the Irish Housing Network told TheJournal.ie.
“It’s going really well. We’ve had 800 offers to volunteer in the last ten hours and just this morning a woman got the train from Galway just to drop in two bags of supplies.
“There are people staying here who would have been sleeping on the streets last night.”
Leonard said the group has put out a call for skilled people including medical staff and tradespeople to help and this has been answered across the board.
There has also been a donation of 30 mattresses by Mattress Mick.
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Leonard says that this support shows that the public is tired of the country’s homelessness problem and what she perceives as government inaction on the issue.
“The support is indicative of how fed up the public is. It just shows that if government doesn’t do something, people will.”
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