Cork singer spends almost a year travelling to Dublin…

Cork singer spends almost a year travelling to Dublin for unique housing protest

A Cork musician has been travelling to Dublin every week for almost a year to stage a unique protest highlighting the homeless crisis.

Martin Leahy travels from west Cork to Dublin every week to perform his original song 'Everybody Should Have a Home' outside Dail Eireann every Thursday at 1pm. Last week was the singer's 42nd consecutive week since beginning in May 2022.

Martin has been a singer and a musician for the past 25 years, and released his first single in December 2020 called 'Song For Kirsty MacColl'. His following two singles received airplay nationwide and were listed on RTE Radio One Recommends List.

It wasn't until Martin had his own brush with homelessness that he decided to use his passion for music to raise awareness about the housing crisis in Ireland. Martin told Dublin Live: "I received an eviction notice myself because the landlord was selling the property and I couldn't find anywhere or anywhere affordable to rent and that is what drove me to write the song.

"Availability was a huge problem and the prices of the places that were available were completely unaffordable. When I released the song I went outside the Dáil to sing it one day. It felt very worthwhile and useful so I decided to do it weekly and I've continued to do it ever since."

Martin is a singer-song writer first and foremost and does not accept any money for his weekly protest. "It's a protest I do and it differs from busking in that I don't accept any money," he said.

Martin Leahy with Leah Sohotra (Martin Leahy)

Speaking about the homeless crisis in Ireland and what actions need to be taken to solve it once and for all, Martin said: "Rory Hearne has written a brilliant book on the housing crisis called 'Gaff's' that offers a number of solutions to this crisis."

However, Martin does believe there is one action that can be taken immediately in order to help the homeless in Ireland. "The most immediate measure that needs to be taken is to extend the eviction ban to stop even more people entering homelessness," he said.

"It was brought in as an emergency measure and nothing has changed since it was introduced and we're still in a housing emergency."

'Everyone Should Have a Home' was entirely made and produced by Martin and the lyrics of the chorus are powerful: "Everyone should have a home, in this world, in this life it's a basic human right to have a dignified place you call your own. Safe and warm where you belong, everyone should have a home."

Martin shares his journey on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Martin's song can also be heard on YouTube.

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