Responding to the issuing of an injunction against the occupiers of 34 North Fredrick Street on Tuesday 28th August, local Green Party representative and activist Neasa Hourigan called on north Dublin residents to turn out to support the campaign, which aims to highlight vacant homes and strategic dereliction in the city in face of rising rates of homelessness.

“We know that there are well over 4,000 vacant houses in Dublin at the moment. Many of these properties have been empty for considerable periods and are often owned as part of larger, land holdings by developers who can afford to hoard such sites to optimise their profit. The work that the Summerhill/Frederick Street Occupation is doing is invaluable in highlighting the damage that this type of speculation is wielding in our communities.”

“As the number of people homeless reaches almost 10,000 it is time for us to take a serious look at our legislation and constitutional principles on the provision of housing. Those involved in the creation of the state could not have envisioned that the protection of one’s home would become a pretext for the type of large scale, private profit portfolios that are now commonplace. The current status quo has resulted in record levels of child homelessness, the dereliction of our built environment and rising inequality.”

“Whether you are a student coming to coming to Dublin for the first time or a family forced out of an area where you have always lived, the current situation requires action. We call on activists, Green Party members and local groups to support the aims of the Summerhill Occupation and in particular to identify and communicate vacant and derelict homes around the country.”

Green Party Councillor Ciarán Cuffe, who represents the North Inner City ward on Dublin City Council, said:

“The last census in 2016 showed that more than 10% of the dwellings in Dublin’s North Inner City (3,518 out of 32,996) were vacant on census night. This is unacceptable during a housing crisis and the Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy TD must take action to bring these homes back into use for those most in need.”