A self-employed single mother from Caherciveen has racked up almost a thousand signatures for a petition calling for election candidates to take action on empty homes.
Lisa O’Shea’s petition, which was started on the Upliftt platform, was signed by 987 people in less than 24 hours, showing huge public support for bringing empty homes back into use.
O’Shea is currently facing eviction from a dwelling in Caherciveen where she and her daughter have lived for 15 years.
“I want to buy a house but I can’t find anywhere. All the while, our town is awash with empty houses,” she said.
“There are no neighbours and no communities. There are no kids out playing anymore. Meanwhile, families like mine are desperately looking for somewhere to live”.
She said with a general election coming up, if she can get thousands of people signing, it will show candidates that turning empty houses into homes needs to be their number one priority if they get elected.
Saoirse McHugh, campaigner at Uplift, said: “No matter who we are or where we come from, we all need a home where we can sleep at night, knowing that tomorrow we will wake up feeling secure.
“Far too many of us are living on edge, not knowing where we’ll live month to month, year to year. All the while thousands of homes lie empty and unused in every community across Ireland. We have so much space for everyone but can’t use it”.
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