CATU News - Week 22

A chairde,

CATU Dún Laoghaire are leading an eviction defence tomorrow (Friday) in support of fellow member, Kevin, who is being threatened with an illegal eviction.

Any members who can make it to Dún Laoghaire are asked to meet at 12:00 at the Purty Kitchen on the Old Dunleary Road.

Kevin doesn't have anywhere else to go and has asked the landlord for an extra nine months in his home to allow him to find alternative accommodation, but has gotten no response. Tomorrow’s action aims to prevent Kevin being forced out of his home. We need to a strong show of support to show the landlord and letting agent that they shouldn't try anything on Friday or any other time in the coming months.

Click HERE for directions to the Purty Kitchen.

The Dún Laoghaire branch will also be having their usual monthly meeting this evening at 19:30 in Mounttown Community Centre. Plans for tomorrow’s actions will be finalised along with discussion on other ongoing branch work.

This Saturday, June 1st, CATU Limerick and CATU Cork will stage bank holiday actions with a view to gaining momentum around the housing movement ahead of the upcoming local and European elections.

The Limerick protest will kick off at 15:00 on Bedford Row, while the Cork location is yet to be announced - but you can keep an eye HERE for further details.

Regardless of who you will be voting for in the upcoming elections, we need to make sure our politicians are held accountable for the unacceptable housing conditions and standards that affect everyone living in Ireland.

Bhí crinniú ag CATU Gallimh le Conradh na Gaeilge an tseachtain seo chaite. Rinne siad dteagmháil linn tar éis an píosa an rinne muid faoi Airbnb do 7 lá ar TG4 a fheiceáil. Bhí crinniú dearfach againn maidir lena féidearthachtaí comhoibriú atá eadrainn. Bhí cómhrá againn maidir leis an dochor atá á dhéanamh ag Airbnb ar chúrsaí tithíochta chomh maith leis an dteanga sa Ghealtacht. D’aontaigh muid go mbeadh sé go maith feachtas a chur le chéile maidir le Airbnb in éindí le grúpaí eile. Má tá suim ag aon craobhacha eile a bheith páirteach sa feachtas seo bígí i dteagmháil le CATU Gallimh [email protected] 

CATU Galway had a meeting with Conradh na Gaeilge last week. They got in contact with us after seeing our short piece on TG4’s current affairs show 7 Lá. We had a positive first meeting discussing potential work we could do together. One main point of discussion was about the damage Airbnb is having on the housing situation in the Gaeltacht areas, not to mention the knock on effect that has on the Irish language in the area. We agreed it could be a good idea to look at doing a wider campaign aimed at Airbnb along with some other locals groups.

If any other branches or members would like to get involved in campaign get in contact with CATU Galway [email protected]

Sticking with Galway (and the surrounding areas), we now officially have a Connacht Organiser! Jane, who had previously been covering the non-Dublin parts of Leinster, has relocated to provide support to our Galway, Sligo and Mayo branches and help facilitate the establishment of groups in other parts of the province.

We have experienced rapid membership growth in Connacht this year and with Galway specifically now the 2nd most expensive place to rent in Ireland, the need to get organised has never been greater.

If you’re a Connacht based member and would like to discuss local organising, feel free to drop Jane a line at [email protected] 

On Saturday, June 8th, a Comms Training event will take place which all members are welcome to attend. The training will include a workshop with the current Belfast comms team, a strategy building session and a recap on the importance of strong messaging.

The event will run from 10:30 to 16:00 and you can register your interest in attending HERE.

Action at Department of Transport - Friday 7th June @ 3.30

Dublin 4 Gaza alongside other groups has been campaigning for an end to the transport of weapons through Shannon airport, given US support for Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza. On Friday, June 7th they are organising another action as part of this campaign to demand the Dept of Transport inspect US military planes passing through Shannon. The meeting point is the Wolfe Tone statue in Stephen’s Green, Dublin at 15.30. Full details will be shared on the day. Please come and support if you can.

It was great to see members from branches across Dublin’s northside at last Saturday’s Housing Action event. After kicking off with a know your rights workshop, we held a public meeting to discuss the direction and methods of our renewed No Evictions campaign, followed finally by a social.

The next step is to put some of the ideas from those discussions into action. To that end, the next CATU Phibsboro-Glasnevin meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 4th at 18:00 in Casa México, 35 Phibsboro Rd. Keep an eye on the WhatsApp branch chat for the agenda.

In Solidarity_,

Naoise Faogáin
National Administrator
Community Action Tenants Union - CATU Ireland
www.catuireland.org