Dublin Housing Action Committee

The Dublin Housing Action Committee was a 1960s protest group in response to housing shortages in Ireland's capital city.

The group arose in response to a serious shortage of affordable housing, combined with a large number of properties standing empty. It also functioned as a way for a broad range of left-wing actors in the Republic of Ireland to address themselves to a wider audience. This came at a time when Northern Ireland was still relatively peaceful, and a renewed IRA campaign would have seemed very unlikely.

The Secretary of the committee was Dennis Dennehy (then a member of the Irish Communist Organisation). He had been imprisoned for squatting and also went on hunger strike. After a large protest, he was released from prison and went on to help support an extensive program of squatting in private-owner properties.

Denis Dennehy's position as secretary was taken over by another homeless member Eamonn O'Fearghail, who along with other families was squatting in private property on Pembroke Road, opposite the American Embassy. He remained in that location until the eviction of the families from the two houses some years later. This major garda operation saw shields used by the force for the first time.

This action and the employment of the new Forcible Entry Act, signaled the end of the DHAC's campaign of housing homeless families in empty private houses.

Other prominent members were Sean MacStiofain (who would later join "Provisional" Sinn Féin after its 1970 split), Seán Ó Cionnaith, Proinsias De Rossa, and Eamonn McKenna (1936-2011) who would join the Official Sinn Féin faction, Michael O'Riordan,Mairin de Burca, Sam Nolan,Margaret Gaj, Bernard Brown (served as Chairman) and Fr. Austin Flannery.

The DHAC called for a housing emergency to be declared, a prohibition on demolishing sound living accommodation, and an immediate halt to the building of prestige office blocks.

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