A BANDON-based musician who has held a weekly housing protest outside the gates of Leinster House for the past four years is to stand it down on its 200th week at the end of March.

Martin Leahy, who released ‘Everyone Should Have A Home’ in 2022, has been getting the bus to Dublin once a week for his demonstration hail, rain or snow.

Having faced the prospect of homelessness himself when his former landlord was selling the house Martin was living in, he was inspired to write the song which has become an anthem for those who are homeless.

Martin, who played at Bandon Folk Club’s second birthday last weekend, said: ‘I’m finishing it because it takes up a lot of my time and there is the cost factor going up and down every Thursday.

It’s doable but it’s probably time to stop.

‘I’ve met so many people outside the Dáil over the past four years and it was all about highlighting homelessness and the housing crisis.’

Martin’s final protest outside Leinster House will be on Thursday March 26th and it will be marked with plenty music and speeches by people representing various groups, and Opposition politicians who have supported him over the past four years.

Ironically, he announced his intention to end his protest as a record 17,112 people, including 5,319 children, were recorded as homeless and accessing emergency accommodation at the end of January 2026.

Two years ago singer Christy Moore recorded Martin’s song ‘Snowflakes’ for his album ‘A Terrible Beauty’.

His latest song ‘The Death of Adrian Moynihan (The Green Leafy Shade) highlights the death of the Cork city man outside a nightclub 25 years ago.