Damien Dempsey, Kojaque and Shiv are among the artists who will perform at Artists Against Homelessness at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin on April 17.
EFÉ, Curtisy, Ahmed, With Love and Negro Impacto will also play at the show which is in aid of Focus Ireland and curated by Dublin rapper Kojaque, who sang about homelessness and housing on his acclaimed 2021 album Town's Dead.
Speaking about playing at the gig, which is now in its eighth year and organised by The Sunday Independent, Zimbabwe-born artist Shiv said,
"The issue of homelessness in Ireland is one that simply shouldn’t exist and can be prevented with the right intervention from government," he says.
"However, it’s not something that I have felt is in the interest of our government, which is why charities like Focus Ireland and events such as this one is so important. They offer hope to those most in need of it."
Speaking about playing at the gig, which is now in its eighth year and organised by The Sunday Independent, Zimbabwe-born artist Shiv said, 'It is incredibly disheartening to know that with over 8000 homeless people in Ireland, a quarter of whom are children, over 200,000 houses remain vacant in Ireland."
"There are 2,500 children who are homeless with their families, and most lost their homes in the rental sector due to rocketing rents, insecurity of tenure and the rising cost of living.
"Rents have now passed the peak of the Celtic Tiger and when linked to the spiralling cost of living this has left many thousands of families and individuals at a tipping point between home and homelessness.
"Focus Ireland work hard every day to help prevent people from losing their homes and these services are needed now more than ever.'
Tickets are now on sale priced at €30.00 (phone and online bookings are subject to service charge) from www.ticketmaster.ie.
Pat Dennigan, Focus Ireland CEO said, "This is the eighth year of our gig with the Sunday Independent and it will be great that the gig is back live in the Olympia, this year as last year’s event with Pillow Queens, Tolu Makay, Wyvern Lingo and Aslan was streamed online due to Covid restrictions.
"Focus Ireland needs to raise nearly 40% of our annual budget through donations and events like this so we really need people to support this great event again this year.
"It is going to be an amazing event and one that will give a voice to people who are homeless and others we have helped to secure a home to tell some of their own stories and show it is possible to end homelessness."
