Our basic human right is to have a home
Starring as a homeless mother of four, Cork actress Sarah greene looked to her own parents for inspiration in gritty urban drama, rosie, shedding a light on Dublin’s housing crisis.
Written by roddy Doyle, director Paddy Breathnach deliberately avoids stereotypes in an effort to portray how homelessness is just one pay cheque away for many families faced with eviction when their landlords decide to sell their properties.
‘rosie doesn’t smoke, she doesn’t drink, she’s a good parent. We didn’t want to give audiences a reason to judge her – like if they’re spending money on that, how come they can’t afford… that sort of thing. People love to assign blame. they’re so quick to judge and accuse them of cheating the system. But this simply isn’t the case here,’ argues Sarah, 34, who stars as rosie Davis opposite Vikings star Moe Dunford.
While she and her younger sister were raised in comfort by their telecommunications worker father Harry and homemaker mother Marjie in Cork, Sarah appreciates that, behind the scenes, her childhood wasn’t always easy. ‘they’re great parents.
‘But i know that, growing up, there were probably some situations my parents were in where we were sometimes protected from the gravity of their situation. it’s only when you get older that you realise what a hard job your parents had and how they were so amazing,’ she says.
Speaking at the recent toronto international Film festival, Sarah told the irish Mail on Sunday that she hopes the film gets across the fact that homelessness is an all-too-common scenario in Dublin, even if the characters are fictitious.
‘Over 3,500 children are homeless at the moment in ireland; over 9,000 families and four families a day were made homeless in Dublin in July. they’re just such huge frightening numbers and it’s not getting any better, so hopefully this film will put some pressure on the government to set up something more permanent for people because our basic human right is to have a home.’