Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

In many cases it is not genuine. The provision for six months' compensation aims to flush out the landlords who put that forward as a false reason. We also think that six months' compensation is not unreasonable. Finding alternative accommodation is very difficult for a young family with children. It is very expensive. The inconvenience that this family is put to by being forced to move out to make way for a relative is worthy of compensation. We can debate what the level of compensation should be. We feel that six months' rent is not unreasonable. The principle of compensation for a tenant who has been asked to quit the premises is not unheard of internationally. In the Netherlands, the state provides for compensation for tenants in this situation and in other circumstances. We would argue that case.

Deputy O'Dowd asked about the number of evictions that take place. The data provided by Threshold, the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, and Focus Ireland provides some sense of it, if not a precise figure. Focus Ireland says that 69% of homeless families report that their last stable home was in the private rental sector. We can imagine that the vast bulk of them did not voluntarily evict themselves into homelessness. There was a degree of-----