Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
Tenant In Situ Process: Discussion
Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Yes. The point Ms Farrelly made on scale is key. In ten days' time, the ban on evictions will be lifted, and in April, May and June, we will see people being evicted.
The question now is whether people overstay or whether they leave on the date. Put it this way, if my family was facing eviction on 1 April, I would not be leaving. I would not leave that house and go with my wife and daughters to the Simon Community. That is what people are facing. Families are being broken up. Families are going back to live with their parents and grandparents. The local authorities are talking about the tenant in situ scheme. We are talking about four months. I recognise that delivery in four months is probably a reasonable timeframe, if not even a good timeframe, compared to other local authorities' property acquisitions in the past. I am from the Cork North-Central area. In Cork, there are 500 individuals or families with notices to quit, according to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. That is 1,050, if not 2,000 people. How are they going to be delivered with the tenantin situ scheme as it is now? If there had been a ban on evictions until next January, that would have given everyone the time to deliver the tenantin situ scheme. It is not going to be delivered in ten days. My worry is that we will see people overstaying, moving in with their parents or grandparents and families will be broken up. Ms Farrelly said there was some additional staffing. How many? Is there a figure?