Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the plight of dozens of families I am dealing with on housing alone on a weekly basis in my constituency. In the majority of cases, landlords are seeking repossession because they are supposedly selling their properties or they or a family member are moving back in. Assuming proper notice is served and the RTB is satisfied, tenants are left with no alternative but to seek another rental property, which is almost impossible, or to go homeless.

The other new homeless are those in mortgage distress who have exhausted every avenue to remain in their homes with little or no support from the State. In such cases it is galling that they later find out that their homes have been sold at a knockdown price to some vulture fund, bank or agency. I recently encountered a case involving a woman with three children, one of them with a serious disability. She had been served notice to quit as the landlord was selling the house and needed vacant possession. This woman is at her wits' end and on the point of breakdown because she cannot find another property and faces the real prospect of going homeless.

The scandal of NAMA selling off properties and landbanks is a crime against the people. It will go down in history as contributing to the humanitarian disaster that has led to the housing and homelessness crisis we are now experiencing. The Minister needs to stop that. It is obvious that since the Celtic tiger period the building of social housing has come to a standstill. The lesson from this is that we need to ramp up the building of social and affordable housing.

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