Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome this Bill, it does not go far enough. The least the Minister could have done would have been to give renters some certainty over Christmas and into the new year. We all know that most landlords will not evict tenants over the Christmas period but there will be a tsunami of notices to quit in the new year, as there is every year. It will be a lot worse this year, however, as a result of Covid. Many people are in very difficult situations. We in Sinn Féin would have extended this ban for another six months. At the end of August, 8,702 people were on the homeless list. This will not get any better over the winter. Covid has proven just how chaotic our housing system is. If we are to learn anything and to build a better society, it is up to this Government to start building State-funded, low-cost and affordable housing for ordinary workers to allow them to grow families and build proper communities with community services and facilities which will, in turn, allow people to prosper, to reach their potential and to have a decent quality of life, saving the State money in the long term.

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