Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On the face of it, I support this Bill as it will ban evictions during the level 5 lockdown. The Bill's title states that Covid-19 “will impede the ability of tenants to find alternative accommodation” and mentions the “consequent impact on the well-being of persons and families”. Since when have the mental health impacts of secure housing been a concern of Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael? Their housing policies have been set up over many decades to reduce the availability of affordable housing, destabilise the private rental sector through rent supplement payments, and allow vulture funds and private investment companies to profit from our overinflated rental market. Basically, they have commodified this essential and basic human right.

Focus Ireland, Barnardos, the Children’s Rights Alliance, the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, and many more have highlighted the long-term mental health effects of homelessness and housing insecurity on children. We might not be talking about our housing and homelessness crisis all the time at the moment, but we have not forgotten it either. I have told the Minister about our hidden homelessness issues in Donegal. The most recent figures from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government on family homelessness are for the week of 24–30 August 2020. Where are the September figures? During that week in August, there were 1,120 homeless families with 2,620 dependants.

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