Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Last year, we launched a Bill to implement a complete ban on evictions and rent increases during the pandemic. The Government rejected that and instead adopted a piecemeal approach of banning evictions under certain conditions while the 5 km limit persisted. Now we have the potential lifting of the limit, which poses the possibility of opening the floodgates on a large number of evictions. Even worse, the Government's Bill that will be before the House today proposes to water down the protections for tenants who fall into rent arrears during the pandemic. It is a move that Threshold warns will cause considerable confusion and distress to a significant cohort of private renters.

What does the Taoiseach say to those who are looking at the possibility of the lifting of the 5 km limit and not thinking that it means they can go 10 km or travel across the county, but that they might be evicted as a result? What will the Government do to avoid a wave of evictions? Will it agree to extend the eviction ban beyond being linked to the 5 km limit? Will it agree to adopt the approach that we set out previously to halt evictions and rent increases completely while the pandemic persists?

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