Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to hear that the Minister is supporting this motion and is certainly allowing it to go through. The purpose of this proposed amending legislation is to provide an increased level of protection for those at risk of homelessness following an eviction notice to prevent their entry into emergency accommodation. Just this evening, at 6 o’clock an email came through and the person said:

I was wondering if you could help me. I have been sofa-surfing on my friend’s sofa with my one-year-old daughter. I sleep in my friend’s house the odd time but they are both overcrowded and unfortunately I can no longer stay in either places. I tried getting on to the council but unfortunately they are unable to help me get into emergency accommodation. They keep telling me that they will contact me and still nothing. It is a week before Christmas and I am really worried that I am going to be on the streets for Christmas.

It is completely heartbreaking for a mother and her child to be going around the streets of Dublin fearing that they are going to be homeless for Christmas and relying on their friends and neighbours, and people that they know, to keep them in accommodation.

I also looked at accommodation for Dublin 15 just before I came here. There were 32 units available on Daft.ie. Not a single one of those housing units was available for any of the HAP limits that are in place at the moment. If a person is homeless or at risk of homelessness in Dublin 15 at the moment, he or she has absolutely nowhere to go except homeless accommodation and even at that, people are struggling to get through.

It is therefore no surprise that homelessness among adults and children has increased in each of the past four months. Overall, there are only 190 properties available under the standard or discretionary limit in at least one of the four categories that were available. This represents a decrease of 79% on the 906 properties that were available within at least one HAP category in the June study. That decrease is directly related to the dramatic rise in notices to quit since the Government lifted the ban on such notices.

As I have said, this Bill is a small but important change to the Residential Tenancies Act and is supported by the five Opposition groups. I would again like to commend the Simon Community, like everybody else has here today. I ask the Government to allow this to go through but to go further by enacting the measures required to help families and individuals and stem this homelessness crisis.

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