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

As Deputies Ó Broin and Gould have said, Sinn Féin will be supporting this Bill. However, it is a pity that the Government has been dragged kicking and screaming to this point. The notice to quit file in my office has in recent months filled up at an alarming rate.

Moreover, from the speeches that have been made on a daily basis in this Chamber, I know it is the same for every other Deputy.

Families with young children on notices to quit, many of whom are in receipt of HAP, are presenting to my office on a weekly basis. They are in absolute fear as they face homelessness due to the lack of social and affordable homes and emergency accommodation in the Dublin 15 area. In fact, there are zero such homes available. Can we end this nonsense that people on HAP are deemed to be socially housed? They are not. They have absolutely no security of tenure and that is the essence of a person being socially housed.

Many of these are families are in circumstances where they have lived and reared their families in their home for many years. Their children are settled in the area with their school and friends. They play sports, are involved in dancing and have family living all around them. They have a full support base and their lives are rooted in these areas. They grew up in and lived and worked there and now they face homelessness and, particularly in Dublin 15, they have to move away from their own community because there are zero places to rent and there is no homeless accommodation available.

They face the daily grind of having to move out of Dublin 15, in many cases to unsuitable accommodation. This can be coupled with two bus rides to get their children to school every day, no proper facilities to prepare a home-cooked meal upon their return and no proper bedrooms for the children to play. When I was working for Tusla, one of the most heartbreaking pieces that I had to deal with on a regular basis was bringing children to a family resource centre for them to have their birthday party or any type of celebration, be it communion or confirmation. That is the reality of people living in homeless accommodation and it is completely heartbreaking.

The Bill needs to be enacted as soon as possible to provide for those who may be facing eviction this winter. The despair and fear of any family looking at homelessness this close to Christmas must be incredible. In fact, the fear at any time of the year is appalling.

Many people are saying that this is fine and that we have a short break up to the winter but what will happen after that? The Housing for All strategy on social and affordable housing has failed miserably. As for the statistics that were read out here today, on every metric the Government has failed to deal with the housing crisis.

In the case of people who are not in breach of their obligations and who through no fault of their own have been issued a notice to quit; what are their prospects now? What is the availability of a social or affordable home or short-term emergency accommodation in their community? It is not likely, because the Government's housing strategy will not provide either in the short term and certainly not when this eviction Bill ends.

Section 2 of this Bill allows for landlords to evict a family for overcrowding. Again, as has already been said, this is wrong and this provision has to be removed. When a family has initially rented the property - this happens quite often when people will be staying in the property and are quite happy to stay there - they may have a family of one, two or three children, depending on family size. If they are on HAP, they will only be given property for one-bed or two-bed accommodation, if that is what their need is. They may then have another child. Those people are facing eviction now. If an unscrupulous landlord wishes to do that, the Government has given them the get-out clause to do so. This is unfortunate and this must be removed.

I also ask the Minister of State to accept the Sinn Féin amendment on property holders who themselves are in danger of homelessness. I am currently dealing with one constituent who is a doctor and who has moved back home after a number of years away. He is currently living in a hotel and is unable to get back into a house. We need to provide support for the person who is in the house, as well as providing support for the person who is trying to get back into their own home. That is something that has been missed at the moment.

This Bill brings a short-term solution and a small breathing space for families facing homelessness but it is not a long-term solution. That is what I and people fear in the coming months.

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