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

The Government has been dragged kicking and screaming to implement some form of eviction ban. It has been dragged by pressure from the Opposition, by the growing housing movement, which will be seen on the streets again from 26 November with the Raise the Roof protest, and by the rising homeless numbers and the political pressure that puts on the Government. In that context, the Government says the thing it said was definitely not constitutional before is, all of a sudden, constitutional but, even when dragged and forced to do it, it cannot help but do it in the most minimal way possible, stitching in as many loopholes as it can for landlords to jump through.

One loophole, incredibly, is that in a cost-of-living crisis there is no protection for tenants who lose their jobs and are unable to pay. In the discussion around this in the media before the Bill was published, the Taoiseach and others spoke about those who wilfully refuse to pay not being protected but that is not what is contained here . This is not just about those who wilfully refuse to pay but anybody who cannot pay. Those who have an inability to pay are not protected and can be put on the streets this winter.

Another loophole concerns those who have already been served their eviction notices. I spent time in a woman's house the Monday before last. She got her eviction notice for that day. She is a young woman with four children and is in college studying psychology. She had tried everything to find somewhere else to stay but was unable to, like so many people, so I advised her, as others did, to overhold and tell the landlord she would not leave and make herself and her four kids homeless. She stayed there. The landlord is relatively understanding and said he will not try to evict her again before Christmas but, legally, there is nothing protecting Stephanie and her kids from eviction over this winter despite the fact the Government is introducing an eviction ban.

The other group not protected are those who have received notice now for later on, for example, the eviction notices given to the tenants of 35 apartments in Tathony House, Dublin 8, affecting about 100 people living in the block. The landlord says "I'm selling it" and has issued a notice to quit for the start of June. One renter, James O'Toole, has said he is terrified to go back into the rental market in Dublin with the limited supply available. He has lived in the building since 2009. Many other tenants are similar. The occupants are looking to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, to enforce the Tyrrelstown amendment, because it is a mass eviction, to stop it. However, there are loopholes in that amendment. The landlord is claiming, and this is a very rich landlord by all accounts, that preventing this mass eviction would cause hardship to the poor landlord. Therefore, the landlord is seeking to mass evict these people. The residents are not taking it lying down. They are protesting outside Dublin City Council on Wood Quay a 3 p.m. this Saturday, 29 October.

In particular, I call for the council in that situation and in Stephanie's situation to buy these properties and prevent people from being made homeless.

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