Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for bringing this Bill forward. I listened to what previous speakers had to say. The one thing we must realise is that this is an emergency. In times of emergency, you think outside the box. It was mentioned previously that this is for the public good. It is for the public good. We all have people coming into our offices every day who are absolutely distraught. The knock-on effect of the crisis is that it is destroying families. It is also destroying marriages because people cannot cope with the stress. We cannot give them answers when they come into our offices, because there is nowhere to point them to. The mental health issues that are associated with the fear of being left homeless are skyrocketing. A tsunami was mentioned previously. We are going to be facing a tsunami if we do not extend the eviction ban. As many speakers have said, this gives the Minister a window of opportunity to try to address the issue and see where we can go from here. There is no point in setting a date and a cliff edge and saying that it is it, and we are going back to normal, and incidentally, some people will be homeless. It just will not work.

Another issue is that young families are just leaving the country. Yesterday, I spoke on apprenticeships and I said that of the 28 people in my son's class, he said goodbye to the last four two weeks ago. There does not seem to be any vision in this country. I have often said, in this House, that we should have one of the best countries in the world. We are the fifth richest country per capitain the world, and yet we have a chronic situation where people cannot rent a property even if they can find one. If they get one, they cannot afford it. There is no security of tenure when it comes to owning a home anymore. It feels like there is no vision. When we were growing up, we were a family that did not lave a lot, like many others. One person in the family went to work and the mother stayed at home and reared the family and it could be done. Now, families have two parents and two kids going to work and there is no possibility of them owning a home or renting a place because it is too expensive. I urge the Minister and the Government to support this side of the House and look at the issue collectively. It is an emergency and we have to extend the ban. We must find alternative solutions or else we will be facing a tsunami of evictions in this country.

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