Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At this point, it has all been said. The position is very obvious. There have been considerable conversations about the absolute need for a ban on evictions. It is not foreseeable that this cannot be put in place. We must accept the situation in which we find ourselves. We can call it what we want but it is difficult not to call it an emergency and a crisis. We are dealing with a dysfunctional housing system and market. Once we accept that and see that people are under severe pressure, we must act accordingly. That means we need emergency action. This eviction ban for no-fault tenancies is an absolute requirement.

The figures for December showed that 11,632 people, including 3,442 children, were in emergency accommodation. Experts would say that if other cohorts were included, the figure would be close to 18,000. That does not even take into account all the people who are sofa surfing or homeless on the streets. We need to deal with this issue. That is a given. It needs to happen and there can be no excuses. I cannot see that any other argument can be made in that regard. Whatever about getting the Attorney General to check the lawfulness of an extension of the eviction ban, we need to ensure that we get secondary and even tertiary legal advice. This State has had no difficulty in going to bat against the people. It would do no harm for this State to go to bat for the people on this occasion.

My office is like every other office. We are inundated with calls from people for whom we cannot deliver. Councillor Kevin Meenan has been a councillor since 1999. He now spends most of his time dealing with Louth County Council's homeless services or rental agencies. I deal with them myself. At times, it is possible to get people through the gap but we are not realistically going to deal with these issues. We need to look at delivery. We are talking about new technologies, including 3D concrete printing and modular builds. We need those things to happen. Deputy Ó Broin and others spoke about the difficulties we face. We need to free up local authorities to allow them to purchase more homes. We need to professionalise the operation of the market altogether. That is before I talk about disability housing, assisted living and all those other requirements.

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