Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Government's decision to lift the ban on evictions is absolutely unforgivable. Rather than engaging in constant deflection, justification and enunciating the Government's supposed successes in housing policy or its plans for the future, the Tánaiste needs to very simply tell the people who are facing homelessness what they are going to do. Most of the people who are facing eviction want to remain anonymous because they are scared, humiliated and terrified of the consequences of their situation for their children. I will cite a few examples but will not disclose the identities of the people involved.

Jackie, whose case have I brought up previously, her husband and her two children will be in court yet again tomorrow, facing eviction from the home they have lived in all of their lives. They are above the income thresholds and are not entitled to HAP or to social housing and are deemed ineligible for the purchase of their home under the tenant in situ scheme. Let us call the next case Jackie 2. This Jackie is a mother of three who has an eviction date of mid-April. She has been on the housing list for 13 years. Where is she supposed to go? Let us call the next case Jackie 3. This Jackie has an eviction date in the next couple of months. She is in a RAS tenancy and has been trying to get the council to buy her home but has no guaranteed commitment that this will happen. The next case is that of Jackie 4 whose eviction date is in May. She is in a HAP tenancy but the council said that the house is too expensive and too big for her. She is in a three-bedroom house but has, according to council, only a two-bedroom need although she uses the extra bedroom to work from home. The council will not buy the house. In the next case, Jackie 5 has an eviction date of 1 April. Her landlord, who is a major landlord and developer, is selling all of his houses and according to her, he is doing so because he plans to invest in building apartments. The council will not look at buying the house because she is "over-housed". That is to say, she has a two-bedroom need according to the council but is living in a three-bedroom house. What does the Tánaiste have to say to Jackie 1, Jackie 2, Jackie 3, Jackie 4 and Jackie 5, and the 2,000 to 3,000 other Jackies, on the day after International Women's Day? What has he got to say to them? Where are they supposed to go? There is nothing being offered to them. There are no options available and the private rental accommodation out there is absolutely unaffordable for all of those people.

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