Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have been listening to the Minister and other Government Deputies and Ministers on the radio and television during the week trying to defend the indefensible action of not extending this eviction ban. They are far disconnected from the reality of what it is like to be homeless. Do any of them know what it is like to be homeless and to experience that trauma? Do they know what it is like to not have a roof over your head or a place to call home? I know what it is like and it was through no fault of my own. The Minister talks about Sinn Féin not defending landlords but I had a really good and responsible landlord. My landlord was living somewhere else and his rent went up through no fault of his own and he had to sell the property I was living in. He gave me the appropriate notice to quit - he was a good landlord - and that gave me the time to go and start looking for accommodation somewhere else. I joined the hundreds of people who were at viewings. I was lucky that I did not have to bring my children with me because I co-parent but I saw families bringing their children into these homes, hoping that they would be the one lucky family that was chosen to rent that accommodation. It is horrific to ever see anything like that. I was working. I am one of these people who gets up early in the morning and I still found myself in this situation. I was a good tenant and I had a good landlord.

I only spoke about this for the first time a couple of years ago because I felt shame. That is not my shame but it is shame on the policies that the Minister and the Government have inflicted on people. Anybody who is here today or who is listening to this who feels the shame of becoming homeless because of the Government's decision, that is not their shame but it is the shame of the Government and the Government has to own that shame. It is really difficult as somebody who co-parents - and I am speaking about myself on this issue - to maintain a relationship with your children when you are going through that. There will be loads of single fathers like myself who would have been in that situation, who may find themselves in emergency accommodation like I did and who may find themselves having to go sofa-surfing. Let me tell the Minister what sofa-surfing is; it is not an ideal place. Sofa-surfing makes you feel like you are imposing on people, like you are in the way and like you are getting charity off people. That is the reality of it and you are trying to put down roots for your children at the same time.

The Minister, the Government backbenchers and the Independent Deputies to my right have a chance to vote the right way tomorrow. I invite them to take that chance because the Dáil record will be there forever and people will not forgive them.

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