Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will support the continuation of the eviction ban. I have made this very clear from the word "go". I have a lot of sympathy, though, for those who have houses and are basically called landlords, which is a disgraceful name to call quite a lot of them. They are property owners and have a right to make a little profit, and most of them are making a loss.

What far outweighs their situation is the number of people who come to me in a terrible state with eviction letters. These are ordinary men and women, ordinary mothers and fathers who do not know where to turn. Unfortunately, this has been going on since I got elected here in 2016. We continue to talk about it but little or nothing has been done by successive governments. They have failed the people and, unfortunately, even if this ban is extended until January, nothing will change. These people will still be coming to me. I have one member of staff dealing full-time with council house issues. She said to me once that when a number of houses come up in choice-based letting, CBL, her phone will explode for the day and she will be in the office all day long, with people crying, "Please, give me the house because I am going to be evicted from the house I am in." That is the situation in which we find ourselves. I had a woman in my clinic the other day. I could not get her out because she was half an hour crying. I was quite sympathetic to her but, unfortunately, I can do nothing for her. I am trying my best to get her a house but she is desperate.

We have tabled a number of amendments, which I hope the Government will accept and which would protect and encourage the property owners to stay in the business. They are running from the crisis in which they find themselves.

There are parties in here that remind me a bit of "The Late Late Show". It is one for everyone in the audience. They think a house should be for everybody in the audience.

We have an issue here that is being continued by successive governments. They refuse to give people planning permission in my area. I have young couples coming to me who are willing and able to get loans but cannot even get planning permission. People in Barryroe, Timoleague and Ballydehob in the past week have been in the same situation. Out on Sherkin Island, there is one girl on her parents' land who spent €10,000 and was refused planning. We are shoving people into social housing. It is a crisis and this Government has continued to give only fake words for the past number of years.

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