Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

From listening to the Taoiseach's earlier statements, it is clear that even he has lost faith in the ability of the Government to deal with the housing crisis. Out of one side of his mouth, last January he said things could be even worse, but out of the other side comes the Government's policies we are all supposed to be reassured by. The Government knows its policies are not working and that it is not taking sufficient actions to make a dent in this housing crisis.

In 11 days from now, thousands of people will face losing their homes, and people with disabilities, those who are ill or elderly, and families with autistic children will be affected by this. The Government had five months to put emergency measures in place but it has not stepped up to the mark. There has been a €1 billion housing underspend since 2019. The first refusal to buy proposal is a joke. Ordinary people have no chance of being able to afford to buy houses, especially those paying high rents. Where is the legislation that is ready to expand the tenant in situscheme to approved housing bodies? Dublin City Council bought only 25 properties from January 2022 to March 2023 under the scheme. According to the assistant chief executive of Dublin City Council, the total number of TISs acquired since January 2022 to March 2023 was 25. He went on to say that the total number of inquiries relating to the TIS scheme between January 2022 and March 2023 was 322. Everybody is giving out misinformation. Those details are from the chief housing executive manager. I do not know where the resources or staff will be found to ramp up the scheme.

I listened to Mr. Pat Greene from Dublin Simon Community last Thursday, who said no one knows what will happen on 1 April. He said Dublin Simon Community does not have the resources or any emergency accommodation. I do not believe the measures the Minister announced will make a real difference to anyone losing their tenancy or home next month. People facing eviction do not have time to wait for a budget or for the Government to get its act together on all these new promises. In my constituency office, we have seen all sorts of problems with the Government's existing schemes, such as valuations that differ between the landlord and council.We dealt with two tenants living in one council area, South Dublin County Council, who are on the Dublin City Council housing list. Mercy Law Resource Centre was mentioned, which has also come up against this problem. We have landlords who do not understand how much they will save on legal fees if they sell to the council. The system as it stands is just not ready to face the strain the Government is about to put on it.

At least one family a day comes into my constituency office with a notice to quit. Where are they supposed to go? Our emergency accommodation is at breaking point. The Government has failed to provide nearly enough new places for the thousands of people who will face eviction into homelessness. The Government is leaving thousands of people with nowhere to go. It is forcing people to have to overhold. All we have to tell people if they are facing eviction into homelessness is to keep paying their rent and keep their lease agreement, but two weeks before they are due to be evicted they should write to their landlord to state they will overhold. The issue will then have to be brought to the RTB system. Anything else is illegal eviction. It is not much and does not solve the problem the Government has created but it will buy tenants a couple more months with a roof over their heads. If people are facing eviction into homelessness and have nowhere to go, they should not leave until they have a court order. My office will help people who have to do this. Threshold, and any decent Deputy or councillor, will help them. If they do not, people will know whose side they are on.

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