Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This afternoon, the Dáil will vote on the Government's decision to lift the eviction ban in nine days' time. Every Deputy has a clear choice to make: to back a Government decision that will escalate the unprecedented housing emergency or to protect working families, single people and pensioners who, because of this decision, will lose the roof over their heads. I ask the Taoiseach again: where are people meant to go? Where are the 3,000 households whose eviction notices will kick in from 1 April meant to go? It is a question he dodges because he knows the answer. They have nowhere to go. Nothing the Government has announced in recent days changes that reality for people. Two weeks ago, the Government confirmed that it would remove the eviction ban with no plan in place. Then it cobbled together a list of previously announced measures. Then it changed tack again, hastily adopting other measures simply to get votes. The Government is scrambling all over the place but remains unable to answer the one fundamental question: where are people to go in nine days' time?

The Taoiseach has heard the stories of those who will be evicted as result of the Government's decision - the woman with stage 4 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, on constant oxygen, the mother going through chemotherapy and the family who will lose their home of 15 years and who have found nowhere else despite searching for months. The Government should therefore be in no doubt but that its decision and the vote today will have real consequences for real people. On the Government's watch, we have the most serious housing emergency in the history of the State. Nearly 12,000 people are homeless. More than 3,000 of our children are growing up in emergency accommodation and, now, because of the Government's decision to lift the eviction ban, 3,000 more households are looking that harrowing experience in the eye.

The Taoiseach says that nothing would change in the time an extension to the eviction ban would buy. That, in reality, is the Government admitting that it will not tackle the housing emergency with the urgency it requires. The Government is conceding that it is out of ideas and that it has thrown in the towel. The policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil created and deepened this crisis. Tens of thousands are trapped in a private rental nightmare, living with crushing insecurity and with no hope of getting a deposit together and no real chance to buy their own place. They are a generation locked out of home ownership by the failures of government. People have lived with this crisis for far too long. They have had enough of the excuses. They know that housing can be fixed, but it will not be fixed by a tired, jaded Government that has thrown in the towel.

Tá mé ag impí ar gach Teachta Dála tacaíocht a thabhairt do rún Shinn Féin an cosc ar dhíshealbhú a shíneadh amach go dtí mí Eanáir na bliana seo chugainn. Caithfidh an Rialtas an t-am seo a úsáid le dul i ngleic leis na fadhbanna tithíochta a dhéanfadh difríocht cheart. By lifting the eviction ban, the Government and those who back it are choosing to escalate a housing crisis that is already out of control. They are choosing to make people homeless. I appeal to every Deputy to stand with Ireland's renters and to face down this horrendous decision. I ask the Taoiseach again to do the right thing: to reverse this cruel decision and extend the eviction ban.

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