Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not quote myself. Instead, I will read from letters I have received. I will not use names, however, as I do not have people's permission to identify them. Many of them are well known to the city council, homeless services and, probably, other Deputies.

One woman wrote that she had been renting her home for ten years and had been served a notice to quit by her landlord, who intended to sell his property in April. She is out of work due to severe illness and is terrified of the precarious situation she is facing. Her days are filled with medical appointments with nephrologists, renal nurses, renal dietitians and others. Merely staying alive has been a battle in recent years, yet she is now facing homelessness as well. The additional stress and uncertainty this brings further impacts on her kidney disease. When she leaves her rental property, there will be no affordable alternatives within her HSE catchment area. This means she will lose access to her support services, which have kept her alive thus far.

Another woman has been on the housing list for 11 years. She is renting through HAP. Her landlord is moving into her home in May and has given her notice to quit. The original date was 17 March, but that has been extended to 1 May. She has two kids who are aged ten and eight years. She is sick of having to move them every two years and start all over again, making new friends and trying to have a social life.

Another woman has been on Dublin City Council's housing waiting list for 12 years. She is the mother of a 12-year-old son, living in private rented accommodation in Crumlin and in receipt of rent supplement. Her landlord plans to sell the property and has given her notice that she is to find alternative accommodation in the coming months. The Covid eviction ban meant she was able to stay on in the property when the landlord originally wanted to sell. Now, she is facing eviction.

I will finish with this letter. The person is getting terrible trouble from a landlord, who has solicitors and estate agents working to try to get the person out of the house. The person cannot take much more of this harassment. The person has two children – an eight-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter.

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