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

The Sinn Féin Bill before the Dáil is one last chance to stop thousands from losing their homes. Our legislation to extend the eviction ban buys the Government the time needed to use emergency powers to create necessary capacity and safety nets for vulnerable renters. The Bill, based on the Government's own legislation passed last October, will protect those facing eviction and homelessness in the coming weeks. If passed, it would be legally binding on the Oireachtas and would force Government to act. This Bill provides every Member of the Dáil the opportunity to state, through a vote on legislation, where they stand and to vote to protect working families, single people and pensioners from losing their homes, or to vote to evict them into the prospect of homelessness.

At the eleventh hour, the Government puts down an amendment. It does this not to improve outcomes for people but to prevent a straight, substantive and binding vote on a decision that spells disaster for so many. It is a deeply cynical move that demonstrates again that this Government disregards the trauma and devastation facing people from Saturday on. Digging in and refusing to allow a straight, substantive vote on the eviction ban shows that this Government is all over the place, scrambling to defend an indefensible decision. The truth is that this Government has put more energy into ducking this vote than it has into providing a credible answer to the fundamental question, which remains: where are people to go?

Last night, my colleague, Deputy Denise Mitchell, raised the case of a woman in her 70s who faces eviction. Can the Taoiseach fathom the stress this woman is going through, facing homelessness in her golden years? Is this really where we are now? Where is that woman to go? Or the mother of three children facing eviction from the middle of April who is at her wits' end, worrying about how she tells her children that they are out in a matter of weeks: “Pack your toys, your schoolbooks into bin liners. Pack up your memories. We must go.” How on earth do you tell a child that their home is no longer their home?

Can any member of the Government answer this question? Can any Deputy who backs this cruel decision answer this question? I think not. I know they cannot because this is the reality of lifting the eviction ban without having effective measures in place. They have no plan that will make a lick of difference to those who are at risk of losing their homes from 1 April onwards. The clock is ticking down and they are playing with people’s lives.

Is tubaiste uafásach é do na mílte teaghlach atá ag obair, daoine singil agus pinsinéirí deireadh an cosc ar dhíshealbhú. Is é Bille Shinn Féin an t-aon bhealach le stop a chur leis na mílte daoine atá chun a dtithe a chailleadh. Ba cheart don rialtas stop ag obair in éadan an réiteach, athchinneadh a dhéanamh agus an cosc ar dhíshealbhú a shíneadh amach.

I will put it to the Taoiseach one last time before Saturday, before it is too late. Do not lift this vital protection for thousands of renters. Do not escalate a housing and homelessness crisis that is already out of control. Buy the much-needed time to do what is necessary to protect vulnerable renters. I am asking the Taoiseach to keep the ban in place until the end of January.

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