Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

My question is on housing as well. A couple of weeks ago I raised with the Taoiseach the role of gardaí in illegal evictions. There was a very shocking piece on Twitter which Members may have seen. A Dr. Raheel was threatened with an illegal eviction by a very angry and violent landlord who used a chainsaw or some kind of a cutting mechanism, which looked pretty lethal, to get through the door and then threatened him and his family. When the gardaí were called, they said this eviction was a civil matter. I explained at the time that I had the same experience, mainly as a councillor. When illegal evictions were taking place and when you rang the gardaí, they said it was a civil matter. However, when is civil not civil when a landlord with an electric saw chases after a doctor's family or, as in the case I witnessed, when a bunch of thugs come with hacksaws, machetes, and hammers to evict two young men from a house in Kilmainham some years ago? These scenes will be repeated.

Given that the eviction ban has been lifted and that there is a lot of residual issues out there, will the Taoiseach clarify if new guidance, instructions and a protocol are to be given to gardaí to do more than to say to somebody who is frightened and terrified for their own life and the lives of their family members that this is a civil matter? I think the Garda Representative Association or one such body has already asked the Government to do this.

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