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

I have had contact from a woman with a young family who is a healthcare worker in my constituency. She is facing eviction from a rental accommodation scheme, RAS, tenancy in Meath on 31 May. Meath County Council has told her it will stop the RAS payments if she overholds, that she needs to leave the home on the date of the termination and that she needs to find a housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancy because there is nowhere to house the family. I have email evidence of that from the council.

It is near impossible to find anywhere to live right now. This woman and her kids have nowhere to go. As the Taoiseach knows, RAS tenants are deemed as having been housed, so it is the responsibility of the council to house them in the event of notices to quit. My office has dealt with many cases of this with Dublin County Council. It has continued the RAS payments when a tenant is overholding and it leaves overholding as a matter for the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, to determine, although the council has a responsibility to house the tenant. Will the Taoiseach ensure that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage standardises Dublin City Council's approach in order that no councils will be in any way complicit in evictions into homelessness? Will his Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Party councillors on Meath County Council support that?

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