Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Once people enter into homelessness, it is very hard to get out of it. I will respond to something the Taoiseach said earlier. I have raised multiple cases, including that of a woman who is working, ironically, looking after vulnerable children, who has been in homeless accommodation and sharing a bedroom with her son for four years. That is what happens when people enter homelessness, in many cases. It is very hard to get out of it. It is absolutely imperative that the Government stops as many people ending up in that situation as possible, when they have done nothing wrong.

Let us be clear. While the eviction ban was in place, homelessness continued to increase but at a much slower rate. There was a 0.4% increase in children going into homelessness in November, but it was 2.9% last month. In other words, it had more than quadrupled in the first month the Government lifted the eviction ban. To add to that, as I said, there are now landlords who are refusing tenant in situpurchases. Even though they are getting the right to evict on the grounds they are selling, when the council asks whether they will sell to prevent a family getting evicted they say, "No", because they can make more money by evicting people. It is absolute greed.

Will the Government recognise that lifting the ban has made the situation worse and give teeth to purchases under the tenant in situ scheme to prevent people going into homelessness?

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