Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

That is cold comfort to the 12,441 people who are homeless now. The Minister made the point, which is true, that the staggered nature of the ending of the eviction ban has had an impact. It meant we did not have the tsunami in one fell swoop. That is true, but we in the Opposition never said it would come in one fell swoop. I am not an expert in tsunamis, but I get the impression they build and build, a qualitative point is reached and then they overwhelm people. That is what I am experiencing in terms of people coming into my constituency clinics with eviction notices coming up in the next six or nine months. Almost 5,000 eviction notices were issued in the first quarter of this year. This is going to get worse and worse and the decision to end the eviction ban will be a direct cause. The Minister is ignoring the increase, or the very likely increase, in hidden homeless; increased numbers of people are in cars and couch-surfing and so on.

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