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

It is utterly shameful that 12,800 people, including 3,800 children, are in emergency accommodation. This is getting worse because of the Government's decision to lift the no-fault eviction ban. We urge the Government to urgently reinstate that ban. We will have a motion before the Dáil next Wednesday to seek the expediting of People Before Profit's Eviction Ban Bill 2022, which has passed Second Stage, and the reinstatement of the ban as a matter of urgency. The number of notices to quit issued between April and June was 5,735. That is 21% higher than the number issued in the first quarter of 2023. Exactly as we predicted, the number of people facing eviction is increasing as a result of the lifting of the eviction ban. The already shameful, disastrous and, for the people involved, torturous situation of facing homelessness and being evicted is set to get worse. When you would think it just could not be any worse, it is going to get worse. The Government has to act. All the obfuscation, promises and plans and attempted digs at the Opposition are meaningless to the people stuck in emergency accommodation or facing the traumatic prospect of being made homeless. The Government has to act urgently.

It also needs to act to deal with the trauma being suffered by those who are in emergency accommodation and who, in many cases, have no way out. Today, my office was in touch with a woman who is now three years in homeless accommodation. She has been in eight different locations during that time. She is a victim of domestic violence and has two children who have gone through all of that with her. Where is the assistance for that woman to get out of that situation? The answer is there is none. There is a case I have raised multiple times in the House over two to three years. I refer to a woman who has been sharing a bed with her child in emergency accommodation for four years. She has no way out because she is over the threshold for social housing. There is no cost-rental or affordable housing so she is absolutely trapped, as is her son, a teenager who has been sleeping in the same bed as his mother for four years. It is disgusting.

When we go to the council or to the Minister, all we get is "Sorry, the computer says 'nah'." The computer says "nah" and that these people do not fit into the scheme or tick the box. They are told "Sorry, there is nothing we can do" and they are left to rot. That attitude has to change. If nothing else, the Minister needs to tell local authorities that the "Computer says 'nah'" response to people in these situations has to end. We need a can-do attitude to get people who are suffering in that way out of homelessness rather than people being told that they do not fit the scheme and that they are going to be left to rot, which is what is going on.

The Minister of State may have read in the newspapers about a family. I managed to get a stay from the judge, and I thank the judge, for a family who is again over the threshold and who were evicted from the house where they have lived all of their lives. They do not tick all of the boxes and are therefore facing homelessness. This is the last chance saloon for them. In the next couple of months, there will be nowhere else to go. They are a working family and could pay a rent of €1,500 but if you search Daft for properties in our area, you will see that rents are €2,500. They are older. If they were younger, they could possibly get a local authority home loan or something like that but they cannot because he is 61 and she is 59 and the banks will not look at them. The local authority home loan is no good to them in buying a house, which would cost €650,000 in our area. What are they supposed to do if they become homeless? He has a heart condition and one of the children has special needs. They will be trapped in homelessness indefinitely because the computer says "nah" and that they do not fit. These are human beings. We need an attitude that says that is not acceptable, that we will move heaven and earth to make sure that people are not put into such a horrendous situation and that we will help every single one of those individuals who are trapped in that situation and prevent more people being driven into it. That is what needs to be done.

There are other things that need to be fixed. I am in favour of the tenant in situscheme but it is not a substitute for building public and affordable housing. In Dún Laoghaire this week, we got a message from a landlord who was told the sale of his property had been agreed. He did not want to evict his tenant but had to sell the property. The council told him the sale was agreed, and this was at below market price because he did not want to evict the tenant, and now, in the last few weeks, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has, without any explanation, said that it is pulling out of the deal. It gave no explanation. The tenants are terrified and the landlord is asking what the hell is going on. It is yet again a case of the computer saying "nah"? The Government has to do something about this but, at the moment, there is no sense of urgency. That is why we will be having a rally outside the Dáil next Wednesday to support the Eviction Ban Bill.

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