Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Friday, I met a woman who is due to be evicted from her home with her three children just days before Christmas. As people can imagine, she was visibly upset. She was particularly upset because she felt she could not put up her Christmas tree. She said putting up her Christmas tree and putting the lights on it reminded her of the countdown to being evicted from that home with her three children. That decision is on the Minister of State. He is in the Department of housing. It is on him that this woman will be evicted. He could support this ban on evictions and make sure this woman and her family are not homeless over Christmas. There is nowhere to go in Galway city or county. Emergency accommodation there is at capacity. There is no room at the inn for this woman and her three children or the more than 150 children who are homeless across Galway city. I am dealing with a family with five children who have been in emergency accommodation for two years. Again, this is on the Minister of State. There is no room at the inn for the single mother with a two-year-old child who is couch surfing. This is supposed to be an exciting time for this young mother with her child. Instead, it is an extremely distressing time in the lead-up to Christmas. There is no room at the inn either for another young woman who is selling her belongings to pay for a hostel night by night. The Minister of State can make a decision tonight. It is on him. Some of these decisions have real-life impacts on the people we all represent, our neighbours and friends who are homeless as a result of failed Government policies and will be evicted because of the decision the Government is making tonight. Shame on the Government for that.

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