Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Rents are too high. I hope the Taoiseach is not disputing that. I hope he is also not disputing the fact that in the third quarter of this year, 4,518 people received notices to quit - eviction notices. More than 80% of those were no-fault evictions. In other words, the people concerned had done nothing wrong. They had paid the rent, looked after the property and so on. The Taoiseach is not disputing either that there are 13,000 people who are homeless and who are in emergency accommodation. Some 4,000 of them are children. I do not think that the Taoiseach or the Government should try to evade those harrowing and heartbreaking facts. I have shared four stories; I could share hundreds more stories of people under real pressure. Is a temporary ban on evictions of people who have done nothing wrong the solution to the housing crisis? Of course it is not. Of course it is about supply. Of course it is about intervening to bring rents down and in fact banning rent increases. We have rehearsed all of that and we will, it seems, again and again.

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