Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It will be no surprise that I will raise the matter of the announcement that the eviction ban will not be extended. Many families, including pensioners and young people, found the safety net had been ripped from under them when they woke up this morning. People who have been given eviction notices woke up to the news that this Government does not care, does not want to protect them and does not have an issue with the fact we will now see an increase in rough sleeping. We again will see families being told, because there is no emergency accommodation left in this city and that is the reality for anybody dealing with people who have eviction notices, to present at their local Garda station. That is where they will be told to spend the night.

We all know the eviction ban was not going to fix the homeless crisis. We have had ten years of Fine Gael in government that has got us to this point, but the one thing we knew was the eviction ban gave people a sense of security that they at least had a roof over their heads, and time and breathing space in the hope the Government would get its act together on this. We saw at the time the eviction ban was brought in that action was not taken. We are now in a situation where the thing has not got any better. The situation is no better for those people than when the eviction ban was introduced before Christmas and it is now being taken away. We of course want to see this Government extend the eviction ban but we also repeatedly have stated that for an eviction ban to be effective, you have to put in place all the emergency measures and pull out all the stops.There is a need for that crisis thinking to try to stop people becoming homeless when the eviction ban is lifted. For example, local authorities should be allowed to purchase private rental properties that have housing assistance payment, HAP, or rental accommodation scheme, RAS, tenantsin situ. Sinn Féin has been saying that for a long time. The Minister says he has done it but he has not. It is being applied inconsistently across the country and is taking too long. The houses are being sold and tenants are being made homeless. In addition, Sinn Féin has called for an extension of the scheme to approved housing bodies to allow tenants who are not eligible for social rental but are within the income limits for cost rental to remainin situ. In Dublin city, we have the example of Tathony House, where more than 30 families are about to be made homeless. That building could be bought and used to provide a mixture of cost rental and social housing. Sinn Féin has also called for the introduction of emergency planning and procurement powers, such as those in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. It beggars belief that none of those things have been done yet the Government is going to be so heartless as to lift the no-fault eviction ban. These are people who are paying their rent. They are being evicted through no fault of their own and they are going to be made homeless. I call on all members of the political parties of the coalition to oppose the lifting of the eviction ban. I commend Deputy Hourigan on what she said on radio. It is time now for people to stand up within their political parties because they all know this eviction ban being lifted will mean more children and pensioners being made homeless.