Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today I want to raise the RTB figures for eviction notices whereby 4,753 households have received an eviction notice. The worst is yet to come, the tsunami of people who are facing homelessness because of the lifting of the eviction ban. I want to put on the record once again that Sinn Féin is calling on the Government to see sense and reinstate the eviction ban to give people security until we get the housing supply in place. The knock-on impacts of homelessness are well documented. We are seeing children who are walking later and who are suffering from nutritional issues because their families cannot cook in emergency accommodation. There are huge knock-on impacts for us as society with this level of homelessness.

I also want to talk about an issue that does not get noticed much but that I have raised repeatedly in this House in the context of evictions and the rental crisis, that is, the issue of pet ownership. Private landlords, some management companies in apartment blocks and some housing bodies are refusing tenants permission to keep pets. It is not just about dogs but about cats and other pets as well. Children growing up in those households should be like any other child and have access to knowing what it is to have a pet and learning the empathy that having a pet brings. Those households facing eviction who are desperately trying to find somewhere else to live are also now faced with the awful decision of having to relinquish a pet. Those of us who have pets know they are like part of the family. All of the animal welfare organisations are screaming at this point because they are completely overwhelmed by the number of dogs in particular being surrendered, as well as other pets. They do not have the capacity to house them. They do not have the resources to house them. There is nowhere for these animals to go. They have waiting lists for surrenders.

I am raising this on the Order of Business because I have tried to raise it as a Commencement matter repeatedly but the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage refuses to acknowledge that there is any role whatsoever for him in addressing this. It is just not true. We need change to the residential tenancies agreements. We only have to look across the water. Last week Britain introduced legislation that would make it a legal right for private renters or renters in social accommodation to have their pet live with them. If I cannot get a debate through a Commencement matter, I ask that we have a debate in this House about the knock-on impacts on society of all of those eviction notices, particularly around pet ownership.