How new legislation could help keep thousands of families in their homes in Ireland

Julie Sadlier, a solicitor who has been representing families facing repossession since the economic crash a decade ago, outlines how new legislation could help keep thousands of families in their homes in Ireland

The word ‘eviction’ has a particularly poignant and cruel association in Ireland. For anyone who has even a passing knowledge of our history, the word conjures up images of ravaged families loading their scant belongings on carts in the threatening presence of well-dressed landlords and their agents.

It’s a scene, and a word association, that we would probably like to regard as being consigned to history. The reality, however, is that the threat of eviction remains very much part of life in contemporary Ireland.