Darragh O'Brien: Evictions ban must be time-limited and not drive landlords out of market

With more than 10,000 fewer tenancies in the sector since 2016,the Housing Minister said any move needs to avoid having unintended consequences.

Any new ban on evictions has to be time-limited and legal or it will drive more landlords out of the market, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said.

With more than 10,000 fewer tenancies in the sector since 2016, Mr O’Brien said any move needs to avoid having unintended consequences. Speaking in Dublin, Mr O’Brien said he has given proposals to the three party leaders in Government.

The Irish Examiner reported on Monday that the ban on evictions will go before Cabinet as early as tomorrow if Mr O'Brien gets the go-ahead from the Coalition leaders.

“I've put proposals forward to the three leaders to discuss. I know what's legal and what we can do. We've obviously got to be very conscious of any measures that we take," he told reporters. 

He said they do not want any unintended consequences of further reducing supply in the private rental market. “I've obviously worked with the Attorney General and his office and colleagues to see what we can do as a time-bound measure,” he added.

“So what we're looking at is what effective time-bound measures we continue to assist whilst we're building up the overall supply.” 

Mr O’Brien said he has instructed councillors to buy homes where any tenant who receives the Housing Assistance Payment or the Rental Assistance Payment has been given a notice to quit.

He said blanket and open bans on evictions can have a negative effect with regard to further reducing supply.

“We've seen that. We've seen individual landlords continue to leave the market since 2016, actually, probably about 10,000 tenancies — that's why we need to build up the stock."

Concrete levy

Confirming that the concrete levy announced on Budget Day will be included in the Finance Bill, Mr O'Brien said the Government is looking to raise about €80m a year, which is small in the context of a bill of up to €6bn for dealing with the Mica and Pyrite issues. The inclusion of the levy caused considerable unease in both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in the wake of the budget.

"We want to ensure that if that doesn't have an impact in relation to increased costs, or you know how the sector is operating there, so we're working that through with Cabinet colleagues at the moment," he said.

Mr O’Brien was speaking at the official launch of National Fire Safety Week 2022 at Dublin Fire Brigade’s Training Centre in Marino.

Today’s announcement marks the beginning of an advertising campaign to educate the public on safety measures to prevent fire and on key steps to take should a fire break out.

The key advice from the Government’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Services is that all family members young and old should know what to do if the alarm goes off, where to assemble and to call 999 or 112 to alert local fire services.