Housing minister insists lifting eviction ban is correct decision
Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien. File picture
Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien has stood by the Government's lifting of the eviction ban, stating it is the "correct" decision.
Speaking ahead of a vote on a Sinn Féin motion to extend the eviction moratorium, Mr O'Brien said increasing the supply of housing is the "crux of everything" when it comes to addressing the crisis, but said leaving the ban in place would not do that.
He said the long-term solution to our rental market is more supply and that is already happening, citing almost 30,000 homes that were completed, which was up 45.2% on 2021.
Members of the opposition pleaded with Government backbenchers, and especially the Green Party, to support the Sinn Féin motion, which will be voted on tomorrow evening.
But Mr O'Brien accused Sinn Féin of "politicising the housing crisis" by tabling the motion which seeks to extend the ban until early next year.
Mr O'Brien told the Dáil:
"If we were to do what they are asking we would be having this very same debate in the middle of winter. If we were to do what they are asking there would be no phasing out period, rather a hard cliff-edge of evictions in the weeks after Christmas.
"The opposition knows this, but they are more interested in politicising the housing crisis than putting forward pragmatic solutions. They know that their proposition would only serve to make a difficult situation even worse," he said.
Speaking from personal experience, Sinn Féin's Mark Ward said he is "one of those people who get up early in the morning" but still found himself in a situation where he had to rely on family and friends for a place to stay after he was left out of rented accommodation.
He added that it can be difficult for separated fathers to maintain a relationship with their children when they are forced into emergency accommodation.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said the party has been left with "no option" but to put forward a motion of no confidence in the Government next week.
She raised the Government's counter-motion which promises to rapidly put in place measures to protect tenants, including a cost-rental backstop and a first-refusal measure for tenants whose homes are being sold.
She asked why the Government didn't use the "breathing space" that was provided over the winter to "rapidly" roll out these plans.
"It is unconscionable that these sorts of measures, these rapid plans we're now hearing about were not in place earlier."
Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O'Callaghan said the Government now lacks credibility as there are "no cohesive answers" coming from the coalition as to where people will go when they are evicted in the weeks or months ahead.
He hit out at Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who earlier in the Dáil had suggested that not everyone who is issued with a notice to quit will end up homeless.
Richard Boyd Barrett accused Mr O'Brien of spin, but said "the cold hard truth of what you're doing is that you are making a decision to allow thousands of induvuals, families and worst of all children to end up homeless when there is nowhere for them to go".
Aontu leader Peadar Tóibín also criticised the Government, claiming there has been no contingency planning.
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