Taoiseach: Eviction ban would still have been lifted if ministers knew of notice-to-quit numbers

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that had the Government extended the eviction ban, "that would have left us with even bigger problems down the line".

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD said Government leaders did know there had been some increase in the number of notices to quit issued. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

The Taoiseach has said it is unlikely that the Cabinet would have made a different decision on lifting the eviction ban had ministers known the scale of notices to quit that were issued late last year.

Speaking at Government Buildings, Leo Varadkar said he was "loathe to say exactly what had happened" at individual meetings, but that Government leaders did know there had been an increase in notices issued.

Figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) showed that 4,329 notices to quit were issued to renters in the final three months of last year.

Questions have been raised about whether the Government was aware of the number of such notices that had been served on tenants before the eviction ban was lifted, following an article published in the  Dublin Inquirer.

The report cited an email exchange released under a Freedom of Information request dated February 15 between the RTB and department officials about the data, with mention of a request to hold off on the publication of the figures until the next day.

According to the article, that triggered a request from a department official to hold off on publishing until the following day.

However, the data was not published until March 10, a few days after the Government had announced it was going to lift the no-fault evictions ban.

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Mr Varadkar said different decisions would not have been made even if Cabinet knew the updated number of notices to quit.

“One of the decisions why we decided not to extend eviction was precisely because there was an acceleration of landlords leaving the market," he said.

“The numbers of notices to quit were increasing and had we extended by another three or six months, that would have left us with even bigger problems down the line.” 

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said no one delayed any figures, and that this was an “outrageous assertion”.

Mr Varadkar also said that while his private office made contact with Fr Peter McVerry on Tuesday, it was not to push for an apology from the priest.

Fr McVerry issued an apology to the Taoiseach after he received "unfortunate" and "inaccurate" information which suggested that Mr Varadkar had overruled Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien on extending the eviction ban.

Both the Taoiseach and Mr O’Brien had denied Fr McVerry’s claim.

"In light of the Taoiseach's denial, which I accept as true, I believe that phrase was unfortunate and inaccurate, suggesting as it does a conflict or dispute between the Taoiseach and the minister,” said Fr McVerry.

"So whatever the circumstances leading up to the decision to end the ban, which are now irrelevant as the decision has been made, I accept that the minister, along with the rest of the Cabinet and the Taoiseach, made the decision together to end the ban."

Fr McVerry said his comments had proved to be a distraction from the real issues facing the country.

The real issue is where do people go when they are evicted? So this is a distraction. Governments love distractions.

"The phrase that I was given was inaccurate. This is a clarification and an apology to the Taoiseach."

Speaking to RTÉ’s Drivetime, Fr McVerry again expressed the belief that the decision to lift the ban was the worst in this Government's history, and will bring a "tsunami" of misery.

Following the apology, Mr Varadkar said there was no need for Fr McVerry to say sorry.

“I just want to say that no apology was necessary," he said.

There have been many times in the past where I have been given false information and, in good faith, I believed it to be true and I used it in the media, and then found out it wasn’t true and have had to retract on it.

“I understand how these things can happen, and certainly I’m not upset about it at all.”