At their parliamentary party meeting this week Fine Gael TDs backed landlords in opposing any extension of the winter emergency ban on evictions.
It was a disgusting display of snobbery and a defence of privilege.
New figures released today show that 11,754 people were in emergency accommodation in January – a record high and the seventh consecutive month the record has been broken. There are few places to rent that can be paid out of an average wage without pushing tenants into poverty.
Even Varadkar admitted recently that the winter eviction ban had saved over 2,200 evictions.
But Fine Gaelers just don’t care. They know who they represent – the people of property.
To promote their case, they have concocted a fairy story about hordes of people returning from abroad wanting back the houses they rented out.
They produced no figures to justify the claim that this was a major problem.
Their real agenda is giving landlords more freedom to increase rents. Last year rents rose by an average of 14% and Fine Gaelers want the rent bonanza for landlords to continue.
Fianna Fáil and the Greens will go along with Fine Gael. Fianna Fáil occasionally throw shapes but they too represent the people of property. The Greens are just spineless.
Let’s get ready to resist eviction with solidarity.
