People Before Profit are using our private members’ time this week in the Dáil to debate a motion which would accelerate the passage of the party’s Eviction Ban Bill 2022, which passed second stage in February of this year.
People Before Profit said that the temporary eviction ban needed to be reinstated urgently as eviction statistics were rapidly increasing. We said that the government should bring in the eviction ban immediately and use that time to deliver social and affordable housing on public land to ease the housing and homelessness crisis – something that was not done during the previous eviction ban.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said: “We are bringing this motion to the Dáil this week during our private members time to accelerate the progress of the evictions ban bill because of the ever-worsening housing and homelessness crisis.
The most recent figures on homelessness stand now at a shocking 12,847 – a record high. The latest figures show that there are nearly 4,000 children homeless in this country. That is a shameful statistic for a country that is one of the wealthiest in the world.
The government needs to take emergency action. They should start by supporting this motion and the People Before Profit Eviction Ban Bill to reintroduce the temporary evictions ban. They then need to redirect labour and resources to building social and affordable housing on public land.
At this stage anything less than urgent emergency action will not suffice. The government needs to now take this situation seriously. They need to back our motion on this week.
We need to put maximum pressure on the government before the dire housing and homelessness crisis gets worse.”
