Dún Laoghaire tenants face eviction following lifting of eviction ban

A group of residents at a south Dublin apartment complex will be left without a home in just over a week due to the lifting of the eviction ban.

The residents, who are all tenants in St Helen’s Court apartments in Dún Laoghaire, have been contacted today by the fund who own the apartment block and told they face eviction on Friday week.

This follows the lifting of the eviction ban which was contingent on the pandemic 5 kilometre restrictions.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has described the impending eviction of the tenants, who have done nothing wrong, as ‘utterly outrageous’.

“I have been raising the issue facing the tenants of St. Helen’s court repeatedly with the government and I have told the Minister on numerous occasions that evictions would soon follow once the 5-kilometre limits were lifted,” he said.

“These tenants have faced four different eviction attempts over the last four years by two different vulture funds who are using loopholes in the Residential Tenancies Act to turf people out.

“These tenants, who are unbelievably worried, include pensioners, children and people living with a disability and others.

“With a massive waiting list of approximately 5,000 families and individuals waiting up to 16 years for a council house these tenants face a very real prospect of being homeless over the next few weeks.

“This is an example which I fear will have much wider implications for other tenants over the coming weeks and months.

“It is utterly outrageous and has led to tenants who have done nothing wrong being faced with eviction in the coming weeks.

“I have repeatedly warned the Housing Minister and the government that this exact situation would happen, as have Threshold.

“The Housing Minister needs to take his head out of the sand and his government need to bring in robust protections for tenants most immediately during the pandemic, but also, more generally, to protect tenants against unjust evictions at any time.”