Lifting eviction ban was “disastrous” says Boyd Barrett

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said lifting the eviction ban was “disastrous” and said his party will use Private Member’s Time in the Dáil next week to introduce a bill that would reinstate the ban.

A statement from the party noted that the bill implements a ban for a 12-month period initially and is renewable by the Government at the request of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the Minister considers it to be in the public interest.

The bill was introduced last year as part of Budget measures, but was lifted in March, which caused Neasa Hourigan of the Green Party to have her party membership suspended after she voted against the Government on the issue of lifting the ban.

Boyd Barrett, who serves as party spokesperson on housing, said “the lifting of the moratorium on evictions by this government was a disastrous move.”

“We have seen that the government wasted the time they had during the last eviction ban to ramp up provision of housing and accommodation for people. Now we see that the number of notices to quit has gone up massively, and the number of people registered as homeless has skyrocketed.”

“The government’s policy on housing and homelessness has disastrously failed. We need to reimpose the no-fault eviction ban for the duration of the housing emergency, and we now need a never-before-seen push to build public housing on public land so that we can begin to make inroads into finding sustainable and affordable accommodation and housing for people who are homeless and those in the housing list.”

Boyd Barrett’s assertations that lifting the eviction ban has made the homelessness crisis worse is shared by housing advocate Father Peter McVeery, who criticised the government for lifting the eviction ban and said it had a direct effect on the record level of homelessness in Ireland.

Boyd Barrett urged for those affected by the crisis to attend a rally outside the Dáil prior to the vote next Wednesday the 27th at 6pm.

“We need to put maximum pressure on the government before the dire housing and homelessness crisis gets worse,” he said.