Government asleep at the wheel says Hearne, as evictions reach highest level since Famine

The introduction of new rental laws on March 1 has led to the highest number of evictions in Ireland since the Famine.

The Residential Tenancies Board have recorded a 41% increase in eviction notices since the controversial new rules came into force on March 1, building on the 20,000+ evictions seen across Ireland last year.

Local Social Democrats TD housing spokesperson Rory Hearne has said the evictions are a direct result of the new laws, which allow landlords to reset rents to market rate between tenancies.

Hearne, Soc Dems spokesperson on housing, claimed that landlords are “kicking out tenants as they’ve been incentivised by government policy to do so in order to hike up rents.”

“The number of eviction notices also rose on an annual basis from over 16,000 in 2024 to more than 20,000 last year. We are trending towards a disaster of unimaginable proportions while this government lies asleep at the wheel,” the Dublin North-West TD noted.

The high-profile eviction of 36 households in Wexford by one landlord – a decision that was reversed after the story gained national attention – is an indicator of Ireland’s new rental market, said Hearne.

“The sheer extent of human misery the government is willing to accept to placate vulture funds and investor landlords is deplorable. Evictions from the private rental sector are the greatest cause of homelessness and cause immense trauma,” he said.

Hearne criticised Tánaiste Simon Harris for refusing to entertain the idea of reintroducing no-fault evictions.

When Darragh O’Brien served as Minister for Housing in the 33rd Dáil, and as part of cost-of-living measures, the government announced a ban on no-fault evictions for the winter of 2022 and leading into March 2023.

In November 2022, the first full month in which no-fault evictions were banned, homeless figures stood at 11,542. 

In April 2023, the first full month after the ban on no-fault evictions was lifted, the figures jumped to 12,259, which offered clear, empirical evidence that a no-fault eviction ban directly led to a decrease in homeless figures.

Hearne said that the no-fault eviction ban would lead to a drop in homeless figures, with the issue quickly becoming a proverbial millstone around the government’s neck.

The most recent set of homeless figures reached 17,000 for the first time in February, which Hearne stated is a direct result of the government’s housing policy.

“Homeless numbers reached more than 17,000 last month for the first me in Irish history, which is a direct result of government housing policy. It’s beyond time for a change in approach to housing,” he said.

At this month’s meeting of Fingal County Council, councillors agreed on a motion to write to Minister for Housing James Browne calling for an end to cuts to the tenant-in-situ scheme and to restore funding to 2024 levels.

Last July, Fingal County Council announced it had to pause applications for the tenant-in-situ scheme after its allocated budget of €20 million ran dry, and the government refused to allocate more funding.

Sinn Féin councillor Angela Donnelly said that the tenant-in-situ scheme worked; the Ongar councillor said it wasn’t a silver bullet, but it was, at the bare minimum, an effective tool in the arsenal of local councils to prevent people from falling into homelessness.

“The key drivers of homelessness in Ireland are limited supply, and increased rates of domestic violence,” she noted, with statistics from Q3 of 2025 showing that 189 households required emergency accommodation owing to domestic violence. 

Donnelly also cited the changed rental laws as a driver of the record-high homeless figures, noting that the figures have jumped from 15,378 in February 2025 to over 17,000 a year later.

“Despite what we do, the numbers just keep increasing; there is no doubt about it, the recent changes to rental agreements have driven a lot of people into homeless accommodation.”

The number of people in homeless accommodation in Dublin sits at 12,198, a rise from the 10,948 figure from February 2025. 

For frame of reference, both Dalymount Park and Tolka Park could be filled with the number of people in homeless accommodation in Dublin.

“Tenant-in-situ kept families in their areas and children in their schools, and it kept that consistency in that family; that is the greatest impact on families, and in years to come, we will see the damage that has been done to our children,” Donnelly said.

Solidarity councillor John Burtchaell said the no-fault eviction ban was working and it was directly leading to a decrease in homeless figures.

“The government couldn’t have that, though,” the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart councillor remarked.

“Fundamentally, they represent landlords who need to evict people if they’re going to squeeze maximum rents; government housing policy works for landlords, vulture funds and developers, that’s who it’s intended to work for,” he asserted.

He said that the homeless crisis was “not an accident” and said that after the 2024 general election, which returned Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to power with the support of independents, he said they treated the results as a mandate to “let the market decide everything when it comes to housing.”

The Solidarity councillor said the housing crisis is a “social catastrophe.”

“Migrants are being blamed for the lack of housing, when really it’s Irish men in suits that caused this problem,” he told the meeting.

Burtchaell said that a state housing company was needed to tackle the issue.

Labour said that the establishment of a state housing company was a red line in coalition negotiations with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael following the 2024 general election; their demands were rebuffed, and the coalition talks swiftly ended.

Labour councillor John Walsh reasserted the party’s line on housing at the meeting, with the Castleknock councillor accusing Minister for Housing James Browne of “gutting” the tenant-in-situ scheme and calling the Minister’s behaviour “absurd.”

Statistics from Walsh showed that in December 2024, 46% of all actions to prevent people from falling into homeless accommodation came through the tenant-in-situ scheme; in December 2025, that same figure dropped to 11%.

“The Minister has chosen, quite deliberately, to restrict one of the few tools local authorities have to intervene; that reflects the failure of national government to give the tools and powers to local authorities to address the housing crisis.”

Walsh dubbed Browne’s one-man war on local authorities “absurd” and recalled when local authorities ran out of money for the tenant-in-situ scheme last summer.

“The tenant-in-situ is a vital safety net; removing that safety net doesn’t reduce the need, it simply increases homelessness.”

Fine Gael councillor and Mayor of Fingal County Council, Tom O’Leary, noted that Dublin City Council received €110.7 million for the tenant-in-situ scheme of a €373 million nationwide pot and questioned how much of the pot Fingal County Council was entitled to.

O’Leary said he supported the motion, and said that more funding was needed for the scheme.

“I know civil servants play with phrases; allocated and drawn down might not be apples and oranges, but they claim they have given the same figure,” he remarked.

Aoife Lawlor of Fingal County Council noted that Fingal County Council had a €30.7 million budget for second-home hand acquisition for 2026, in addition to €7 million to the pre-existing €10 million funding for the existing homelessness scheme.

Lawlor confirmed “we are working on a number of properties at the moment,” but noted that the criteria for the scheme is a “lot narrower” than previous years, with the focus being turned towards people with disabilities, older persons, and care leavers.