Social Democrats Housing spokesperson and Dublin Bay North TD, Cian O’Callaghan, is calling on the Government to extend the planned ban on evictions for six months.
Deputy O’Callaghan said:
“We need decisive, concrete action from the Government on evictions. Bouncing in and out of temporary and partial bans is not good enough at this stage.
“We need a six-month blanket ban on evictions. People deserve to feel secure in their homes and should not have to worry about being evicted during a global pandemic.
“Research from the University of Harvard shows that there is a clear link between evictions and the spread of infection. If we want to stop Covid-19, then we need to stop evictions. This ban needs to be in place, not for six weeks, but for at least six months.
“We know that a ban on evictions prevents homelessness. Between March and July, when the last full ban was in place, family homelessness dropped by 23%. We need to stop people being evicted into homelessness. A six-month ban on evictions buys the Government time to introduce sustainable, long-term reforms.
“Over the next few months, too many people are unfortunately going to experience job and income losses – the last thing they need on top of that is an eviction.”
October 21, 2020