From July to September last year, 88 eviction notices in Donegal were served by landlords on their tenants.
The figures released by the Residential Tenancies Board today have been described as “seriously worrying”.
“If it wasn’t for the defective block crisis, those numbers would be much higher again,” said Donegal Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.
He said the eviction notice figures underline the need for the government to reverse its decision to end the eviction ban.
Deputy Mac Lochlainn warned that the ending of the ban on evictions will make the scale of homeless risk from April 1st much worse than expected.
He said: “Notices issued from July to September would have, in many cases, fallen due from February during the ban period. A huge number of these notices will now fall due in April. This will mean more people than ever before will have to leave their homes. Homeless services will not be able to cope”.
“The consequence will be thousands of people across Ireland and here in Donegal forced to stay with family and friends, a rise in rough sleeping, and the prospect of families with children being referred to Garda stations for a safe place to sleep.
Deputy Mac Lochlainn claimed: “The government does not grasp the severity of the situation, and Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald has written to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar urging him to reverse his government’s decision to lift the eviction ban”.
He called on government to immediately reverse the decision to end the ban on evictions.
“Emergency legislation must be brought before the Dáil before the ban ends on March 31st and all renters must be given the protection they deserve.
“The government must accompany an extension of the ban on evictions with emergency measures to extend and expand the tenant-in-situ scheme for social and affordable rental and using emergency planning and procurement powers to target vacant and derelict homes and new building technologies to ramp up the delivery of public housing.”
