The country is facing a rent arrears crisis which could see thousands of families losing their homes if the emergency ban on evictions expires in two days time.
Leading national housing charity Threshold has warned that there will be a surge in evictions because new laws being pushed through by the Government don’t give renters enough protection.
The warning comes as Sinn Fein called on Green TDs to absent themselves from the final vote on Thursday on the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Bill which they claim will take away many renter’s rights.
Threshold claims that in the coming months because of the onset of a recession and high unemployment there long-term indebtedness amongst tenants and a real risk and may result in high levels of eviction once the emergency laws preventing them cease.
The charity has revealed that the number of rent arrears cases that came to its attention in the first six months of 2020 was double the number from the same period in 2019.
Commenting on the new housing legislation introduced in the Dail this week Threshold’s legal officer Gavin Elliot claimed it will strip away many tenant protections.
He said: “The new legislation – which is hurriedly making its way through the Oireachtas – will remove most of the eviction protections that were introduced to deal with the crisis, and replace them with limited protections for a smaller group of people.
“It offers no real solution for tenants in arrears and the actions required from tenants are cumbersome, bureaucratic and will cause difficulty for tenants, especially those who have language barriers and other difficulties.
“While the legislation may provide breathing space for some renters, it is far short of what was promised.”
The charity says State intervention is now required, as part of an overall housing plan, to push rents downward and keep people in their homes.
The new laws brought to the Dail this week by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien would halt any evictions of tenants who have lost income due to Covid-19 until January next year.
But opposition TDs blasted it as full of loopholes for landlords and claimed it will result in a new wave of family homelessness in the midst of the virus crisis.
Sinn Fein’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin TD called on Green Party TDs to absent themselves from the final vote on the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Bill 2020 which takes place on Thursday.
He said: “It is bad for renters, bad for the stability of the rental market and bad for the local economy.
“The Minister for Housing Darragh O’ Brien is happy to continue with the same failed policies of his predecessor.
“It is not therefore not surprising that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are happy to throw renters to the wolves. However, for the Green Party to support this bad legislation is genuinely shocking.
“It is not what they campaigned for during the election and they certainly were not elected to support measures that strip tenants of vital protections.
“I would urge Green Parry TDs to absent themselves from voting on this Bill. I know they cannot vote against it.”
