John Kierans column: Whose side is the Government on,…

John Kierans column: Whose side is the Government on, landlords or tenants?

The Government has a big decision to make this week - whose side are you on in the housing crisis, the landlords or the tenants?

It is a very simple question and anyone with half a brain and an ounce of decency should know the right answer - the tenants, of course.

Unfortunately with this Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Greens coalition, this is not the case.

It took one of the youngest members of the Dail, West Cork TD Holly Cairns of the Social Democrats, to shame them over the issue.

The opposition collectively are rightly calling for a rent freeze and a ban on evictions this winter with soaring inflation and a cost of living crisis.

They have their finger on the pulse and know any ordinary families are under serious financial pressure and will struggle to pay their rent and their mortgages.

To let any landlord, Irish bank or a vulture fund kick a family out of their home in the current climate, especially with the appalling behaviour of some of our financial institutions over the past decade, would be criminal.

The Government has tried to fudge the problem, claiming there are legal constraints and the Constitution wouldn't allow it.

They are effectively trying to hide behind the Attorney General to give them political cover and it is a disgrace.

We know all about evictions in this country, the pain, the suffering and the hurt they cause.

The British landlord class for centuries had our people on their knees; they put them to the sword and now it is happening all over again.

There is absolutely no logical reason why there can not be a national rent freeze and a total ban on evictions.

Holly Cairns is no idiot. She is speaking for a whole generation who are being screwed to the wall on rents and then can't get on the housing ladder.

I met an old school friend of mine the other day who told me how his son had to actually leave the State and buy a house in Newry, Co Down because that was the only way they could afford a home, and he and his partner commute for miles to Dublin work everyday.

He is now planning to vote for anyone but this Government in the next election because he said they just don't get it.

The landlords are making a fortune and young people, he rightly said, are being screwed to the wall.

He said the powers that be in Merrion Street just haven't a clue of the anger and frustration out there and I couldn't agree more. People are emigrating because they don't believe they will ever get a home here.

Remember, Fine Gael declared a national housing emergency eight years ago in 2014 and it still has not been fixed.

Holly Cairns angrily pointed out the Government admits it won't hit its housing targets this year and it has not spent all the housing budget, which is nuts.

Child homelessness jumped a staggering 47% last year and the effect it has on them is cruel and callous.

We now need a national all party solution to solve this housing disaster once and for all. It is causing grave harm to our society.

We need the best and the brightest in this country to come up with solutions at a hundred miles an hour.

But let's start with a rent freeze and a ban on evictions because it makes sense.