A distraught renter said the evictions ban saved her family from homelessness – but she doesn’t know what she’ll do after being served a notice to quit.
Sonya said she has been living in the house for 20 years with her mum, dad, and nephew and was frantically searching for alternative accommodation – but insisted there was “nothing”. Speaking on RTE’s Upfront with Katie Hannon, she said: “We’ve been in our house for the last 20 years.
“We got a notice to quit. The ban was our saving grace to find something because it’s not like we’re not trying to find something but we genuinely can’t.
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“There is nothing around. It’s a rural area and we can’t find anything. So we don’t know what we’re going to do.” Her mum Michelle added: “I’m scared, I’m not looking forward to the future because I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Limerick school teacher Catriona also told the programme the last week “has been extremely distressing”. She said: “It’s been really stressful just thinking about where I’m going to live.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that the evictions ban will end on March 31, with a phased-out deadline to the end of June. The decision was made following a meeting between the three Government leaders Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tanaiste Micheal Martin, and Green chief Eamon Ryan.
The meeting was also attended by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, who it is understood argued for a further extension of the ban. The Government introduced a six-month eviction ban between October 30 and March 31.
During Leaders’ Questions last week, Sinn Fein’s housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns and Independent TD Thomas Pringle all condemned the decision to end the ban, arguing that it would increase homelessness numbers in the coming months. In response, the Taoiseach said: “There was a finely balanced decision. There are pros and cons. But we made a decision that we believe is in the overall public interest.
"The moratorium was not effective in reducing homelessness. The number of homeless people being provided with emergency accommodation by the State increased every month for which the moratorium was in place.
“Secondly, it was beginning to create a new form of homelessness. People are unable to move back into a property that they own or unable to move a son or daughter into the apartment that they bought for that purpose. And 20,000 to 30,000 Irish citizens return home [from abroad] every year. Most do not own their own house or apartment but many do.
“Extending this for another six months or a year would not have been fair or right to them. We believe that leaving it in place would have reduced the availability of places to rent and would have driven up rent further.”
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