A SINN Féin representative for Cork South West said that the government must provide security to renters by extending the eviction ban until the end of the year and by taking emergency action during that time to tackle rising homelessness.
Clare O’Callaghan, who has been contacted by people in West Cork worried about being evicted, said she was extremely concerned that both local families and individual renters in the area will face being made homeless if it is not extended.
‘When the current ban was introduced in November, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin warned the government that they needed to use the breathing space provided to introduce a series of emergency measures including increasing and accelerating the delivery of social homes.
‘Unfortunately the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien chose to ignore him. That is why Sinn Féin has tabled a motion calling on government to extend the eviction ban until the end of the year. But we are calling on them to do much more than that,’ she said.
There’s a need to both increase and accelerate the delivery of social and affordable homes, she said, and to introduce emergency planning and procurement powers.
