'Society has become unhinged'. That's the view of Cavan Monaghan Sinn Fein TD, Deputy Matt Carthy, who was speaking to Northern Sound about the impact of lifting the eviction ban.
Deputy Carthy said the Government should be "ashamed" of itself for ending the ban, which he added, will plunge more people into homelessness. The local TD says the situation has arisen because of failed housing policies by successive Fianna Fail and Fine Gael Governments.
Meanwhile, the Residential Tenancies Board indicated this afternoon that more that 4,700 eviction notices were issued in the third quarter of last year. The evictions will impact around 10,000 people, with six in ten of those landlords saying they are selling the property.
Deputy Carthy has called for the immediate reinstatement of the evictions ban to protect these people and the thousands of others who now find themselves in a vulnerable position. "It is clear that the housing market is totally unfit for purpose and ordinary people are left to pay the price.
"Year after year, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have missed their own inadequate public housing targets. The result is clear to see in Cavan and Monaghan as we have generations locked out of home ownership, crippled by sky high rents, languishing on social housing waiting lists and being forced to emigrate.
"Sinn Féin in government will tackle the housing crisis to make sure that action is taken to deliver the change needed. Sinn Féin has the detailed, deliverable proposals to get to grips with the housing crisis and deliver genuinely affordable homes for people in counties such as Monaghan and Cavan.
"Unfortunately, people at the coalface of the housing crisis are currently left with a Government that is willing to deliberately increase homelessness," he added.
