Homelessness: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-15 ============================================================ Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel The Government speaks about the progress it is making on housing, and I appreciate that is something it feels it has to do, but it is meaningless for a lot of us in the face of the growing number of evictions we see and the people entering homelessness. It is a very different reality from the updates we hear from both of the Ministers who have been in the room. The reality we hear is fear of an eviction notice, not being able to afford rent in a cost-of-living crisis, of overcrowding, and of the hidden homeless who are living in their parents' homes. It is not being able to leave a domestic violence situation because there is simply nowhere to go. The official homeless figures are increasing all the time - we all know that - and we know that is actually only part of the problem, because there are so many more people who are experiencing hidden homelessness and who are not counted in those figures. At the same time, let us talk about dereliction and vacant properties. In Carlow-Kilkenny, there are almost 2,000 vacant properties lying empty when we know so many families are struggling to find somewhere to live. We have homes without families and families without homes. That is ridiculous in the crisis we are in. There are 2,000 homes lying empty and vacant in Carlow-Kilkenny in one of the worst housing crisis emergencies. Why do we not have a vacant property tax with teeth that actually stops people allowing these homes and properties to stand empty? According to the Residential Tenancies Board, more than 5,200 eviction notices were issued in just the final three months of last year, a 41% increase on the previous year. Over the year, more than 20,000 tenants received notices to quit. We heard a lot in the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan's contribution about social housing and that is obviously important, but it is also about public housing. There are plenty of people who have the salaries. It is not that they need the support from the State to rent somewhere; they have the money to rent. They have the money to buy, but there is simply nowhere to rent or buy. In Carlow, for example, in 2024 there were two affordable homes available or built - two in all of Carlow in 2024. The Social Democrats have continued to point out the successive failures and issues with our housing policy. The housing crisis is not new, it is systemic and it has become normalised. As we have heard from other Senators, we just accept these figures every week. We have an over-reliance on the private sector. There is no ban on no-fault evictions. The new rent controls have actually led to people being evicted, as we said would happen. There were 36 evictions in Wexford two days before the Bill came in, for example. There are more than 8,600 entire homes listed on Airbnb in Ireland with short-term lets now vastly outnumbering the number of long-term rentals in many areas. In communities across Carlow-Kilkenny, people can see exactly what is happening. Homes are vacant or are being used for short-term profit and tenants are being pushed out through rising evictions. There is no mystery here. It is the direct chain of cause and effect, Government policy, more evictions and rising homelessness. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-15