Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

The Tánaiste can spin this whatever way he wants but it is black and white. The truth is that he is deepening the crisis because of the political choices the Government has made. The Tánaiste can shake his head all he wants. Does he know what is happening out there? His Government, his party, the Fianna Fáil Party and the Independent Members who support them have opened the floodgates. We warned them about what was going to happen. The Government is allowing landlords to drive up rent. We said they would use the legislation to evict tenants and that is what is happening now.
The Government is presiding over the highest rate of evictions since the Famine. In one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, families are being driven from their homes in their thousands. That is what the Tánaiste is overseeing. We have told the Government time and again that its policies are failing people. That is why so many are giving up. They do not believe they have a future in this country and they are losing hope because of the Government's failures. The Tánaiste talks about affordable housing that costs between €2,500 and €3000 to rent every single month. It is simply unaffordable. Does he accept that the Government's legislation has allowed a situation whereby we now have more evictions than was the case during the Famine and that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are presiding over that?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14