Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-06-18 ============================================================ Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal Inniu, d'fhoilsigh coiste tithíochta an Oireachtais tuarascáil shuntasach. Is é an moladh is suntasaí ná go dtabharfadh Rialtas an Tánaiste cosc éigeandála ar dhíshealbhuithe gan locht isteach arís. Tá an ceart ag an choiste. Tá géarghá le cosc den chineál sin anois níos mó ná riamh. Tá cíosanna ardaithe go dtí leibhéil nár fhaca muid le 25 bliain anuas. Tá an easpa dídine ag dul i méid i gcónaí agus taifid nua á mbriseadh gach mí. Tá líon na ndíshealbhuithe anois ag an leibhéal is airde ó aimsir an Ghorta Mhóir. Tá cúlbhinseoirí pháirtí an Tánaiste féin, Fine Gael, ag iarraidh ar an Rialtas gníomhú chun cosc ar dhíshealbhuithe gan locht a thabhairt isteach arís. Today, the Oireachtas committee on housing published a major report. This report makes it clear that the Government is not doing enough to tackle the housing and homelessness crisis. It calls on the Government to introduce an emergency response to the crisis, including a ban on no-fault evictions. This call comes from TDs of all parties, including Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. The committee is right. Such a ban is needed now more than ever. The situation was bad enough but the Government's rent hikes legislation has made things even worse. The consequences are plain to see. Rip-off rents have now jumped to their highest levels in 25 years. Homelessness rates continue to rise, breaking new records every single month. Evictions are now at the highest level since the Famine. As a result of the Government's legislation, we have seen an alarming increase in the number of evictions since the start of this year. Many people and families now find themselves in desperate situations, seeking a new place to live. Those who can find a place face paying thousands and thousands extra in rent. Those who cannot find a place are left in awful situations. We are talking about working families with good jobs and sometimes with two incomes. We are talking about older people who have paid rent all their lives and parents who are robbed of the security they need to build a good life for them and their children. It seems that everybody sees how bad things are except for the Tánaiste's Government. Even the Government parties' own backbenchers who helped drafted this report are now calling on the Government to act to reintroduce the ban on no-fault evictions. The writing is on the wall. If this intervention is not made immediately, many more people will be forced to move back into their parents' homes or insecure situations or, even worse, will find themselves in homelessness. There are many steps we can take to protect people. A ban on no-fault evictions would provide people in housing difficulty with the safety net they need. It would relieve stress and pressure and give these people the security they need. It is not just Sinn Féin that is urging the Tánaiste to do this. This is a cross-party call for his Government to move with urgency and ambition to stem the flow of evictions. The Tánaiste now has an opportunity to make a real difference. For too long, the story of housing in Ireland has been a story of pressure, stress, desperation and hopelessness. That story can be changed, however. That tide can be turned. Hope can be restored for people who just want a secure home for them and their families. However, it has to start with better decisions. The Tánaiste has to make one of those decisions today. He has to make that difference. Will he tell people that he will make that decision and reintroduce a ban on no-fault evictions, as members of parties across this House have called for? --- 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/dail/2026-06-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:51+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-18