Evictions and Rent Hikes: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-19
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Rory Hearne (SD), Dublin North-West

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. I completely support what is set out in it. It is deeply frustrating and disappointing to engage in this debate again and see the absolute lack of concern on the Government's part. I will come back to this. I remember, when I was engaged in campaigning against the lifting of the eviction ban after Covid, describing the Government at the time as being one of the cruellest Governments we have had since the foundation of the State. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael today have managed to outdo that. The level of acceptance of evictions is mind-blowing for me. It is just batted away that 7,000 households have been evicted during the first quarter of this year. The Taoiseach earlier today referred to it as "churn", which revealed what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael think of these households. They are just "churn"; they do not really matter.
I think that what we are seeing today in our housing crisis will actually be the end of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We are looking at the point at which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael completely abandoned any pretence at standing up for ordinary people. Fine Gael was always clear about who it stood for but Fianna Fáil in particular has completely abandoned working people - ordinary people in this country. When people look back and study this period of time, the comparison with the Famine will be made. I have said for quite a while that we have now reached the point where evictions are as high as they were during the Famine. The Minister of State can shake his head but it is the truth.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19