RICHARD O’Donoghue of the Rural Independents group and Sinn Féin’s Maurice Quinlivan were the only Limerick TDs to vote against the lifting of the eviction ban in the Dáil this week.
Junior Ministers Niall Collins (FF), Patrick O’Donovan (FG) and Kieran O’Donnell (FG) along with Fianna Fail’s Willie O’Dea and Brian Leddin of the Green Party voted in favour of the proposal to end the ban on this Friday, March 31.
Responding to a call from Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan to explain why he voted in favour of lifting the ban, Deputy Willie O’Dea said he was not voting to make anybody homeless and was doing everything he could to assist people in relation to housing
Deputy Quinlivan also asked the same question of Minister of State for Housing Kieran O’Donnell (FG) and Green Party TD Brian Leddin.
Speaking to the Limerick Post in response to Deputy Quinlivan’s call out, Minister Kieran O’Donnell said the Government was “fully aware” of the challenges people are facing on a daily basis.
“The Government have put a number of measures in place to ensure people can stay in their homes. The first port of call for anyone who receives an eviction notice is the local authority who are operating the schemes,” he said.
“The message we want to get out is we are doing all we can to ensure people can stay in their homes. That is our objective.”
Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea went further in his response saying that he was disappointed that the measures announced in tandem with the end of the eviction ban were not introduced sooner.
“I’m now pushing to have these measures implemented straight away and only this week in the Dáil the Taoiseach confirmed to me that the ‘Tenant in Situ scheme’ is now operational.
“This means that if you are a social housing tenant and your private landlord wants to sell the home you are renting, the local authority can buy the home and you can continue to rent it from the local authority instead,” he explained.
“I have heard a lot of talking from Sinn Fein, but not one definitive proposal to solve the housing crisis. Therefore, I have no intention of supporting any proposal from a party who during their lengthy period in Government in the North built less houses than they have objected to down here.”
There was no response from Green Party TD Brian Leddin (who also voted in favour of lifting the ban) at the time of going to print.
In this week’s edition of the Limerick Post, it was incorrectly stated that Deputy O’Donoghue voted in favour of lifting the ban.
