A Cork TD has said that the government must provide security to renters by extending the eviction ban until the end of the year and by taking emergency action during that time to tackle rising homelessness.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, was speaking ahead of a Sinn Féin motion on the issue, which will be debated in the Dáil on Tuesday.

Mr Gould said he was extremely concerned that a large number of families and individual renters in Cork would face being made homeless if the Government’s eviction ban, which is due to finish at the end of the month, was not extended.

“Here in Cork, there are over 600 people facing homelessness when the eviction ban lifts,” he said.

“This will triple the numbers in emergency accommodation based on the latest available data. These are young families, workers and vulnerable people.” Mr Gould said that when the current ban was introduced last November, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin, had warned the Government that it needed to use the breathing space provided by the ban to introduce a series of emergency measures including increasing and accelerating the delivery of social homes.

“Unfortunately, the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien chose to ignore him, meaning many renters now face the prospect of being made homeless at the end of next month,” the northside TD said.

“That is why Sinn Féin has tabled a motion this week calling on government to extend the eviction ban until the end of the year. But we are calling on them to do much more than that.” The Government needs to make the kind of emergency interventions Sinn Féin has called for to increase and accelerate the delivery of social and affordable homes, Mr Gould said.

“They also need to introduce emergency planning and procurement powers, and utilise modern building technologies on vacant buildings and to deliver modular homes,” he said.

“The Government must recognise that we are in a housing emergency and that an emergency plan must be put in place.”