The vote to end the eviction ban on Wednesday evening has been described by the opposition as “very disheartening”.

TDs began voting in the Dál on Sinn Fein's motion to extend the moratorium on evictions at approximately 5.45pm on Wednesday.

The coalition’s countermotion, which outlined schemes and policies to support both renters and landlords, was backed by 83 TDs, with 68 voting against it.

While Green TD Neasa Hourigan did not vote with the Government, a number of Independent TDs including Sean Canney, Cathal Berry, Michael Lowry, Denis Naughten, Verona Murphy, Matt Shanahan and Danny Healy-Rae, voted with the Coalition following meetings with Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien earlier on Wednesday afternoon.

The result means that the ban, which was introduced in late October 2021 as part of a suite of measures aimed at alleviating the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis, will now lapse as planned on March 31.

Speaking to The Echo following the vote, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould described the result of the vote as “shameful”.

I know people who are just distraught now knowing they will be evicted in April. Families now have to decide whether they are going to overstay.

"Families now are contacting their parents, grandparents, friends, brothers, and sisters to see if they can move in with them.” Deputy Gould said there will be people who will become homeless over the summer with nowhere else to go.

“The question is where are they going to go and that’s the one thing the Government hasn’t answered,” he said.

Deputy Gould said a lot of people held out hope ahead of the vote that the Government would extend the ban until the end of January next year and said that the result will see a lot of people lose faith in the Government and in democracy.

“In Cork alone, there are 8,000 vacant buildings and they’re figures from the Census. There’s not a street in Cork where there’s not a vacant property. We want Cork City Council to go in and compulsory purchase them or purchase them by agreement,” he said.

He said that the solutions that have been offered by Government, such as the tenant-in-situ purchases scheme, are not immediate solutions for those facing homelessness next month.

“The Councils don’t have the staff, the values, the engineers to inspect them [properties], the legal team. You’re talking about months, if not years, for this tenant-in-situ purchases scheme to work. 

People will become homeless in April and the Government are talking about a scheme that in the best-case scenario would take four months, which is what they said it would take in the meeting on Tuesday.

Solidarity TD Mick Barry said: "The right-wing Independents saved the day for the Government. The only option now is public protest.

“I hope large numbers of people show up in Parnell Place now on Saturday at 12.30pm."

Labour TD for Cork East Seán Sherlock said the Government “has seriously miscalculated this issue”.

“It’s the one issue that has cut through in the minds of every renter in the county who is now living in fear that they could be handed their notice to quit at any time.

“Make no mistake, it will add to the level of homelessness in the county.” 

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan said that the key to tackling the housing crisis is supply, which he said all parliamentarians are agreed on.

“A longer extension to what was initially a short-term eviction ban would damage supply further.

Thankfully, the Government has indicated that it will take further actions to combat homelessness in the interim and increase supply further.

“Actions such as implementing 1,500 tenant-in-situ purchases for council applicants, 1,000 targeted leasing units, a target of 9,100 social housing units this year, and further expanding emergency accommodation by 2,000 units are examples of further interim measures.” 

He said that it is also important to stress that there will be “no cliff edge as the notice period is tapered into June for many outstanding evictions”.