Coalition confident of winning eviction ban vote

James Cox

The eviction ban for renters looks set to end on March 31st, as the Government is confident it will win a Dáil vote this afternoon on the issue.

The Sinn Féin motion, which wants to extend the ban, looks set to be defeated after the coalition reached agreement with TDs in the Regional Independent Group.

On Tuesday, the Government announced measures to deal with the housing crisis, including more social housing, a wider tenant-in-situ scheme and tax changes for landlords.

Independent Kildare South TD Cathal Berry said he is already hearing of these having an impact.

Mr Berry told Newstalk: "I actually got two calls last night from small landlords. When they heard about these proposals, they said 'that makes perfect sense, we now intend to rescind our notice to quit on that basis'.

"How they see it is they have now regained control on their property, a lot of people were making notices to quit because they felt they were trapped."

Independent TD Verona Murphy said she was waiting for a meeting with Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien on Wednesday before deciding whether to vote for or against the motion.

The Government's majority is set fall to just one with Green Party TD  Neasa Hourigan intending to vote with the Opposition this evening.

If she is joined by colleague Patrick Costello, who is also considering voting against the Coalition, this would mean the Government has lost its outright majority.

However, Government sources told The Irish Times they are confident of winning tonight's vote with the support of Independent TDs.

In a heated Dáil debate on Tuesday, the Opposition labelled Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien “the minister who deliberately increased homelessness”.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald later told the Dáil the Government was set to knowingly inflict a “tsunami of misery” on renters.

“With your eyes wide open you intend to lift the eviction ban knowing that this will spell disaster for so many,” she told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during Leaders’ Questions.

Announcing the Government's measures to address the housing crisis, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said: “We’re putting centre stage the protection of tenants, the protection of people at risk of being homeless, and I think significant developments in that regard is the expansion of the tenants-in-situ scheme, going beyond the 1,500 houses or having the capability of going beyond that."