Bríd Smith warns lifting eviction ban will leave thousands homeless
Bríd Smith addressed the House opposing the lifting of the eviction ban, arguing it would force thousands of people onto the streets during the nation’s worst housing crisis. She condemned policies that prioritise landlords and investment interests over tenants and urged people facing eviction to stay put and resist, calling for a protest at 1pm on April 1.
Main argument
She invoked the 1916 Proclamation’s promise to cherish all the children of the nation equally and criticised Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Greens and some independents for appearing to defend landlords rather than tenants. She said the debate has become focused on incentives and tax breaks for landlords instead of preventing homelessness.
Human cost and examples
She warned lifting the eviction ban would put children and families onto the streets and cited tenants at Tahini House, including about a hundred residents and children, who she said are being fobbed off by DCC management with no commitment to let them remain in situ. She emphasised that clarity and protections for tenants are urgently needed.
Political critique and historical comparison
She accused the government and the two civil war parties of valuing property rights of landlords, investment trusts and financiers above the right of children to a home, drawing a parallel with 19th century evictions by Tories and Whigs. She argued that removing the ban would amount to an abdication of the right to govern and a political philosophy that tolerates evictions.
Calls to action and consequences
She urged tenants faced with eviction to stay put and fight and called on opponents of the policy to demonstrate outside the House at 1pm on 1 April, calling it a Day of Fools for those she named. She predicted that current policies could give birth to a renewed tenants movement in response to what she described as callousness.
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I want to start by saying something everybody in this House knows, that the 1916 Proclamation promised to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally. It said all of the children, but Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Greens and some independents seem confused. The Proclamation did not say cherish all of the landlords of the nation equally. We are hearing more and more demands to stop demonising landlords, to give them more tax breaks, to halt their exodus. While at the same time here we are debating an inevitable cruelty of putting thousands of people onto the streets in the midst of the greatest housing crisis ever in the history of this nation. To listen to some people here you would think that incentivising landlords was the issue and not the possibility of children turning up at Garda stations with no homes to go to and no roofs over their heads. We are just asking one thing here tonight, Minister, one thing only. Not how many more schemes should we try to develop to lure landlords, developers, builders or vulture funds into our market. Not what tax breaks we should try this time for those who are already financially comfortable enough to consider staying in the rental business and making more money. We are asking only one thing and that is should we put thousands of people out onto the streets starting from April 1st. If you think that the answer to that is yes, then shame on you, shame on your party and shame on you and the government and the political philosophy that was driving us that thinks evictions are an answer. We are told that an eviction ban will not solve the problem, we are told that we cannot build houses overnight and we are told by these two parties that have governed this state for the last 100 years. But try to tell that to people like the tenants in Tahini House, a hundred of them, some of them children, who are meeting the DCC management constantly about their issue and are being fobbed off and suspended and being given no commitment about the buying of that property so that they can stay as tenants in situ. And that goes on all throughout this country. Clarity is needed for tenants. But let us be clear, by lifting this ban, you will have abdicated your right to govern, to rule. You will have put a nail in the coffin of the two civil war parties. You will have declared to the people of this country that the rights of property of landlords, of investment trusts and financiers trump the rights of children to a home to a roof over their head. You will have revealed for all to see that your political philosophy is the inheritor of the political philosophy of Tories and Whigs who evicted Irish peasantry in the 1870s out of the same belief that the rights of landlords and property were paramount. And just as those evictions gave birth to the Land League, I hope that your callousness shown today will give birth to the fight and tenants movement. And I urge all those faced with eviction to stay put and fight. And to everybody who abhors this government policy to get outside this house at one o'clock on the 1st of April, the Day of Fools, in this case the Fools of Fianna Fáil, Fianna Gael and the Grylls. Thank you. Thank you.
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