Bríd Smith attacks 'blah, blah, blah' on eviction ban and homelessness
Bríd Smith criticised government responses to the eviction ban and the wider housing and homelessness crisis, arguing ministers failed to prove claims that the eviction ban drove landlords out of the market. She called for an eviction ban to protect vulnerable families and highlighted shortfalls in refuge provision for survivors of gender-based violence.
Main argument
She challenged the minister's repeated appeals to a supposed balance between landlords and tenants and said the government had "utterly failed" to prove a correlation between the eviction ban and landlords exiting the market. She argued that, if the lifting of the eviction ban had not driven escalating housing figures, there would be no need for the current debate.
Housing record and broken promises
She recalled a ministerial promise in 2016 to end homelessness and said homelessness numbers have more than doubled since the 2016 figure of 6,906 people. She condemned successive governments' failures on housing and accused the Green Party of supporting coalition policies that have worsened the crisis.
Refuge spaces and gender-based violence
She highlighted that there are currently 181 refuge spaces for people suffering domestic and gender-based violence, while the Istanbul Convention recommends 472. She noted a government promise to add 24 more spaces by the end of 2024 and warned that many counties remain without any refuge provision, forcing people to remain with their abusers or live in hotels and B&Bs.
Parliamentary process and private members' time
She criticised the parliamentary handling of private members' bills, saying measures are often obstructed or delayed and sometimes end up in court. She described many speeches as "blah, blah, blah" and accused deputies who did not attend the debate of planning to vote as instructed to oppose moving an eviction ban intended to protect children and vulnerable families.
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Minister O'Donnell's and Deputy Minister O'Donnell's. We are no strangers to having to use our private members' time to pursue bills that just sit and wait and get nothing done with them. The same happened to a climate emergency measure bill, which was passed by this Oireachtas, and then we had to use our private members' time to insist that it moved through committee. With the support of your party in opposition at the time, we got that passed as well, and then it was obstructed by a further use of some other vague standing order, which we ended up in the High Court contesting. We are used to having to challenge this House on its implementation or lack of democracy, and we do so today in a huge level of sincerity. I want to talk about the response of both yourself and Minister O'Donnell, but I do have a copy of his speech here, and I have just gone through it again. I have noticed five or six times he has used the question of the idea of balance between landlords and tenants as an argument for why you would not support this bill. You have utterly failed, and all political commentators make this point, to prove the correlation between the eviction ban and landlords exiting the market. You have not proved it. You say it, but you have not proved it. The Minister earlier talked about protecting landlords while trying to keep small landlords. He talked about retaining small landlords while increasing housing stock, protecting renters while trying to keep small landlords in the system. The system can provide a viable, safe, secure network for both landlords and tenants. Well, you have failed. If you did not fail, we would not be doing this today. If the housing figures were not escalating because of the lifting of the eviction ban, we would not be making this argument with you today. The record of Fine Gael in government was alluded to earlier on by Deputy O'Brien, and he is quite right. Again, I looked back on the record, and it stuck in my head. In 2016, as Minister for Housing, Simon Coveney promised to end homelessness. On the anniversary of the 1916 rise and the 100th anniversary, he made a big deal of it. I quote what he said. I would be crazy to promise a solution to the use of hotels and B&Bs for emergency accommodations for families by mid-2017, but I am going to make it happen. He even gave a comment to a media outlet that he bets his career on his promise to end homelessness. My God, they would say mass in this place. If they would say anything, they would say anything at all to try and prove themselves right. If he was an honest elected representative, he would not be the Minister for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. He would have resigned because he utterly failed to hold to a promise which he repeated in 2016. Instead of that, in 2016, we had 6,906 people homeless. That has more than doubled six years later, seven years later. Now, if that is your record in government, and I really want to repeat this, and I have said it to you many times, shame on the Green Party for backing up the Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael coalition in the implementation, particularly, of the housing and homelessness that is the crisis in this country and the main crisis that dominates people's lives. I want to comment on the reference to domestic and gender-based violence and refuge spaces here. Tonight, we are going to be discussing the bill on domestic, sensual and gender-based violence agency that is to be set up. We currently have 181 refuge spaces for people suffering from gender-based violence in relationships. The Istanbul Convention, which we have signed up to, recommends 472. What a gap. What is the promise? By the end of 2024, we will have another 24 spaces. Many counties are without any spaces at all. The truth is that many, many people continue to live with their abuser because they cannot go into homeless accommodation and put their children into hotels and B&Bs for years on end. I have many families who are two, three years in homeless accommodation. I will repeat, your speech, I would like a copy of it, but it is more blah, blah, blah, and the same blah, blah I heard from the Minister earlier on. It is shameful that the deputies who did not turn up here today for the debate, they will all turn up here tonight to vote the way they are told to vote, which is to oppose this motion, which would move an eviction ban to do what it is supposed to do, not to strike a balance between landlord and tenant, but to protect vulnerable families, and particularly children, from ending up in disgraceful conditions for years on end, while there is a housing and homeless crisis that consecutive governments have failed to deal with. Thank you very much.
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