The Irish coalition government is not facing into a crisis on the scale of its French or Israeli counterpart, but it will face a motion of no confidence in the Dáil this week over its plan to lift the eviction ban.
The leaders of the three government parties have met ahead of the vote that will take place on Wednesday. If the Labour Party motion is successful it could lead to a general election. The government is confident that it will have the support of enough Independents to survive the vote.
Opposition parties state that thousands of people could be homeless when the eviction ban is lifted at the end of the week.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said: “As if things could be made worse, the government has revealed itself to be in a tailspin. Frantically announcing half-measures to shore up support – measures which are fundamentally incapable of making one iota of a difference to all those who are due to be turfed out of their homes from the end of next week.”
She added: “Government has lost control of the housing market and is a state of fundamental disarray itself. There is no evidence underpinning the approach that they are taking and it’s clear that many in Government are wondering if they have confidence in the approach taken to lift the eviction ban.”
Bacik urged the government to reverse this “ill-thought through decision to lift the eviction ban”.
On Tuesday, the Dáil was due to debate a Sinn Féin Bill seeking to extend the eviction ban until the end of January 2024.
As pressure mounts on the government, a report has gone before the cabinet this week which stated that 60,000 homes could be built on 83 State-owned sites, including in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
More than half the homes could be built in Dublin, with one of the sites owned by Horse Racing Ireland at Leopardstown which could accommodate more than 2,000 homes.
