Mary Lou McDonald. RollingNews.ie photo.

Irish Government Wins Ban Lifting Vote

The three party Irish coalition government defeated a Sinn Féin bill Wednesday that sought to extend an eviction ban until January 2024.

The winning margin in the Dáil was 81 votes to 67. Earlier, the government had prevailed against a Labour Party-submitted no confidence motion by 86 to 67 votes.

The Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023, put forward by Sinn Féin, sought to extend the eviction ban until January 2024.

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The government, according to an Irish Times report, put forward an amendment to the proposed legislation which TDs voted on. The Coalition leaders decided earlier this month not to extend the moratorium on evictions, which will lapse from the end of this month on a phased basis.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the bill was “one last chance to stop thousands of people losing their homes."

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, according to the times account, said extending the eviction moratorium was not the solution and would make homelessness worse.

Mr. Varadkar said the solution was more social housing, the tenant-in-situ scheme, and tax changes to encourage landlords to stay in the market as well as homelessness prevention services.

He acknowledged there were a lot of people worried at the moment who had received a notice to quit in recent months.

 

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