150 people living in three Dublin houses where fire occurred, Dáil told

A demand has been made for the Government to introduce legislation to prevent landlords from having too many tenants in a single property.

AAA-PBP TD Bríd Smith called for the legislation as she highlighted that 150 people were living in the three houses in Mountjoy Square in Dublin where a fired occurred on Tuesday morning.

Ms Smith said “we have seen a number of very serious breaches of what would normally never happen if there was not a prolonged housing crisis”.

And she was concerned there would not be fires with resulting tragedies in the future in such overcrowded conditions.

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Minister for Housing Simon Coveney said the number of inspections of rental properties was increasing significantly through local authorities, as part of the rental strategy.

Mr Coveney also said there had been a focus on dramatically increasing the provision of emergency accommodation and of social housing.

In the Dáil Ms Smith said “practices that in normal circumstances would never be countenanced are sometimes allowed to become commonplace during a prolonged and entrenched crisis”.

Condemning the way “the new type of landlords are behaving”, she referred to the overcrowding in the house in Cabinteely, Co Dublin where up to 70 people were living in a five-bedroom house.

She said that in the incident in Mountjoy Square last night, where Dublin Fire Brigade reported 150 people living in three houses. "I know these houses and I calculate that they should not hold more than 70 to 80 people," she said.

“Can we see legislation to deal with this, to stop landlords from doing something like this in the future,” she asked, “to deal with the consequences of this disgraceful prolonged homeless crisis - allowing now what would never be tolerated become the norm in our society”.

Ms Smith said that an internet café on Talbot Street in Dublin was allowing people to sleep on the floor overnight, “and charging them a tenner a night to sleep on the floor or under desks”.

Mr Coveney said the main focus had been to increase the supply of emergency accommodation quite dramatically over the last number of months “so that people don’t feel they are forced to find accommodation in totally unsuitable circumstances, whether that is in internet cafés or elsewhere”.

The Minister said in relation to the overcrowding within the private rental market, the focus had been on a dramatic increase in the supply of social housing, “which is now very much under way”.

Mr Coveney said there had also been a focus in relation to Airbnb’s role in the private rental market. “I’ve met Airbnb recently to discuss how we can deal appropriately with some of the concerns people have. There is a whole range of different areas.”

He said “the number of inspections of rental properties increasing also significantly through local authorities which we’ve committed to in the new rental strategy”.