Sir, – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s claim that the eviction ban “was not effective in reducing homelessness” (News, March 7th) is, at best, disingenuous. It is a spurious reason for ending the moratorium on no-fault evictions from the private rental sector.
The steady increase in the monthly homelessness figures in the six months since the ban was implemented is not proof that it did not work.
By its nature, the ban was limited in the difference it would make, but it undeniably prevented many more individuals and families being evicted into homelessness and making those record-breaking figures even higher.
Surely not increasing the homelessness figures is as important as reducing them?
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Lifting the ban will – perhaps – appease the private landlords and real-estate investment trusts, but it will unquestionably cause harm to the men, women and children who will lose their homes over the next few months and are left with nowhere to go.
Behind the figures are people whose lives are being ruined because of the failure of this Government to prioritise human lives over opportunities for investors. – Yours, etc,
MARTINA MADDEN,
Jesuit Centre for Faith
and Justice,
Dublin 1.
