Opposition to extending eviction ban voiced at Fine Gael meeting

Several Fine Gael TDs and Senators expressed opposition to extending the temporary eviction ban at a private meeting of the party on Wednesday evening.

Though there were some voices in favour of retaining the measure, The Irish Times understands that more contributors to the discussion said it should be dropped.

The debate came after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar asked for views on the matter.

The temporary eviction ban - brought in during the winter months amid the ongoing housing crisis - is due to expire at the end of March.

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Mr Varadkar has said a Government decision on the future of the ban will be made in before the St Patrick’s Day Dáil recess.

He said on Tuesday that the ban had not had the desired effect and people were still entering homelessness for lots of different reasons.

Mr Varadkar said it also had unintended consequences where homeowners returning to Ireland from living abroad cannot move back into their own properties.

He said the “pros and cons” of a further extension have to be weighed up.

Sources said Carlow-Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan told Wednesday’s meeting that rent caps and eviction bans “haven’t worked anywhere in the world ever” while Tipperary-based Senator Garret Ahearn is said he was “totally against” extending the ban.

Wexford TD Paul Kehoe also opposed an extension and Galway East TD Ciarán Cannon is said to have told colleagues “it hasn’t worked” and it “won’t work”.

He said it is undermining the rights of parents to move their own children into homes that they had bought for that purpose either as accommodation during college years or a first home.

Waterford-based Senator John Cummins is understood to have told the meeting it is a “delicate matter” with “pros and cons”.

He said the Government should look at making immediate tax changes to encourage landlords to remain in the rental market provided they offer longer tenancies.

There were some in favour of extending the eviction ban.

Kildare North TD Bernard Durkan cited the ongoing homelessness situation and argued for the ban to be kept on a “short-term basis”.

Dublin South-Central based Senator Mary Seery-Kearny relayed accounts of people sleeping in cars and called for an extension for a significant length of time due to the need for people to “have a roof over their heads”.

Separately, Mr Varadkar told the meeting that the Coalition will take action against energy companies if they don’t decrease bills this year.

It is understood that windfall taxes or other measures were referenced.

Mr Varadkar said he will not stand over or accept gas and electricity companies making record profits and not reducing consumer bills for homes and businesses.

He pointed out energy companies increased their bills within a few months of wholesale prices going up.

The Fine Gael leader also said issues raised in an Irish Times report last weekend about anomalies and contradictions in Sinn Féin’s accounts and statutory declarations are “extremely serious and not going away”.

He again called for Dáil statements from Sinn Féin on the matter with the meeting hearing that opposition TDs have made statements in the chamber before.

Mr Varadkar described the €1.3 billion in cost-of-living measures announced on Tuesday “targeted, temporary and tapered”.

The Taoiseach said that this week marks the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and restated Ireland’s solidarity with Ukraine.

At Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party meeting Tánaise Micheál Martin said engagement between the UK and EU on the Northern Ireland protocol was ongoing and there is no resolution yet.

The meeting heard what was said to be “positive feedback from across the party” on the spring cost-of-living package.