Focus Ireland believes lifting the eviction ban is a mistake and has stated the failure of the Government to listen to homeless organisations about the reality facing front line services is deeply worrying.

Focus Ireland Director of Advocacy Mike Allen said: “There are virtually no free beds in emergency homeless accommodation and all local authorities are facing huge problems in increasing supply of emergency shelter. The Government has essentially decided to live with a level of street homelessness which has never been considered tolerable before. This may well involve children as well as adults. The Irish public have made it very clear over many years that do not accept that people should be forced to sleep rough, and it is almost inevitable that the Government will face increasing pressure over the coming months to reconsider this decision and re-introduce some form of new eviction ban.”

He adds: “Government ministers have repeatedly called for ‘balance’ but in their handling of this issue have blatantly failed to do so. We would expect over the next few weeks to see not only ‘re-actived’ Notices of Termination issued before the ban, but also a new wave of terminations from landlords who have been unsettled by the Government’s stop-start approach to this issue.”

Focus Ireland also reemphasised the need for decisive action to keep small-scale landlords in the market and people in their rented homes as well as urgent action to ensure that families who are homeless get a fairer share of the social housing that is becoming available.

Latest figures state there are a record total of 11,754 people homeless which includes nearly 3,500 children.