TDs should get back to work to tackle eviction crisis - Tóibín
The leader of Aontú, Peadar Tóibín TD, has said that the Dáil should be recalled prematurely from its two-week recess, given the most recent eviction statistics published by the Residential Tenancies Board.
Speaking from his constituency, Deputy Tóibín said:
"The relaxed nature of many government and opposition TDs this week is deeply frustrating. I don't think they fully comprehend the gravity of the tsunami of homelessness heading our direction in the coming weeks. The phones in my constituency offices haven't stopped ringing all morning from people in serious distress on the verge of homelessness. These are people who hold qualifications, and full-time jobs, with money in their bank accounts, who just cannot find property to rent after eviction."
Deputy Tóibín continued: "There is a serious disconnect between the political class and the ordinary people of Ireland. The Dáil took holidays between March 9 and March 21, and again on March 30 - we're not due back in Leinster House again until April 18.
"In no other sector of society would such relaxation be permitted especially at a time when the government is utterly failing at tackling the job of work facing the country. Minister O’Brien has serious questions to answer about how his officials didn’t notify him of the statistics from the RTB until after the decision was reached to list the eviction ban. Did the Minister ask to be left in the dark?"
"When Joe Biden lands on our shores on Tuesday, I sincerely hope he will be given an honest and unfiltered tour of the state of our island - I hope he will be shown the economic deprivation from Derry to Cork, that he'll be brought to meet Fr Peter McVerry and to study the statistics produced by the RTB, and listen to the heart-breaking sound of landlines ringing in constituency offices the length and breadth of the country - calls being made by women crying asking where they will go with their children when they're evicted. We're in an emergency and TDs need to sit up from their armchairs and come back to work as a matter of urgency," concluded Tóibín.