Private rental sector now gateway to eviction and homelessness – RTB data
Private rental sector now gateway to eviction and homelessness - RTB data - The Labour Party
Labour’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD said Government must implement his bill to ban evictions following a 50% increase in eviction notices revealed by the latest RTB data.
Deputy Sheehan said the high handed manner in which Government rushed through its rental bill is already coming home to roost.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“7,062 eviction notices were issued in Q1 in 2026 as a direct result of Government’s botched rental reforms. They need to change tact immediately and support my Bill for an emergency three year eviction ban to create breathing space and to stave off thousands of those in the private rental sector from entering homelessness.
“Renters need emergency protections against Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s rental disaster. The sickening part in all of this is that all the experts, and all opposition spokespeople warned Government that this would happen as a direct result of their irresponsible changes.
“Now that we are seeing the scale of the crisis we need to hear from Minister Browne today, he must introduce a no fault eviction ban to protect renters from the dysfunctional market he has worsened.
“These latest figures come in the context of a housing market that has been destroyed by Fianna Fáil’s tried and failed policies – with rents increasing by more than 100% over the past decade, and almost 50% since Covid alone.
“Renters have been swindled for years in the housing market, and now they have been utterly abandoned by Government in the middle of a housing emergency.
“These figures come before the devastating impact of the market reset mechanism is felt, which will allow landlords to reset rents to market rates in between tenancies and bring about the return of double digit rent increases and a return to economic evictions.
“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have decided to punish renters at the behest of institutional investors and property developers for their housing crisis. We need an urgent change in tack now.”