WHEN WE THINK of evictions in Ireland it is usually the battering ram knocking the door of a thatched cottage of tenant farmers in the famine from our primary schoolbooks. But today in Ireland there are, once more, tens of thousands of tenants being evicted from their homes. It’s not being done with battering rams but the silent issuing of notices of termination to renters by landlords.

The sheer scale of evictions is staggering. Nearly 15,000 notices of termination were issued to renters so far this year – a massive 35% increase annually. There are 1,600 eviction notices issued every month and 54 eviction notices issued every day. It is happening in every part of the country: 1,706 notices to quit were issued in Cork this year, 940 in Galway, 509 in Kildare, 412 in Meath and 356 in Wexford.

Each of these renters are individuals and families with their own story – their own trauma of being forced to leave their home. There are families being evicted with children whose rental property has been their only ‘home’. Parents are stressed and children are anxious about trying to find somewhere else to rent. Maybe in another part of the city, or a different town, where the kids will have to move school and lose friends – as well as losing their home and all the emotional connections and stability that gave them.

There are elderly pensioners who are being evicted and if they cannot afford anywhere else – they will be pushed into homelessness. There are young and middle-aged working people who face the stark choice when they receive the eviction notice of taking a step backwards in life – move back to a box room in their parent’s home; emigrate and leave the country; or to go into hidden homelessness – couch surfing.

What........

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