Paul Lawless: Evictions Rise, Working Families Turn Homeless
Paul Lawless addresses the Dáil about a rising eviction crisis in Ireland in 2026, focusing on a Wicklow family whose daughter has been diagnosed with leukaemia and who face homelessness. He blames recent government housing policy and legislation for an avalanche of evictions and the exit of small landlords from the market.
Key allegation
Paul Lawless presents a case study of Ciarán and Jessie Redmond from County Wicklow, parents who were both self-employed and now face eviction after their daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia. He highlights that the family does not qualify for supports and were offered emergency accommodation while the father has had to take leave to care for his child.
Policy consequences
Lawless argues that current housing policies have created a new face of homelessness: the working poor. He cites regional thresholds such as a reported social housing support cap of 30,000 in County Mayo and claims that recent legislation has accelerated a "flight of the small landlord," contributing to a 50% rise in eviction notices and 7,000 eviction notices in the first three months of 2026.
Wider context
The speaker places these cases within a national failure to control construction costs and building inflation, saying the government has done little to alleviate the crisis. He warns that the result is households who are too wealthy for social housing and too poor for private rented accommodation, and calls on the Minister and government to address the policy failures causing homelessness among working families.
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Sister, this week I spoke to a family from County Wicklow, Ciarán and Jessie Redmond. Their daughter was recently diagnosed with leukaemia and they are facing eviction. They were both self-employed, hard-working parents doing the best that they can for their family and unfortunately Ciarán has been forced into taking some leave from his work to care for his daughter and yet they do not qualify for any support. They were offered emergency accommodation, Minister. Imagine caring for your child with leukaemia and living in emergency accommodation. Hard-working family, a family who did everything right, a family with both self-employed parents and they have been told by your government to go to homeless accommodation. And that is what's happening, Minister, right across the country. This is Ireland in 2026, Minister. Too rich for social housing and too poor to survive on the private rental sector. That's what your housing policies have done. And in County Mayo, where evictions are spiralling out of control, the social housing support threshold is €30,000. Imagine trying to run a household, pay your bills, pay rent, pay for your car on €30,000. And Minister, once upon a time, homelessness was associated with very complex problems like addiction and so on. But we are facing a new wave of homelessness, a new face of homelessness. And that face is hard-working people. That face is the working poor. And that is what your policies have done. I see it every single week in my constituency, Minister. And the frightening thing is, Minister, is that most of the people who I've spoken to in my constituency clinics across Mayo have never availed of any social supports in their lives. They're almost embarrassed to outline the situation. But it's not those people that should be embarrassed, Minister. It is your government. You have utterly failed. Utterly failed. Housing. We could build houses in the 30s and 40s. Today we can't. Why? Because it's a cost crisis. You have allowed the construction sector, the building inflation to spiral out of control. And you have done almost nothing to alleviate this major difficulty, Minister. The legislation that you introduced last March made it even worse. And I stood here in the Dáil before the vote, and I warned you and I urged you to reconsider. I actually warned, Minister, that this legislation would become known as the flight of the small landlord. It would lead to an avalanche of evictions. And as night follows day, that is what has happened. Eviction notices have increased by 50%, reaching 7,000 evictions in the first three months of 2026. The reality is, Minister, when you break into those numbers, 60% of all those are exiting the market.
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