Danny Healy-Rae warns against evictions by private security
Danny Healy-Rae spoke in the Dáil on 12 May 2021 about provisions in a bill that he says would allow unjust evictions and the use of private security firms. He opposed those sections and urged alternatives including local authority buy-and-rent-back arrangements and protections for families and farms.
Eviction concerns
Mr Healy-Rae told the Dáil he is very concerned about certain sections of the bill that could result in people being removed from their homes. He said it would be wrong to subject weak people or young families to evictions carried out by private security and that he would not vote for any provision allowing such action.
Sheriff and enforcement practice
He praised the local sheriff for understanding how families fall into difficulty and for making efforts to avoid evictions, contrasting that with private security firms. He argued private contractors focus on quick removals and fees with no consideration for the family affected, and said past incidents of masked enforcement had frightened people and put them out of their homes.
Housing alternatives and tenant purchase
Mr Healy-Rae proposed that the Department of Housing together with local authorities should buy homes when families cannot repay loans and rent them back to the occupants, with a view to eventual tenant purchase. He criticised the effective abolition of tenant purchase for houses built since 2015 and called for that policy to be reversed so families can buy their homes when they get back on their feet.
Banks, vulture funds and state responsibility
He blamed banks and lending institutions for handing loan books to vulture funds and said borrowers originally dealt with local bank managers, not distant funds. He urged the government and the minister to address the role of banks and vulture funds, noting that the state has large shareholdings in some banks yet homeowners are not being helped.
Farming policy and production targets
He warned that farm sales will rise if production cuts are imposed, recalling that a previous Minister for Agriculture encouraged increased milk production and called milk "white gold". He said farmers are now being told to reduce herds, citing reports that herd reductions of around 50% were being discussed, and reaffirmed his decision to vote against the Paris Agreement targets in the earlier Dáil sitting and that he was not sorry.
Consequences and government action
Throughout his speech Mr Healy-Rae called on the government and the minister to reconsider enforcement measures, protect vulnerable families, restore tenant purchase opportunities and address the impact of lending practices and farm policy on rural communities.
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Thank you. Thank you very much, Cathaoirleach. First of all, I am very concerned about this bill, or certain sections of it anyway, and it's very wrong, and it should be avoided in every way possible to weak people or to weak families from their homes, and like Deputy Colin said there early in the morning or late at night, it's very unfair and very has an unsettling effect on a young family maybe for the rest of their lives, and to have there be young children when this happens. And to think that there's a suggestion that private security firms would be allowed to carry out this operation, I'm very concerned about that, and I will not be voting for that in any way or fashion. It's totally wrong, and we see and know what happened in the cases where these cases where these people came down with their faces covered and frightened the living daylights out of people and put them out of their homes. This is very, very wrong, and any suggestion like that, I would have some, I have faith in the sheriff and the sheriff in our county because you can talk to the man and he'll see reason and he has understanding how people get into the difficulties of how people get into the difficulties that they have, and he does everything he can to facilitate and ensure that an eviction is avoided, and we should have people like that. You have these security, on the other hand, they have a security firm that only wants to get the people out of their homes as quick as possible and demand their fee, and they have no feeling or no consideration at all for the for a family or how they got into that trouble, and we have called here, and I have called before, that where a family is in trouble and they can't pay back the money for their home. There should be some way that the Department of Housing together with the local authority should buy that house and rent it back to the family, the same as a local authority house would be rented in the first place, and in time maybe the family they will get on their feet again and go into the tenant purchase scheme, even though this is one of the things that the gripe I have with the housing and our housing minister, the tenant purchase scheme is all but abolished, and that was a great scheme where a tenant would buy out the house when they get on their feet, and especially with rural cottages where in the first place the farmer's son gave over the site to the local authority, and they built a property, and they built a house, and after a number of years, nearly all the cases they bought out their houses under the tenant purchase scheme, but any house that has been built since 2015 is not allowed to be purchased by any tenant, that's the rules in our local authority anyway, and it is totally and absolutely wrong, and I'm calling to address that and ensure that that's reversed, and to see vulture funds. In the first place it is my solid contingent that the banks and the lindy institutions that the homeowners dealt with in the first place, that they should not have handed their loan books or shouldn't have been allowed to hand their loan books over to the vulture funds, because in the first instance it was not with them the individual dealt with. They dealt with the manager of a bank, they dealt with the manager of a lindy institution of Irish origin, of local origin, and we're talking about our banks here, and it's very hard, they're not helping people very much, even though the state are involved and have large shareholdings on each of them, but it's totally and absolutely wrong to think that a bank can hand over their loan book to vulture funds and put people in the first place. It's totally and it's totally and it's totally wrong, Minister, and he should be addressing that as a government. And you see, like Deputy McGrath said, the new thing now is farms. The farmers thought before the farmers know that it was for sale at all, and that's totally wrong. Everyone knows, and you see, there will be more farms for sale, because here you have it. In 2013, Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, told people to increase production, to double milk production, and that milk production, and that milk was the new white gold, and that milk was the new white gold, and that the change was the new white gold. and that the Chinese were going to like and they were going to drink a lot of it. Now, we here, they have no care in it. And farmers SAMANTO has done the koord f Observatory in South E the Chinese were going to like it and they were going to drink a lot of it. No, we here have no care in it. And farmers are being told they must downsize their herds. And we even read in the Farmers Journal where they are told that they will have to cut their herds by 50 percent or 51 percent. The government is denying that now, but if they are going to meet their targets, and they are saying they have to meet the targets, and I said I was the only deputy here, whatever year it was, 2016 or 2017, that voted against the Paris Agreement and the Paris targets for 2020, and I am not sorry for that. But if we are going to insist that farmers, or if this government is going to insist that they have to cut their production, look at all the money they have spent in the meantime, Minister. How are they going to pay it back if they are not allowed to sell their milk? And we have Untashka blocking one of the outlets that we have, that we were producing to sell their milk. And they are being told they are getting no assistance, only let Untashka do what they like. And that's what's happening. But more farmers will be for sale if the Greens and Untashka get their way, in spite of the fact that it was a government minister to increase production. And he is still a minister. seat council in dr ANDERSON . 9
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