A young couple with two children with special needs face having to go into a hostel as they are due to be evicted in the next week, the Dáil has been told.
Michael and Shannon, both aged in their 20s, and their children, aged two and nine, are facing eviction from a small landlord in South Dublin “through no fault of their own”, it was claimed.
The case was raised on Thursday by People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who said Shannon was “breaking down in tears in front of me with her partner saying ‘my kids cannot go into that situation’ ”.
The Dún Laoghaire TD said Michael is working and Shannon is not.
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He said they have spent nine years on the council housing list but with “no prospect of a council house”. Boyd Barrett said they have been approved for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), with the monthly limit at €1,912, but the cheapest rent in South Dublin is €3,100 “for the bed size they need”.
He said “nothing is available” in most areas of the State within the HAP limits, as outlined in a Simon Communities report published earlier.
There were no properties available to rent within standard HAP limits across the 16 areas surveyed for the latest Simon Communities Locked Out of the Market report.
“What are Michael and Shannon supposed to do and their two kids?” Boyd Barrett asked Tánaiste Simon Harris during Leaders’ Questions.
“Do you think it is acceptable that their two vulnerable children with special needs should go into a hostel which will damage and traumatise them?
“Shannon was bursting out in tears with fear, and she is joining thousands of other children, many of them with special needs, parents struggling, and their chances of getting out of emergency accommodation are now diminished because ... all of the new tenancies after March 1st will go up to market levels, which are absolutely unaffordable.”
The Dáil passed legislation on Wednesday night that will introduce significant changes to the rental market.
The Residential Tenancies Bill 2026 means landlords whose properties become vacant will be able to reset rents to market rates from March 1st. There will be no changes for existing leases. New tenancies after March 1st will be subject to a minimum duration of six years in an effort to give greater security of tenure to tenants.
In response, Harris said every action the Government takes is to increase the number of homes available to rent or buy.
Harris said there is a commitment in the housing plan to review HAP limits, which would be concluded in the first half of this year.
The Fine Gael leader said small landlords make up 88 per cent of all landlords in the State and provide 45 per cent of all private tenancies.
He said the Government’s reforms were explicitly designed to help retain landlords while improving tenant security.
“We have to do both. If a small landlord leaves the market, what happens?” he asked.
“Tenants lose the ability to rent a home. There is a cause and effect here ... and landlords are not the enemy of the public good, as is often portrayed by the far left; it’s a vital part. Who’s going to rent the homes if there aren’t landlords?”
