{"id":7453,"date":"2019-05-18T06:32:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T10:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=7453"},"modified":"2019-05-19T08:33:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T12:33:44","slug":"irish-government-plans-legislation-to-protect-long-term-tenants-from-eviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=7453","title":{"rendered":"Irish Government Plans Legislation to Protect Long-Term Tenants from Eviction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"New legislation is planned to prevent landlords from evicting long-term tenants without a clear reason.<\/p>\n

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy says it is government policy to introduce tenancies of “indefinite duration” in legislation later this year.<\/p>\n

“Currently, a landlord can evict a tenant after six years without a reason, but the Minister says that will change,” said Minister Murphy writing in today’s Irish Independent.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that the situation is an emergency but said that “declaring it one does not mean we can just suspend our laws or the Constitution”.<\/p>\n

Mr Murphy said that Fine Gael “know that many people, young and old, are in an incredibly difficult situation”.<\/p>\n

Father Peter McVerry from the Peter McVerry Trust has described the housing situation as morphing from “a crisis to catastrophe”.<\/p>\n

He welcomed the Housing Minister’s statements but said that it doesn’t go far enough.<\/p>\n

What the government are doing is tweaking the current system – they are increasing the height of apartments, they are reducing car parking space needed, they are reducing the size of apartments.<\/p>\n

“They are tweaking the system and we need far, far more than tweaking,” said Fr McVerry.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a rally supporting the Raise the Roof initiative will take place in Dublin later today, calling for action on the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is urging members to back the protest, which starts at Parnell Square at 1pm local time (8am EDT).<\/p>\n

ICTU General Secretary, Patricia King says the Government has failed to solve the problem.<\/p>\n

“The basic aim of this rally is to continue our campaign to have the current government policy in relation to housing reversed,” said Ms King.<\/p>\n

“It is a failed policy and from our point of view, we have had a number of demonstrations since last October and we really want to see a much stronger approach in terms of the building of social and affordable housing.”<\/p>\n

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