A prominent homelessness campaigner from Newry has apologised to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for claiming he had clashed with the Housing Minister over ending the Republic’s eviction ban.
The Irish government had frozen no-fault evictions over the winter, as the shrinking options in the rental market meant more people were at risk of becoming homeless if they were told to leave.
It has now ended, with campaigners warning it will increase homelessness while the government has said measures are in place to protect those in need.
Fr Peter McVerry claimed the Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien wanted to extend the ban, but was overruled by Mr Varadkar.
The Taoiseach called this “100 per cent untrue” and said Fr McVerry had “zero evidence” to support his claim.
In an interview with RedFM, Fr McVerry apologised but said the dispute had become a "distraction" to the main issue of where evicted people would live.
“The phrase I was given was that the Taoiseach had overridden the minister," he said.
"In light of the Taoiseach’s denial, which I accept as true, I believe that that phrase was unfortunate and inaccurate – suggesting as it does a conflict or dispute between the Taoiseach and the minister.
“So, whatever the circumstances leading up to the decision to end the ban, which are now irrelevant as the decision has been made, I accept that the minister along with the rest of the Cabinet and the Taoiseach made the decision together to end the ban.”
He had previously called ending the ban the "worst decision" the government ever made and would lead to "a tsunami of misery".
Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin added that government measures, such as a child poverty initiative, "rings incredibly hollow" in light of the eviction ban.
“They do feel strangely timed and they do ring incredibly hollow when you realise just the statistics and the misery and the uncertainty and the insecurity that’s now being heaped on so many vulnerable families,” he said.
