Sinn Féin TD Dessie Ellis in supporting the anti-eviction private members bill put forward by AAA and People Before Profit in December said:

“We have a serious situation where people are being evicted despite being up-to-date with the rent and being good tenants. A good proportion of these are being evicted as their landlords are selling the property usually to banks or vulture funds. The Government’s ‘Tyrrelstown agreement’ legislates for people with a large number of properties and rightly forces them to pass on those properties on their portfolios with tenants in place. Where is the Tyrrelstown agreement for property portfolios with a smaller number of properties? It’s not there and smaller property portfolios can evict many tenants as they think they can get more money for vacant properties.

“This PMB will address that issue and remove the sale of property as grounds for serving a notice to quit. This is an important point: it is our job as legislators to legislate and for many renters, this is a serious concern which the government cannot ignore any longer. While we support the majority of points in this PMB, there are elements of it which we have difficulty with but on balance this is a good Bill and we will support it.”

Sinn Féin TD Dessie Ellis has welcomed reports in the media this morning suggest that “Environment Minister Denis Naughten is expected to inform Cabinet today that the proposed scheme for pay-by-weight bin charges is inflexible, and more options need to be looked at”.

Deputy Ellis welcomed this change of heart on behalf of the Government, saying:

“I have been dealing with the confusion and the fear that the pay-by-weight bin charges have raised in households since last summer. The nature of the waste charges structure meant that some customers have to pay twice in one calendar year for a yearly contract and certain companies such as Greyhound led Minister Simon Coveney and their customers on a merry dance in relation to their price plans.

“The issue here is not the pay by weight, but the increase in standing charges that effectively places the majority of working people in a position that they are unable to afford a bin service. Last June, I said that only by annulling the new legislation, which has forced price hikes on waste collection, can fairer systems be established and put into place. It is good to see Minister Naughten heeding that advice. Now to really solve any further issues that will arise around waste management charges, the Minister needs to put waste management back into the hands of the Local Authorities.”