Tánaiste Michael Martin has defended the lifting of the eviction ban whilst expressing concern that the number of homeless people has risen to a record high of 12,600 in June, an increase of 1.3 per cent compared to the previous month.
Speaking at the turning of the sod on a HISCo investment in Ballyvolane in Cork, which will see the delivery of over 750 homes, Mr Martin admitted that he was not satisfied with the latest figures released in the quarterly report by the Department of Housing.
“It (homelessness) is going up and that is not satisfactory - it is something we are very concerned about. The answer is supply.”
"In terms of the eviction ban it (not lifting it) would have made matters worse.
"It would have made it worse in terms of the supply of properties for rent - in fact, as I said in my speech earlier we are going to have to look at how we can improve the overall environment to get more people to rent out their homes, to come into the rental market.
"To create a more incentivised market in that way because people are going (down the route) of AirBnB, they are doing different things with their homes, they are selling their homes, they are taking them out of the rental market.
"There is no doubt that a combination of factors have given rise to that - if we were to have an indefinite eviction ban then more people would have left the market and more people would leave the market.“
Mr Martin said what the rental market needs now “is a degree of certainty and clarity into the future.”
“And in the forthcoming budget we hope to provide that."
"But also supply - supply is the key."
"There have been some very big projects announced. Recently the Government announced a huge project in Dublin with 850 homes, likewise in respect of this (Cork) project (with 753 homes)."
"If you look at the figures from the beginning of the year - for quarter one and quarter two - there are a very accelerated number of commencements in the private side and the social housing is going very strongly, and that takes pressure off the private side as well.
"Again, as I say, we will see what we can do on top of that."
Meanwhile, Mr Martin said that he was cognisant of the pressures faced by mortgage holders following the latest interest rates increase by the ECB.
When asked about banks such as AIB making large profits when mortgage holders are under pressure with the ninth ECB interest rate in just over a year Mr Martin stressed that in “some respects banks are much healthier now.”
“But no doubt there are pressures on mortgage holders because of the increased interest rates. And again over the last year we have endeavoured to deal with the cost of living increases more generally.
"In terms of the banking situation we want more competition. The banks need to ensure that they can make sure that their customers are protected and facilitate them if they are coming under difficulty. That is something we will keep under review," he said.
