The Government should consider reintroducing an emergency ban on no-fault evictions to help tackle homelessness, according to a new report by the Oireachtas Committee on Housing.
A moratorium on evictions was in place from the end of October 2022 until 1 April 2023, with the decision to drop the ban sparking political controversy and triggering a motion of no confidence in the government at the time.
However, TDs and Senators on the committee are urging Minister for Housing James Browne "to keep all options under review including an emergency ban on no-fault evictions for a defined period of time alongside any emergency package of measures in order to take the pressure off existing emergency homeless services".
Two TDs on the committee, Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin and Social Democrats' Rory Hearne, believe the minister should go further again and implement a three-year ban on no-fault evictions in order to stop renters falling into homelessness. Both TDs are their parties' respective housing spokespeople.
The committee backs a recommendation from the Housing Commission for a referendum to be held on adding a right to housing to the constitution.
The committee also recommended greater safeguards to prevent child homelessness, including a minimum time in emergency accommodation and measuring the length of time being spent by individual children in emergency accommodation.
The measures should come as part of a new child homelessness strategy, the report recommends.
TDs and senators also believe there should be increased funding for vital homeless prevention schemes, including tenant-in-situ as well as a greater allocation of social homes for those exiting homelessness and a significant increase in funding for and delivery of social and genuinely affordable homes.
There is also a call for the Department of Housing to engage with the Department of Justice to ensure that people living in direct provision are engaged with as early as possible to ensure that they do not exit the accommodation into homelessness.
Speaking ahead of the report, committee chair and Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy said there was "deep concern at the rising levels of homelessness including single people, couples, families with children and pensioners" and that committee urges the Government to "introduce an emergency package of measures to reduce the number of people becoming homeless, assist people to exit homelessness more quickly and ensure the Government meets its targets of ending long term homelessness by 2030".
Mr Carrigy also said a review into the Housing Assistance Payment currently being conducted by the Housing Agency should be shared with the committee once it is complete
The report follows public meetings of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage on 16 December 2025.
It makes 14 recommendations in all.
