HOUSING SPOKESPERSONS OF Opposition parties have expressed serious concern about plans for an eviction of 14 families from a housing estate in Killarney, Co Kerry, calling the move “unbelievable” for the tenants involved.

As reported by The Journal earlier this week, the households, comprising 15 children and 25 adults, received notices to leave by next July in recent weeks.

Several have lived in the Loretto Convents estate for the past five years, with the families residing across four apartments and ten houses.

The eviction letters were sent by Dublin firm Home Club on behalf of the Cypus-based investment fund Xerico. The fund is a subsidiary of the London-based private equity company LRC Group, which owns hundreds of rentals in Ireland.

Addressing the evictions today, Labour housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan said that the move would “uproot” the tenants’ lives, adding that Xerico is a “hugely profitable” company and questioning whether moving the families out of their homes was necessary.

“Through no fault of their own, people’s lives are going to be turned upside down,” Sheehan said.

The Limerick TD said it was an example how “time and again, renters are thrown under a bus” in Ireland.

We know there is an absolute dearth of homes to rent in Ireland, and none of them are affordable. The consequences of this Government’s failed approach housing to housing will be felt by society for generations to come.

Sheehan added Labour has wanted to introduce a ban on no fault evictions to prevent incidents such as the Loretto Convents evictions from happening.

This included attempts to introduce emergency amendments to the Government’s residential tenancies legislation that sought to ban no fault evictions.

The concern has long been that some landlords in the Irish private rental sector are able to legally evict people and hike up rents afterwards.

Similarly, Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne told The Journal that the families are facing a “horrific” situation because of what he called the failure of the government to ban no fault evictions.

Hearne added that the situation in Killarney could also be a case where a landlord is “preemptively” evicting tenants to avail of a chance to sell before new rental rules come into effect in March.

Recent figures from the Residential Tenancies Board showed an increase of nearly 700 evictions between April and June this year compared to the same period last year.

New tenancy protections are set to come into effect for then, but it will also see landlords have the right to reset rent where the rate is below market value. However, this will only apply to where a new tenancy contract has been signed following 1 March next year.

Xerico and Home Club have been contacted for comment.