*Clare CATU Chairman, Tim Hannon. Photograph: John Mangan
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC are “at their wits end” with an increasing amount of persons coming forward for assistance over rental evictions.
Officers with the Clare Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) have said more people are reaching out to avoid having to leave their properties.
Chairman of Clare CATU, Tim Hannon told The Clare Echo, “People are at their wits end, they are looking at other ways to how the crisis can be dealt with, the regular legislative means that people would have gone to in the past is not working, I went to school and I was listening to this carry on, something has to give, I don’t know does that mean going back to the days of the Land League but we will keep pushing”.
He said they were presently working to prevent up to six evictions across the county in locations such as Ennis, Ennistymon and Shannon which includes families of varying sizes, ages and backgrounds. Two of these cases were described as “very serious”.
Matters have become “more extreme” since the lifting of the eviction ban, he noted. “We’ve had a lot more members sign up since the lifting of the eviction ban, there has definitely been an uptake in the number of people getting in touch with us. People could be paying rent on time for five to eight years and now because there’s no properties in the county or no emergency accommodation, if they have to leave the property they are at risk of becoming homeless”.
Tenants from McNulty’s Yard, an apartment complex in Ennistymon which houses sixteen people have been made homeless while others are overholding and at risk of becoming homeless, Tim said
On the work of Clare CATU, he explained, “the first thing we try and do is use whatever legal means available to stop the evictions, if the notice isn’t valid that’s great, we help people with advice and navigate the supports available, some people are able to get the property purchased by Clare County Council and help with them whatever way possible”.
He added, “People shouldn’t be ignored or evicted without a court order but they are by bailiffs or landlords themselves, we show up as witnesses, we’d a case in Galway in Oranmore where we stopped an eviction by the threat of having other members show up”.
