I wish to raise a scandalous case of a mass eviction at Shannon Arms in Limerick. Up to 60 families are facing eviction by a consortium of landlords. Four of the landlords are evicting on the grounds of sale. Notices of eviction were signed at the same place and witnessed by the same solicitor on the same day.

Another landlord, the millionaire owner of Supermac's, Pat McDonagh, is evicting his tenants on the grounds of renovation, a claim backed up by a company run by his son-in-law. The suspicion is that the other landlords are selling their properties to Pat McDonagh and that all the rents will be hiked. Clearly, they are using this to evade the Tyrrelstown amendment in order to have a mass eviction of families in the interests of making a profit. What is the Government going to do about this?

There are various protections for tenants in the first instance. I am not involved in every case but I would appeal to the landlords in question to do everything they can to protect those tenants and not evict them in light of the circumstances we are in and the significant difficulties in securing alternative accommodation. I do not have the full details of the case or the circumstances involved. Again, in respect of tenants, a lot of protections and legislation have been implemented by this House to do everything we can to protect tenants in circumstances such as these.