A bill proposing a 12-month ban on evictions brought forward by People Before Profit has now passed to the second stage after Junior Minister Kieran O'Donnell forgot to oppose it.
O’Donnell, who is the Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, had intended to oppose the bill, however, when the time came to step forward to stop the bill from progressing to its next stage he did not say anything, in what he described as a "rookie error".
The bill, introduced by the opposition party in a bid to extend the temporary eviction ban currently in place since November until the end of March for a total of 12 months, will now progress to the next stage, however, it is not likely to pass.
The video, which was shared by the People Before Profit Twitter page, has gone viral and has been viewed more than 13,000 times on that page alone. However, the video has also been posted by other accounts and across other platforms, amassing thousands more views, with one other personal account which shared the video gaining 12,000 views on Twitter alone.
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"The motion is that the bill be now read a second time, is that agreed?" Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Dáil following the debate of the Eviction Ban Bill 2022 on Wednesday morning.
However, despite the intention of the Junior Minister to oppose the bill, nothing was said when the Ceann Comhairle asked the Dáil.
"Agreed. Alright, thank you very much, the bill will be read a second time. We now move on to leaders' questions," he told the Dáil upon hearing no opposition to the bill
At this point Kieran O’ Donnell interjected to attempt to rectify his mistake, however, the Ceann Comhairle quickly shot him down, telling him "well no, you didn’t oppose it."
"We are opposing the bill," O’Donnell told him, to which Ceann Comhairle responds, "no, you can’t come in afterwards."
The camera panned to Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin, who can be seen with his hands over his face as he listens to the minister attempting to oppose the bill.
"I would ask the indulgence. Please, this is semantics, we are opposing the bill. Please Ceann Comhairle. My apologies, it was a rookie error, my apologies. I’d ask you to be somewhat flexible, just on this occasion," O’Donnell once more asked, in a bid to stop the bill.
"No, I mean there is a well-established practice. You call for a decision, the decision was made, and I am not prepared to have it unmade," the Ceann Comhairle responded.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed the Government would make a decision regarding the Eviction Ban Bill 2022 before St. Patrick's Day.
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