TENANTS ‘BIAS’ CLAIM INQUIRY AFTER EVICTION
HOUSING Minister Darragh O’Brien has asked for an investigation into the eviction of nine tenants in Phibsborough, Dublin.
Video posted online last week showed a stormy stand-off between the bailiffs and a group of African immigrants, who claimed racial discrimination.
A female garda stood between the two groups. A bailiff told the tenants they were given notice well in advance of the eviction – a claim the tenants rejected.
Minister O’Brien has written to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) saying he is ‘deeply concerned’ about the treatment of tenants who were
Decide what action to take
evicted from a house on Berkeley Road on the northside of the capital.
He asked the RTB to launch an investigation into the eviction. ‘I would ask you to consider an own-violation investigation under RTB Part 7A of the Residential Tenancies Act and, separately, I would ask you to prioritise any dispute that may be brought to you by the affected tenants,’ he added.
He would decide what action to take after viewing the report.
After the video emerged, Deputy Garda Commissioner John Twomey sought a review of garda actions during the eviction. Meanwhile, the tenants have appealed for help from Dublin City Council.
In the stand-off, an African man tells the bailiffs that they are only evicting them because they are black, while an African woman backs up his claim.
The bailiff and his team deny this and say the group were given notice of their eviction last year. But the woman demands a copy of the court order permitting their eviction.
The garda stands between the two groups and tells the tenants that they have been given notice of their eviction.
‘As far as we are concerned, you no longer have any right to be here,’ she says.