Evicting tenant on word of Garda not practical

A family could be evicted from their local authority home in County Louth on the word of a Garda Superintendent.

That is the theory behind a motion passed by members of Louth County Council on Monday which will allow the Chief Executive to carry out an eviction on the word of a senior Garda officer.

However the practice is likely to be much, much different from the theory.

Realistically it is very difficult to see a scenario in which a person could lose their home on the recommendation of a Garda officer and it is equally unlikely that any such Garda officer would want to be in such a situation.

Anti-social behaviour is a curse and anyone living in any area in which they cannot enjoy the peace and quiet of their own home because of the behaviour of their neighbours, an unruly group of teenagers, public drunkenness, cars being raced really is living in a nightmare.

It is not easy for people living under such circumstances to complain to authorities, be they the Gardai or local authority, as they live with the fear of intimidation and retaliation.

In an ideal world residents or tenants should be able to complain about anti-social behaviour and the problem will be resolved one way or another.

But we don’t live in ideal worlds, people suffering from anti-social behaviour have to suffer silently, if they complain to the authorities they may bring unwanted attention upon themselves.

Catching the culprits in the act is near on impossible and the behaviour only resumes once the Gardai have left the area.

The burden of proof for Gardai is almost impossible.

There are already mechanisms within the local authority housing system to deter an- ti-social behaviour but they fall short of solving the problem.

There have been 172 complaints of anti-social behaviour to Louth County Council but 60 of those complaints were struck out as having no basis or being malicious.

Imagine a scenario were a family is being evicted from their from their home by the local authority on the word of the local Garda Superintendent.

Surely that eviction notice would be challenged in a court.

Imagine the negative publicity of evicting a family onto the streets and where would the Council re-house the family as that responsibility would ultimately fall on them.

That’s not to the say that the family or person might not be guilty of serious anti-social behaviour.

The announced measure however well intentioned is not realistic or practical.