A “staggering” number of eviction notices have been issued to Galway tenants in recent months – even ahead of last weekend’s controversial lifting of the ban – and homeless services here warned this week that there’s now ‘nowhere for people to go’.

Just days after the Government lifted the moratorium on no-fault evictions, COPE Galway has issued this stark warning that Galway is on the cusp of seeing, for the first time, families and children being left with no option but to sleep on the streets.

Galway has been identified as the third-worst county in Ireland for eviction notices served in the last three months of 2022 in the latest Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) figures – behind only Cork and Dublin with 287 tenants set to lose their homes in the short-term.

These figures, which were kept under wraps until after the eviction ban was lifted, only add to the woes of panicked renters scrambling to find a home in a barren rental market where just 32 units were available in Galway City this week – most of which were going for in excess of €2,500 per month.

At the same time, homeless charity COPE Galway has cautioned that emergency accommodation was at capacity – in advance of these almost 300 evictions taking place.

A recent census carried out by the charity revealed that a given night, there were 375 people in emergency accommodation in Galway; in excess of 130 people in ‘transitional’ spaces; and an additional 25 people sleeping on the streets.

COPE Galway’s Head of Operations, Martin O’Connor, said these were “staggering figures for Galway”, as he anticipated increased demand when the full effect of the eviction ban’s lifting was felt.

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