{"id":323991,"date":"2026-03-01T21:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/323991\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T21:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:02:07","slug":"fear-grips-wexford-housing-estate-after-36-eviction-notices-issued-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/323991\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear grips Wexford housing estate after 36 eviction notices issued \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mother of two has described the immense personal strain caused by the issuing of eviction notices to her and 35 other households in a Co Wexford<\/a> housing estate.<\/p>\n

The notices of termination were issued to people renting houses in the Hazelwood Estate in Bridgetown. Affected tenants received the notices last Friday, in advance of the Government\u2019s new rental rules<\/a>, which came into effect on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Under the new rules, landlords will have to keep rent-price increases capped at 2 per cent, or the rate of inflation, annually. However, in the cases of new tenancies, owners can reset it to the market rate with no limit.<\/p>\n

Tenancies started after Sunday will have a minimum duration of six years and there will also be more stringent grounds for eviction.<\/p>\n

The Hazelwood Estate tenants held a meeting on Sunday in the local hall to discuss their options.<\/p>\n

Ann Marie Lamb, a single mother of two who has a child with additional needs, said: \u201cThere are 36 households in total facing this situation and behind every one of those houses is a real family trying to figure out what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamb explained that many who have been given the notices are working full-time, paying rent and \u201cdoing everything we can to keep our lives stable\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about houses \u2013 it\u2019s about children in local schools, families connected to their community and people who simply don\u2019t know where they are supposed to go in the middle of a housing crisis when there are so few rentals available,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me personally, I\u2019m a single mother with two children, one of whom has additional needs and is settled in school locally. The idea of having to uproot our lives is frightening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope people reading this understand that this is not an abstract story \u2013 it\u2019s real families, real stress and real uncertainty. We are doing our best to support each other and find a way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood properties are owned by a developer, Patchflow Ltd, which has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

An emergency information meeting is to be held by Wexford County Council on Monday. <\/p>\n

It is estimated about 100 people, including children, are affected by the termination notices issued to 36 homes.<\/p>\n

Ronan Kavanagh (49) and his partner Ashling Keating (41) also received a termination notice on Friday evening when they returned home after work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are totally gutted. We\u2019ve been living in this house for 10 years,\u201d said Kavanagh, who is a healthcare worker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t qualify for HAP [housing assistance payment] or anything like that as we are seen as earning too much, which is really too little to be able to get a mortgage. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very stressful, but we will get through it somehow. We have nothing to fall back on or anyone to catch us when we fall as we don\u2019t qualify for social housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

His partner added: \u201cThis is really scary. I\u2019ve not slept properly in the last number of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local representatives have described the development as deeply worrying. <\/p>\n

George Lawlor, a Labour<\/a> TD for Wexford, met the affected tenants at Sunday\u2019s meeting and told them the matter would be raised in the D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n

He has described the developments as \u201cshocking\u201d and called for an \u201cimmediate intervention\u201d by Government. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is no coincidence that this wave of notices comes on the back of the new rental rules brought in by Government,\u201d said Lawlor. \u201cWexford already struggles with housing supply and soaring rents.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed out that families cannot simply \u201cpick up and find another affordable home\u201d at short notice. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t [any] affordable options sitting idle,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen 36 notices land at once, the ripple effect hits the entire community. I\u2019m calling on Government to step in immediately, to examine these cases in detail and to ensure that every legal protection available to tenants is enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Department of Housing spokesperson confirmed Minister for Housing James Browne has been in contact with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) over the weekend in relation to the matter. Browne understands the RTB is directly engaging with Wexford County Council to ensure the tenants\u2019 rights are protected.<\/p>\n

The Department spokesperson also said under Section 34 of the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord must state a reason for termination in any \u201cPart 4 tenancy termination notice served\u201d. They added the termination will not be valid unless copied to the RTB and the stated reason must comply with regulatory guidelines.<\/p>\n

Local Aont\u00fa<\/a> councillor Jim Codd said \u201cin light of the many eviction letters received\u201d in Bridgetown, the council will hold a \u201cspecific information and advice clinic for those households on Monday from 4pm to 6pm in the youth centre, Bridgetown\u201d. He encouraged affected tenants to attend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mother of two has described the immense personal strain caused by the issuing of eviction notices to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3662,61,60,43,9270],"class_list":["post-323991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-housing-crisis","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-wexford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}