People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has predicted there will be an "avalanche" of evictions this summer, unless the Government "very very quickly" intervenes and extends a ban.
He said his party's Eviction Ban Bill, which is due for debate in the Dáil on Wednesday, would provide for a "comprehensive" ban on no fault evictions for the duration of the housing crisis.
Housing campaigner Peter McVerry said the Government should adopt the bill, despite its concerns that extending such a ban could fall foul of the Constitution for not being "temporary".
He told the news conference the Coalition should pass the Bill, send it to the President who could in turn refer it to the Supreme Court.
This would mean the Bill would either be found to be lawful, in which case there wasn't a problem, or found to be unconstitutional - which would then pave the way for a referendum.
Asking prices 'astronomical'
Mr McVerry said the Government needs to accept that relying on the private rental sector to provide housing to low-income families was "dead", given that asking prices were "astronomical".
He called for the Government to build 7,000 modular homes, rather than the planned 700, to help ease the crisis.
Wayne Stanley of Simmon Communities said that it was unusual for him to be sharing a platform with just one political party but the scale of the housing crisis, and the incredible shortage of tenancies, meant there simply had to be an extension to the ban on evictions.
Cllr Madeleine Johansson, who is facing eviction from Tathony House in Dublin, said Ireland needs to get in line with European renting norms which included that a person or company selling an apartment block, or properties, could not evict sitting tenants.
