THE MASS EVICTION of tenants from Tathony House in Dublin 8 has been ruled invalid by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

After nearly 100 people living in the building were served eviction notices in October 2022, a months-long campaign began for them to stay in their homes.

The tenants had been ordered to vacate the property by 2 June, but they were allowed to stay beyond this date pending the RTB decision, which was reached yesterday.

Over the past nine months, as they struggled to find alternative accommodation in a housing crisis, tenants held rally after rally protesting what they maintained was an illegal eviction.

They argued that their landlord’s decision violated the Tyrrelstown Amendment to the Residential Tenancies Act of 2016, which prevents property owners from evicting 10 or more units of their property, unless they would be caused “undue hardship” financially by allowing the tenants to stay.

People Before Profit councillor and tenant of Tathony House Madeleine Johansson said that the residents want the verdict to “inspire all tenants facing eviction to stand up, get organised and demand something be done about this dire housing crisis”.

“There should be penalties for landlords who do not engage with the tenant in situ scheme and local authorities should be able to compulsory purchase to save families from homelessness.”

The landlord, Ronan McDonnell, has the option to sell to Dublin City Council and keep the tenants in situ but, according to tenants, when the council continuously tried to make contact with him, he didn’t respond.

McDonnell did not respond to a request for comment from The Journal. 

His decision, Cllr Johansson said, has affected the mental health of tenants, which include a cancer patient, a lone parent and healthcare worker.

Tenants organiser James O’Toole said: ”We stayed beyond our eviction date because we knew this wasn’t a valid eviction. We were right to stand up and fight back and now we’ve been vindicated by this RTB decision.

“Our landlord has to start from scratch if he wants us evicted or he could just make his millions and talk to the local authority.”

There were 34 households in the building when the eviction notice was served, but some who moved out since have had to relocate to places like Meath and Dundalk as they were unable to find a home in Dublin.