A Senator has said a landlord evicting nine elderly and sick residents from a retirement village - one of whom has dementia - is the “lowest of the low”. 

The properties are located in the Sonas Retirement Village in County Sligo and owned by Nasso BK Holdings Ltd. 

The tenants of six properties have received eviction notices in November, demanding that they vacate their homes by June. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Labour Party Senator Nessa Cosgrove said she recently met with two of the residents facing eviction, Elizabeth and Frank Stewart. 

Both are in their 80s and Frank is a wheelchair user who has dementia. 

“They moved into this retirement village in good faith that they would be spending the rest of their years there,” she explained. 

“They sold their own house a number of years ago, but felt that they were too old to buy a new house.

“So, they decided to rent and so it was set up for their needs. It's all on the ground level.

“But they're being evicted into homelessness.”

Legislation?

Senator Cosgrove has said she would “love” to see the company withdraw the eviction notices. 

She noted that the Stewarts’ son, David, also lives in the retirement village with them. 

He is disabled and has also been issued with an eviction notice. 

“Evicting very vulnerable people and elderly people and people with disabilities into homelessness is the lowest of the low, in my opinion,” she said.  

Sligo County Council has been asked whether they could buy the properties through the Tenant In Situ scheme, which allows local authorities to buy properties from landlords who wish to sell. 

However, the council has said they are “limited by national funding criteria and can only acquire properties under specific conditions”. 

“I can understand the county council saying that they don't have the money,” Senator Cosgrove said. 

“They don't have the money to purchase these.

“So, like, I'd be calling on the Minister for Housing and the Minister for Older People to intervene here and look at bringing in emergency legislation, where older people and people with specific health conditions are not being evicted into homelessness.”

Nasso BK Holdings Ltd has previously said they would “not make any comment” at the present moment.

Main image: An elderly man holding a walking stick. Picture by: PA Wire/PA Images