Last year almost 7,000 individuals and families were evicted from their homes, an 8% increase on 2012.

The figure come from housing corporation umbrella group Aedes, which represents around half the country’s 350 housing corporations.

In 88% of cases, people were evicted because they did not pay their rent. Others were told to leave because they were a public nuisance, they were illegally living in the property or were growing marijuana on a large scale.

Housing corporations are currently owed some €250m in unpaid rent, Aedes said.