One man currently in a house share with five other people has said he is 'giving up' on trying to find somewhere else to live.
Raymond, who is aged in his 50s, told Lunchtime Live he and his other housemates have to move out as the three-bedroom house is being sold by the owner.
He said they have all gotten on really well together.
"I myself have been renting for about eight or 10 years," he said.
"I'm in the same place now for the last five years, and luckily there was the rent freeze and the eviction ban more importantly.
"The house that we're in was going up for sale; the owner lives abroad, he got ill and he wanted to sell the premises.
"The situation out and about when you go looking for places is absolutely dire.
"I'm in my late-50s and I share with a couple from Mexico and a couple - Czech and Slovak - and their little four-year-old toddler.
"When I moved into the house there was only the couple and the Mexican chap and he got married in the interim and his wife moved in and then the baby arrived."
'A stay of the execution'
Raymond said they tried looking at moving out together.
"One of the lads has the lease on it and he sublets out, with the knowledge of the landlord, the other two rooms," he said.
"We got two extra people into the house, and we didn't say much about it, but then we were told the landlord wanted to sell.
"We were kind of looking around, 'Will we stick together', we all get on well.
"We're all in mature years, the other two couples are over-40, I'm the eldest.
"Then of course COVID happened, so we get a bit of a stay of the execution there you could say.
"It still doesn't help us out really because it's looking like February that the 'For Sale' sign is going up.
"This has been going on for two years".
'I don't get an answer back'
Raymond said he is eligible for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and is in the process of applying for it.
"When I go out to [look at] places it's mostly young people in their late 20s, 30s subletting rooms out of apartments or whatever," he said.
"I don't get an answer back.
"It's young people renting out a room, and they want other young people in sharing with them.
"The same problem for the couple with the child as well - they were finding it extremely difficult to get anything suitable within a budget."
Raymond said his original rent for his room was €650 including bills, and this increased by €100 plus bills when more people moved in.
"We had to kind of bribe the landlord to let us stay, basically," he said.
"He's an unregistered landlord, he's not paying tax".
'Completely out of reach'
Raymond said he is starting to give up on where to go.
"In the past four months, five months I've been out to six different places," he said.
"I've given up at this stage.
"The rents are touching €950-ish - that's a room in a house or an apartment.
"I would love to have a place of my own, especially an own-door place, but it's completely out of reach.
"Absolutely and completely out of reach."
Asked what he will do next, Raymond said: "Absolutely don't know, I really don't know".
He added that he will likely receive a final eviction notice in February or March next year.
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