One councillor has criticised Gardaí for not intervening, as a family of eight were evicted by a gang of men in Donegal.

The family have said they were evicted without notice from rented accommodation on March 12th.

Footage posted online shows four men arriving at the house and telling the couple and six children they had to leave, before starting to pack up their belongings.

One man threatened to turn the water, electricity and "everything off" in 10 minutes, telling the family they "no longer live here."

Their items were put into bin bags and placed outside the house.

Father-of-six Gabriel told Lunchtime Live he was surprised when the landlord showed up.

"They entered our house through the front and the back doors with black bags for packing our stuff," he said.

"It was the landlord, with another three men, so it surprised me".

He said the landlord accused him of not paying the rent, "but I have the transfer confirmation in my phone", Gabriel said.

A still from the video footage shows a man changing the locks. Picture: Supplied

They had been living in the house for two months, with a lease signed for three years.

Gabriel is a hotel worker and his wife is a cleaner.

He said his landlord called the hotel and said they "destroyed the house."

They have been staying with friends in Sligo since this happened.

'Truly shocking'

Sligo Fine Gael Councillor Sinéad Maguire said this was cruel.

"It's truly shocking, it's incredible to watch it in this day and age," she said.

"To see that somebody can be so heartless and so cruel to a family with young children, it's remarkable.

"Currently in Sligo there isn't even emergency accommodation available to the family.

"So they're incredibly fortunate in that there has been a family who have been willing to keep them for the last two weeks.

"Obviously that's on very short-term basis and it can't continue".

The men moved through the house, packing up the family's things and telling them it was no longer theirs to live in. Picture: Supplied

Cllr Maguire said she has been talking to colleagues in both Sligo and Donegal County Councils.

"I haven't had a positive response to either of those enquiries yet," she said.

She said she was contacted by the family they're staying with, who were "shocked about what had happened."

"Not only the fact that the landlord did what he did, but also the lack of response from the Gardaí involved in this," she said.

"There were two calls placed to Gardaí - the Gardaí did eventually arrive, but didn't intervene".

'Landlord took the law into his own hands'

Cllr Maguire said this goes against Garda policy around repossessions and evictions.

She said this has to look at the legality of a repossession, taking into account human right concerns - including children and vulnerable people.

"As you can hear from Gabriel while he's clearly a very intelligent man, he's not familiar with our process and procedure," Cllr Maguire said.

"He had six children under his care at the time - and unfortunately none of the policy was adhered to.

"The landlord was allowed literally to put these people out on the street at night".

The empty living room is seen in the house after the men remove the family's belongings. Picture: Supplied

Cllr Maguire said what was done was completely illegal.

"There's nothing legal about this," she said.

"There's a process involved in repossessing a home; none of that was adhered to.

"There was no court procedure, there was no option to appeal to the RTB - all of their legal rights were denied".

She said: "What happened in this case was outrageous, it was abhorrent.

"It was a landlord who took the law into his own hands and had no regard for human rights or dignity or anything for these people".

Asked where the family can go, Cllr Maguire said: "I don't know that."

Listen back to the full segment below:

Main image: Split-screen image shows a man going through the house with a black bag and the family's belongings left in the front porch. Picture by: Supplied