The Dublin Tenants Association have hit out at the Government for courting so called "vulture funds".

They say recent actions by such funds, where many tenants were given notices to quit, are not the result of a natural disaster, but a direct consequence of government policy.

Their spokesperson, Michael Byrne, wants politicians to immediately introduce measures to protect tenants from vulture funds as the housing shortage in Dublin gets worse.

He said: "The sale of property should be removed from the Residential Tenancies Act as a reson for the termination of a tenancy.

"What this prevents, in this case, is vulture funds buying properties with a view to evicting the tenants and then flipping for a profit. That's one of the most important changes we'd like to see happening."