Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the issues highlighted by the census data is the increase in the number of adult children living at home. The fact that adults in their 20s and 30s are still living with their parents is another indication of the housing crisis. There has been a significant increase in that cohort which highlights the problem to which my colleagues have referred, namely, that people cannot rent accommodation. I am not talking about people who are married but about single people who are being driven out of the cities because of rent increases. Despite the rent controls that are in place, Airbnb is creating a huge problem. I have personal knowledge of four adults living in a house in Dublin who were paying the average rent. The landlord opted for Airbnb and their rent doubled overnight. They were told they could either pay double the rent or bugger off and they had to leave. Airbnb is significantly distorting the rental market for single people in Dublin, so many of whom are not able to rent accommodation. They have good jobs but they cannot live near their workplaces. I agree with everything that was said about empty homes, taxation and so forth but we must not ignore the Airbnb problem.

In terms of the debate about an empty home tax, I would suggest that such a tax be limited to the designated rent pressure zones. In that way, people who own properties in remote rural areas that have not seen any population growth would not have a difficulty. We also need to consider rural resettlement. There are many rural towns that have infrastructure in place and vacant properties available. People might like to move there if, by way of Government policy, there were jobs available. In that way we would have inward population and inward investment. We must change our strategy for tackling the issue of depopulation in rural Ireland, particularly in the West. The data being provided by the CSO is very important in that context.

Finally, as a student of history I loved looking at the 1911 census returns and finding out about my grandparents and great grandparents. I think the next census after 1911 was in 1926. When will we be able to read the data contained therein? Are any of the witnesses here today in charge of that?