Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I have read the three submissions. I had to go to the Seanad to raise an item on the Order of Business but I am back. I took the time to read all the submissions. They are excellent and concise. As Deputy Coppinger said, this is a simple enough issue. It needs to be seen in the context of social housing policy and the delivery of affordable and social housing. We do not have a national affordable rent scheme. I think we need to look at this matter in that bigger context. I think the reports are excellent. I hope some of the recommendations will be fed into this process because they are important. I note that the submission made by the Peter McVerry Trust argues that the growth in short-term lettings is having an impact on the trust's "ability to move people out of homelessness". This is a simple but profound statement. Clearly, we need to address this real issue.

Everyone who has spoken here today referred to the need for quality standards and compliance with regulations. That needs to be done. I agree with Deputy Cowen that there did not seem to be any sense of urgency on the part of the officials from Dublin City Council or the Department in this regard. We heard the usual stuff about being notified of the board's decision in October as part of the section 5 declaration that was made in respect of Temple Bar. The standard old circulars are coming in like confetti into local authorities. They sit on some shelf or in some folder and nothing happens. I think Deputy Cowen is right. It is disappointing that a proactive approach has not been taken. If an issue is raised with an authority, it is obliged to do something about it. It is simply not good enough to send a circular to the Department. These bodies need to be on the Department's case, month in and month out, in order to ascertain what is happening. That is where matters stand.

The lack of an evidence base is clear in all of this. Two of the groups mentioned in their submissions that there is a need for greater research and greater clarity on all the points. Everyone - policymakers, stakeholders, users and people who avail of rented accommodation - needs to work on the basis of evidence so that alternative solutions can be found. If there was more accommodation in the market, this really would not be an issue. I am an advocate of Airbnb. There are great benefits of having Airbnb in cities. We have an acute housing and accommodation problem. There are other problems associated with that. I congratulate the witnesses again. I know many of them have been here before. Their submissions were concise, which is really impressive. These committees tend to attract endless papers, but these submissions are concise. I think these strong recommendations should go forward as part of the general policy in this area.