Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for accommodating me. I followed the early part of the debate and had to nip into another committee for a while. I have read the opening statements and followed most of the debate. I thank the witnesses for their presence.

My initial questions are mainly for Mr. Nolan. I hope this has not been discussed already, but Inside Airbnb is an incredible tool I dip into from time to time. At the moment, it suggests that today, 1 March, there are 25,303 vacant properties available to rent on Airbnb and 16,181 of those in Ireland today are categorised as entire homes. If we drill down to County Clare, where I am from, there are 1,404 vacant properties available, of which 995 are homes.

I met some Airbnb community representatives on Monday who told me the entire home heading is not truly representative.

Some of these could be yurts, stand-alone shelters or prefabricated units in gardens. Will Mr. Nolan explain how the entire home heading works within Airbnb and will he comment on what I just said in terms of how many of these units might truly be available tonight?