George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)

I thank the witnesses for their excellent presentations. Ms Cronin-Falvey hit the nail on the head when she suggested each local authority should have the ability to tackle this in their own individual way. Senator Fitzpatrick spoke about Dublin, which is an area that needs particular attention, given the volume of people. That is true for most major cities around the world. They have difficulties other areas of the country are not be encountering and on a much bigger scale.

Much of the legislation introduced has killed imaginative forms of housing. I give the example of Wexford town's Main Street. We used to have people living over shops and I presume it is the same in other towns across the country. That is pretty much gone now because of fire and safety regulations. Nobody lives above the main street in Wexford any more so I can take the point made regarding fire safety and regulations that have been foisted upon people since 2019 and how they present terrific difficulties.

Senator Fitzpatrick also talked about the between 10,000 and 19,000 buildings available as we speak. Do we have any information as to how many of those would be individuals like the witnesses or is this an institutionalised business where people are making large sums of money from these short-term lets? A city is going to attract people who will also seek that. Does the witnesses have any information on the numbers?