Mr. Francis Doherty:

Deputy Ó Broin asked whether we have lodged any complaints. We have not done so. We do many things, and planning enforcement is probably the least of our priorities at the moment. We can certainly share the information we are aware of with Dublin City Council. We have made it available. It has been shared on platforms like "Morning Ireland" and Dublin InQuirer.

I would like to clarify the point that was made about proposing a ban on change of use. That relates specifically to short-term lettings that are currently let but which do not have planning permission. Where should the owners of such properties go to seek planning permission, given the current crisis?

Our priority should be housing and homes for people, be they homeless or seeking rental accommodation, over the needs of the tourism industry.

Several members have raised the question of urgency. Everyone on this side of the table would agree that we need to see greater urgency in the system. Front-line staff in the Peter McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland try day in and day out to do their best in a growing and deepening crisis. We need the effort and urgency that we display to be replicated at political level in the Department and the local authorities.

Deputy Coppinger mentioned that Airbnb does not impact on particular areas in north-west Dublin. There is, however, a ripple effect for people who cannot get accommodation in the city because apartments are being changed to short-term lettings. These people then move to outlying areas which pushes up prices and affects those at the lower end of the market.

I often say that if the housing system above us in the homeless sector is broken, it makes our task of ending homelessness almost impossible. If we cannot get access to housing in the first instance, we cannot move people out of homelessness and, therefore, we stay with the shelter system which grows in scale and the problem deepens.