Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the information and for giving their time to the committee this morning.

If my time runs out, I might come back in later in the meeting. My first question relates to housing. It is instructive for us to see it written down. This is an issue that committee members deal with on an individual basis when we meet businesses and it is useful to see all the information gathered together here. There was reference to the situation in rural areas being as concerning as that in urban areas. That might come as news to some people, though not to me. There may be a perception that it is a problem for cities rather than one for country areas but this housing crisis is now in every town, village, city and townland across the State. Mr. McKeever stated that the housing crisis is increasing the cost of acquiring talent as companies have to try to keep up with the rising rents and so on. I ask the witnesses to elaborate on the difficulties the housing crisis is causing and, in particular, the potential for long-term damage. Business owners in the SME sector are telling me they are losing out on workers and business that are mobile. Their fear is that recovery might be very slow or, in some instances, impossible. I ask the witnesses to address those issues, in any order.