Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right; we cannot wait any longer. I am a fan of home sharing. It is a very interesting new development that we have in the shared economy. However, it cannot happen in an unfettered way. Certainly when we have a housing crisis it cannot happen in an unregulated way.

The Deputy has me in a difficult position because I am about to finalise proposals on this. Had this question come this day next week, I think we would be talking about the changes that would have already been made, if I can put it in those terms. If we want to look to the types of recommendations and the types of changes that should be made, the Oireachtas joint committee had some excellent proposals. I was actually closer myself to that committee's recommendations than to the report I received from the group that was established. If we look to Toronto in particular, what it has done is very interesting. Essentially, what we will be talking about is potentially a two-stage process whereby in the near and immediate term we go to make a change that will have a substantial outcome in terms of getting short-term lettings back into the long-term market, but then also moving to a point after that where we can have a proper understanding of what is happening in terms of licensing, regulation and everything else.

I will give people notice when I make the announcement ahead of when the actual changes will come into law. I will do that next week in order that people can have a little bit of time to get ready for the new arrangements. I agree that it is important that we move on this quickly.

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