Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment. I agree with Deputies Pearse Doherty, Michael McGrath and Boyd Barrett.

In recent days I heard Mr. Tom Parlon had been in Lithuania where we are supposed to be getting workers. People from the west to whom I have spoken go to England to work rather than Dublin because they can jump on an aeroplane in Knock and get accommodation in England. That is the reality. If we do not provide some rent relief we are codding ourselves. To be blunt, going to Lithuania or other countries will not solve the problem given language barriers and other issues. Plenty of skilled people are leaving Knock Airport and Dublin Airport every Sunday night and Monday morning. The reason they are not going to the cities is because the rent is unaffordable. Unless we do something people will continue to go abroad.

I have friends in Canada where they can have a good lifestyle. They have houses and they are on pretty good money. We must incentivise them to stay here. Thousands of hugely skilled workers have left this country, and if the situation continues for much longer, they will settle in those countries and they will not come back. It is sad to say that, especially given the many villages in rural areas that need people to live in them.

I urge the Minister to try to resolve the problem in the rental sector because to put it bluntly, people cannot afford it. If we bring in people from other countries, some of them do not have the skill base and it can take a while to get certified. They will not be able to afford the deposit that is required to rent a house. We are codding ourselves at the moment by going on trips.

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