Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are introducing new legislation and regulations on short-term letting such as Airbnb to restrict it in the cities, in particular. The proposed legislation is currently being reviewed by the European Commission. It is something we want to introduce, in particular in city centres and urban areas where there are such shortages of places to rent. As I said earlier, in response to questions from others, it is encouraging to see how many first-time buyers there are every week - 400 people are buying their first home every week. It is an underestimate because it does not include couples but rather counts them as one person. We have not seen those kind of numbers since the Celtic Tiger period. The Government will continue its work to make homeownership a reality for many more people than is the case at the moment.

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