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

I acknowledge the basic point the Deputy started off with, which was how important social connections are. In this very online and digital age, it is still all the more important that we meet each other, see other people, meet, embrace, shake hands and have shared experiences whether that is attending matches, concerts, agricultural shows and other events over the summer. Those things are really important for people's sense of community and mental health.

They do not always have to be paid for and they do not always require tickets. Many events I attended in the past week or two were free, often funded by Government and local authorities. At the weekend, I attended Street Feast in Dublin 8. It happened all over Dublin city - 400 places around the country - where people were encouraged to have a street party on their own street. An Garda Síochána closed off the street and residents organised small events. It was a great chance for people to meet neighbours, something we do not do in the same way as we used to in the past. I attended the Castleknock Festival, which was a similar event with no charge unless you took part in the 5 km run, which I did not. The same was true of Blanchardstown so there are a lot of really good events. It is not always about having to buy a ticket for something but I get the point that people want to attend the big concerts and the big matches, as do I, and that this can affect people if they have to travel outside their area to stay in hotels or something like an Airbnb property.

We have a dilemma here, which the Deputy understands. We do not have enough hotels in the city of Dublin but we do not particularly want a huge number of new hotels to be built because one of the biggest challenges we are facing is the housing crisis and rather than more hotels and Airbnb properties we want fewer new hotels being built, fewer Airbnb properties, more construction going into housing and more Airbnb properties and short-term lets being moved into housing. We must always bear in mind the mental impact of the housing crisis as opposed to the other one described by the Deputy.

I have spoken to hoteliers about this. They have their story to tell and their story is that the coverage in the media has been unfair and that if you try to book a hotel more than one year ahead, you get the rack rate. It is not necessarily the rate they charge and they wanted that point to be made so I have made it. I made the point very strongly to them that price gouging, taking advantage of people and hiking prices on very popular weekends is bad business. It is how your business gets a bad reputation, how your city or town gets a bad reputation and how your wider industry gets a bad reputation. It does not make good business sense in the long term. We saw what happened previously when Dublin in particular but Ireland in general got a reputation for being a very high-cost place to visit. I hope hoteliers will take that point on board.

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