Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will conclude briefly.

The Minister gets the idea about the impact of these platforms on the accommodation problem. In a recent development of nine units in Dublin 2 three are used for Airbnb. The Government under the rapid build programme is endeavouring to deliver 350 units or as many as possible, but if they are being leaked to these platforms at such a rate, the programme will have no impact on the market. I could give examples from Dublin 1 to Dublin 8 of apartments and houses moving into Airbnb, which does not help the economy. When the Minister attended the House before Christmas, I told him that I knew this was a question of choice. The majority of those who are using Airbnb are tourists. I would prefer it if someone had a home rather than a tourist staying in an apartment. The market has become ridiculous. There are homeless persons in hotels and tourists in apartments across the city.

In fairness to the Minister, he issued a circular after An Bord Pleanála made its decision. I will not read it in full, but it indicated that local authorities had some measure of responsibility. He wrote that he would receive a report by the end of the second quarter of this year, but that is too late. The evidence of a significant impact by Airbnb is already clear, especially in the Dublin, Cork and Galway markets. Action has been taken across the Continent from Barcelona to London and Brussels. I could continue.

I wish to pull the Minister up on one line in the circular. He wrote: "In the meantime, where it is brought to the attention of local authorities that particular properties may be exclusively used for short-term letting purposes, they should take the following steps...". These steps are investigation and enforcement, but a simple measure could be taken by Dublin, Cork and Galway city councils. Each of them should appoint a specific officer to enforce the planning regulations. Seventy-five apartments in 75 minutes received planning permission as residential developments, not bed and breakfast accommodation or aparthotels. There should be active enforcement. This could help to restore rental residential units for ordinary working people at lower market prices. The 75 units contain 240 beds. On average, on each apartment €76,000 is being earned. An ordinary landlord cannot compete with this. It would not make sense to keep renting apartments to ordinary people. That is why there is a shift to Airbnb. I encountered a landlord on the South Circular Road who had been trying to act decently. He had six apartments in his house and sought to find other accommodation for those persons in receipt of rent allowance, but he still moved the six apartments into Airbnb.

I call on the Minister to pick up the telephone and call the various city managers to ask them to put a single person in charge who would take enforcement action. We could quickly restore approximately 600 units to the Dublin market, certainly more swiftly than under the Minister's rapid build programme. This would have a ripple effect across urban markets. We need action now. There is a decision by An Bord Pleanála. The Minister could easily instruct managers to put a single person in charge to enforce it and issue enforcement letters to those landlords who have moved from the rental market to Airbnb. Let us house our own people.