Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

According to a report on "Morning Ireland" today, rents have increased by up to 15% across the country. I have raised on numerous occasions the effects that short-term lettings such as those facilitated by Airbnb are having on the rental sector. Up to 3,500 units in the Dublin region that should be available for rental by ordinary working people have been moved into the hospitality sector.I continually raise the point that the solution lies in legislation and regulation. This issue was dealt with in Berlin two years ago and last Friday the report reviewing the legislation introduced there was published. That initiative brought 4,000 units in central Berlin back into the rental market, reduced rents in the city and, above all, allowed 4,000 families to obtain accommodation.

I have being raising this issue for the past 18 months. The previous Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, set up a working group, as did the current Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. Each working group was supposed to report by the end of 2017 but there has been no sign of those reports. They only met five times during the year, so must be working very diligently. In the meantime, there are constant excuses from the Government about a supply problem. We repeatedly hear reports about increasing rents and that we need more supply.

This is a very simple and easy method to get more supply in our urban areas. The issue does not just affect Dublin and is having the same effect in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Killarney, etc. We have to make a decision. This is not a zero-sum equation. The effect of removing apartments and houses designed for working families from the tourist market and back to their original usage is that we will lose hotel or bed spaces for tourists. I want working families in permanent accommodation rather than hotels and I want the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to come to the House and report on why he has failed to take action in respect of this scandal.

There are representatives of the tourism industry on the working group. They have skin in the game and want to keep those 5,000 apartments and houses as Airbnb or short-term lets rather than their being reallocated to ordinary working families. I want there to be less talk and more action and for the Minister to come to the House to explain why there has been no action on this issue.