Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of co-living because it is entirely unsuitable for the times we live in if we want to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. An application for a co-living development in Dublin 8 is at appeals stage. While it is yet to be approved, the proposal has had a terrible effect on the local community by driving up prices and squeezing good, well-intentioned developers out of the market. In Rathmines, a seven-storey, 98-bed development is planned. Units of only 16 sq. m for tenants mean this development will be nothing more than 98 bedsits. There is no buy-in from the community either. We must be clear that those who are pushing co-living developments are not being entrepreneurial because they have seen a gap in the market but are sweating their assets. They are trying to get rents of up to €1,300 per month for living spaces measuring between 12 sq. m and 16 sq. m. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has promised a review of co-living but I do not believe it has started yet. A freedom of information request from a journalist found that the review group has not been convened. Will the review examine how residents in co-living developments in places such as New York and London have coped during Covid-19 where they must share kitchen and toilet facilities?

Over the next six months, planning applications for co-living developments in Harold's Cross and Donnybrook village are due for examination. Some may even be constructed during the pandemic. The Minister can stop all this. All he has to do is sign a ministerial order, which he could do on his way to the Convention Centre next week, via the Custom House.