Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of purpose-built student accommodation being granted planning permission for short-term use as tourist or visitor accommodation. There are guidelines for purpose-built student accommodation. I do not think anyone could argue that we do not need some purpose-built student accommodation but what we have seen since the guidelines were introduced is luxury accommodation being built in the wrong places, specifically in the inner city. In my own area, we have just under 4,000 units of purpose-built student accommodation, hotel units or aparthotels or transient units within a very small area in the Liberties, Dublin 8. Most recently, the local authority has granted 1,600 beds of purpose-built student accommodation the right in the short term to change over to holiday or tourist accommodation or to be used as general worker accommodation. This is developers gaming the system and gaming the guidelines that were allowed. They pretended that they were building purpose-built student accommodation but were actually doing what they had always wanted, which is tourist accommodation thus undermining long-term housing, affordable student accommodation and the hotel industry.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage needs to come into this House to address this matter. He must also say whether he will issue guidelines to local authorities on change of use or else ban purpose-built student accommodation, which we have been told that we need, from being changed into co-living by the back door. I ask him to come in here and inform us what he will do.

I am quite concerned about recent newspaper reports in The Sunday Times. The Minister, when he was Opposition spokesperson, said that co-living was not a solution to the housing crisis. I see from leaks from the Department that it looks like co-living will be tinkered with as opposed to its removal altogether.

Finally, I commend Councillor Eva Dowling from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council on securing support for her motion on maternity leave for councillors within Dún Laoghaire. This is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed because women councillors are particularly affected by a lack of maternity and paternity leave.