A report this week showed there are currently 20 times the number of short-term lets on Airbnb compared to long-term lets on Daft.ie in Galway.

At the same time, there are 500 people in emergency accommodation in Galway. Many more are living with family members as a result of being homeless. People of all ages, single and in families, who are facing eviction as a result of the lifting of the no fault eviction ban come to me every week. As I have told the Taoiseach previously, many young couples have told me they simply cannot start a family because they are in such precarious housing situations. What does he say to young couples who are trying to settle down and start families but have no chance of ever owning their own home or finding rental accommodation at a time when there are many Airbnbs while few properties are available to rent or buy on daft.ie?

We are introducing new legislation and regulations on short-term letting such as Airbnb to restrict it in the cities, in particular. The proposed legislation is currently being reviewed by the European Commission. It is something we want to introduce, in particular in city centres and urban areas where there are such shortages of places to rent. As I said earlier, in response to questions from others, it is encouraging to see how many first-time buyers there are every week - 400 people are buying their first home every week. It is an underestimate because it does not include couples but rather counts them as one person. We have not seen those kind of numbers since the Celtic Tiger period. The Government will continue its work to make homeownership a reality for many more people than is the case at the moment.