Labour's Rebecca Moynihan, who has a Bill before the Seanad to prevent developers circumnavigating planning guidelines on student accommodation, hit out at the government for taking an "investor-led" approach to housing.
Senator Moynihan said: "We need stronger planning guidelines on student accommodation to stop developers attempting to turn purpose-built student accommodation into apartments for tourists. There are several luxury student accommodation builds across inner city Dublin and we cannot allow developers to convert them into tourist apartments at a whim.
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"Developers need to know that they cannot be allowed to view our communities as investment opportunities. There is a massive shortage of decent quality, long-term one- and two-bedroom apartments in inner city Dublin and developers must understand that if they build student accommodation that they cannot apply at whim to the planning authorities for a change of use to either co-living or accommodation for tourists.
"We're all waiting with eager anticipation for the Government's Housing for All plan which has once again been pushed out to the Autumn. There's a genuine opportunity for this Government to be ambitious in its plan – to give renters a break, to use public land for social and affordable housing, to ensure that every town and village in the country is set up to develop housing in sustainable, thriving communities.
"Right now, developers know that they can get away with change of use applications such as this, prioritising short term profits over long term planning within our inner cities. Housing is the greatest social issue of our generation. When Government cites homeless figures and the waitlist for social housing, they fail to remember that these are real people, real families, with real ambition to live a full life in stable, affordable homes. The housing problem can be solved, but one thing is for sure, our cities do not need more tourist accommodation, and certainly not by the backdoor."
