Trade and Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney has defended Ryanair’s decision to purchase 25 houses near Dublin Airport.
The airline intends to rent out the houses in Swords to cabin crew at Dublin Airport.
It says the absence of affordable accommodation in recent years has affected its ability to hire and train new staff.
The move has prompted public and political backlash, but Mr Coveney said this practice “isn’t unusual” among large businesses.
“I was in Paris in the last number of weeks looking at the largest start-up hub in Europe and they’ve also invested in housing to support people to work there,” he told The Anton Savage Show.
“If you go across to the west coast in the US, large multinationals also invest in housing.
“What Ryanair has done here is ensure the housing pressure their staff are feeling that they are directly impacting that in a positive way and have people living close to the airport.”
The minister said an addition to the housing market through multinational companies “isn’t necessarily a bad thing”.
“We need to make sure large multinationals aren’t effectively competing with first-time buyers for housing,” he said.
“It is important to say 500 first-time buyers are drawing down a mortgage every week.
“We are spending millions of euros to ensure housing supply increases and first-time buyers are prioritised.”
Coveney on foreign investment
Mr Coveney also argued the housing crisis is not driving away international investment.
“Housing is one of the issues [multinationals] talk about but it’s not the only one,” he said.
“Last year we had 248 new IDA investments, representing an extra 19,000 jobs coming to Ireland over the next few years.
“We also have over 300,000 people for the second year in a row working for multinationals.
“They are raising [housing concerns] but is it preventing foreign direct investment (FDI) coming to Ireland? It’s not.”
Figures released on Thursday confirmed 32,695 new homes were built in 2023 - the largest number in 15 years.
It means the State has exceeded the 29,000 target the Government set itself in Housing for All.
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