Dublin’s housing crisis affects the ability of companies to hire staff

One of the most affected enterprises is Ryanair, which employs many foreign nationals and needs to provide them with a place to sleep

Dublin’s chronic and severe housing shortage shows no signs of abating. Media outlets are reporting that this is starting to affect not only the average citizens but also the large multinational companies setting up bases in the Irish capital.

For example, Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, is considering purchasing apartments in the city so it will have somewhere to place its new recruits.

Ryanair – a new landlord in town?

Moving into the property market might seem like an unusual move for a strictly air-transportation-oriented business, but the circumstances on the ground show that such a step might be necessary.

Like other firms that have had to block book hotel rooms for new starters, Ryanair recently rented student accommodation at nearby Dublin City University for some staff that transferred to Dublin airport.

However, the airline staff are consistently reporting troubles with finding accommodation in the city. This is not surprising given that recent data from Daft.ie (a property aggregator) showed that there were only 959 homes available on the rental market in all of Ireland!

Moving into actually buying property is something new. I think it’s possibly the right thing to do, it’s a good long-term investment,” explained Neil Sorohan, finance director of the airline, as quoted by Reuters.

The company employs 3,128 people in Dublin alone. These include engineers, cabin crew, ground staff and admin staff at the headquarters near the airport.

The airline is an example of a post-pandemic boom, spurred on by renewed interest in travel despite galloping inflation and scorching summers. Ryanair reported a profit of 663 million euros for the second quarter of this year, which is a four-fold increase compared to the same period last year.