Seamus McGrath

This will be subject to very strict terms and conditions.

There will be a certification process involved here in terms of fire standards and building standards, and there will be a notification system in place to the local authority as well.

David, the background to this, as you know, is a severe shortage of rental accommodation.

We have to come up with proposals here.

We are being berated week in, week out by the opposition that we're not

dealing with the emergency that there is in housing and rental accommodation.

These are proposals that we are putting forward.

It will be subject to further discussion through the Oireachtas, but I think it's important that we provide options there for people who are seeking rental accommodation.

The current rent-a-room scheme works quite well, for example, for single people, providing them with accommodation, for many students, for example, and this is just an extension of that scheme.

It won't be a free-for-all.

There will be serious terms and conditions and restrictions in place

It is based on a principal private residence, for example.

That's one important point to make.

And it is going to be subject, as I say, to a certification by a professional.

And I think that's also an assurance in terms of the standards that will apply here.

Well, I think it will be an approved professional through some of the approved bodies, I suspect.

I don't have the detail on that, but it will be a certified person qualified in already certifying building controls, which is already a process that is well and truly in place.

As I said, there will be a notification to the local authority as well.

So it's not a case that these will just start popping up and we won't have control over this.

It is a provision that will be subject to review as well.