Ryanair plans tobuying apartments in Dublin to accommodate its staff who are struggling to find accommodation due to severe housing shortage.
“It is something that we are very aware of, something that we are considering. We are looking at apartments and other rooms over the next few months, we might buy some“, said the chief financial officer of Ryanair, Neil Sorohan, quoted by the newspaper Irish Examiner. “Getting started in buying a property is something new. I think it might be the right thing to do, it’s a good long term investment.”
Like other companies in Dublin that have had to house employees in hotels, the Irish low-cost company recently rented student accommodation at Dublin University, near Dublin airport, to accommodate its new employees. Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, currently employs 3,128 people in Dublin, including engineers, pilots, cabin crew, ground staff and staff at its headquarters near the airport .
According to the Irish government, the mismatch between supply and demand for housing for years has prevented some large companies from expanding and could put the brakes on the post-pandemic economic boom. The most recent data showed there were just 959 homes available to rent across Ireland for a population of 5.1 million people.
