Ireland's housing crisis has reached nearly every corner of the island and is not limited to one section of society, in the rental and buying market.
In the first of an 'Irish Mirror Investigates' series into the housing emergency, we spoke to several renters who are facing the 'nightmarish' situation of trying to find homes for themselves and their families, while trying to hold down jobs that tie them to particular locations.
Mohamed Mahmoud, 41, works in a tech company in Dublin, a position that in any normal housing situation would put him in a good position to find a place to rent or buy.
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Having moved to Limerick from Egypt to complete a Masters degree in Project Management, Mohamed found a job in the tech sector in the hope that he and his family would be able to settle in Ireland. They have all the relevant paperwork for that to become a reality.
His story will be familiar to anyone who has tried to find a family home in and around Dublin - hundreds of unanswered phone calls and emails, next to no viewings and a growing sense of hopelessness that Ireland is a country set up to allow for families to find a sense of place.
"The journey to find a place in Ireland is not that easy. I am now in a position to bring my family to join me here in Ireland.
"I sent loads of messages to landlords and agencies to find a place but there is very little response. I would not be exaggerating when I say I have sent hundreds of emails and received maybe two or three responses.
"I think it is a nightmare to find a place to live if you have a family with you. What I have found is that it is not an option to just stick to Dublin. I've extended my options to outside Dublin and the proximity to my work, I have contacted places in Kildare and Wicklow.
"Even there, the responses are nothing. That put me under stress because I need to get my family here before the academic school year starts. I cannot bring them here and rent a hotel because it would be very expensive and it is not an option."
Mohamed's story is one of thousands within Ireland that exemplifies the emotional cost of such upheaval and a lack of hope. He was realistic about the prospect of his family being able to join him during his degree, but having graduated and found a good job the hope was that the family could be reunited after years apart.
"I would rather stay alone, which is heartbreaking. I have been living without my family now for three years. In the first year, I knew it wasn't possible to bring them because I was a Masters student. When I started work, I did the paperwork and the visa stuff in order to bring them.
"I started to look for a house or an apartment to accommodate my family. Until now, there is no luck in finding a proper place. Even an 'improper' place in terms of proximity to work or the condition of the house. I do not have the privilege to find anywhere.
"I have only got two viewings from tonnes of emails, messages and phone calls. After both viewings I expressed my interest, one of them I have still not heard back from even just to say I didn't get it. Nobody got back to me.
"The other I was told, having followed up with an email on my own initiative, that the landlord had gone with another candidate."
Mohamed speaks to an issue that should cause the Government concern as Dublin remains the city best-placed to receive foreign.
"In my experience, you will easily find a job to become a full-time employee. To find a place to stay, even outside Dublin, I would say it as a nightmare. It is a nightmare."
Mohamed finishes our conversation with a direct plea to the Government.
"If there is anything that the Government can do to solve this problem before it becomes worse, then I would be very grateful for it to be solved. I am not the only one who is in this situation, so I hope that it will be sorted for me and for others seeking rental accommodation."
The rental crisis is by no means a situation just facing people who have moved to Ireland for work.
Emma is a young professional working in public relations in Dublin. who lived until recently in a house owned by one of Ireland's biggest vulture funds.
Emma and her flatmate were given notice that they were to move out of the apartment, and spent nearly two months trying to find a place for two people. They have just recently found a place to live but her experience of the journey has left her with significant concerns about the rental market as is, particularly with regard to the practices of letting agencies.
"We were given notice because the landlord intends to sell. The week we were given notice, three friends also got the same message and I know a couple of friends since who have had the same notice since.
"A letting agent warned us that they often open the inbox on Monday morning to hundreds of emails and just delete them all and start again."
As is the case of many of her generation, friends of Emma have experienced similar, if not worse, situations when looking for accommodation.
"A friend had his application for a tenancy accepted and then rejected on the basis that he has two small children.
"They told him they couldn't include it in the advert for obvious reasons, but that were no children allowed. They are still struggling to find something in Wicklow."
Another friend's experience demonstrates quite the ballooning of the rental market over the last decade. even allowing for COVID.
"Just recently, a friend who has had her tenancy for seven years has been given notice. She has a three-bed flat, and two-bed flats in the same block are renting at up to 300 more than she currently pays. "
Emma relates to the experiences of people in Mohamed.
"[Me and my flatmate] are both young professionals, working in good jobs with steady incomes. I cannot imagine the challenges faced by families.
"We had to accept that we would end up paying at least €200 more each a month to find anything in the same general area or a similar distance from work.
"For me, it has essentially meant that the bump in pay I recently received, which would have gone in to saving for deposit, is now doing direct on rent instead."
Rory Hearne, author of 'Housing Shock: The Irish Housing Crisis & How To Solve It', believes that the situation facing Emma and Mohamed is indicative of not only supply issues but successive Governmental policy failures in accommodation.
"The housing crisis has been growing for over a decade in Ireland and it didn't happen by accident - it is the direct result of policies that Governments have implemented and followed.
"One of the problems is that we have left housing to the market and one of the problems with the markets is that they don't meet housing need, only financial demand.
"The market has failed to supply a sufficient supply of housing because they haven't deemed it profitable enough. It is only as rents have risen to current, unaffordable rates that we have seen investor funds develop housing but the problem is that this is not affordable housing, it is not homes.
"Fundamentally, if we look at countries where housing is successful - like Austria, Germany, Denmark and France - their governments play a much bigger role in providing social and affordable housing, in subsidising its provision.
"What happened here was the Government handed it over to the markets and local governments were essentially told 'You no longer provide housing'. Then after the crash, they cut back on social housing again and handed it back to the market.
"The question is not one of supply, it is one of what role government plays, how housing systems meet housing need and that the market itself will never meet that. There is also the question of investor funds, as the Government has handed over our housing system, particularly in Dublin, over to large global wealth and pension funds.
"Across the world, these investors want more rental and student accommodation because they see this as the future for huge profit."
The Irish Mirror approached the Department of Housing regarding this story and received this reply from their press office.
"The Government acknowledges rents are very high. The most effective way to assist renters in the medium to long term is to increase supply and accelerate delivery of housing for the private and social rental sectors and we are seeing signs of increased construction activity, which should lead to increased supply of housing, which is critical to making rents more affordable.
"As well as tackling pressures in the rental market in the short-term, Housing for All also addresses the issue of longer-term supply needs.
"The plan clearly sets out how an average of 33,000 homes will be built per year to 2030. This includes 9,000 social homes in 2022.
"Increasing our social housing stock will reduce the demand on our private rental market as we currently rely on our rental market to house those on social housing waiting lists."
Those renting and buying live in hope that this comes to pass.
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