Ryanair buys bulk of Swords housing estate to accommodate staff

Ryanair has bought almost an entire housing estate in Swords, close to its headquarters at Dublin Airport, to house staff.

The move is the latest sign that employers are having to take radical action to lock in accommodation for workers in a tight labour market where rentals are scarce and particularly difficult to find for workers moving here from abroad.

Fast-food giant Supermac’s has previously said it had to find housing in order to secure new hires from abroad and tech giant Google has previously suggested it might need to invest in apartments in Dublin due to the housing crisis.

Ryanair is buying 25 houses at the 28-unit Fosterstown Place scheme, according to the Business Post newspaper, which broke the story.

The airline confirmed the move.

“Ryanair confirms that it has purchased 25 new-built units in Fosterstown, Swords in order to ensure that it can provide high-quality but affordable rentals close to Dublin Airport for new cabin crew who are joining Ryanair based in Dublin, to help us maintain Ryanair’s flight schedules for up to 33 Dublin aircraft.

“In recent years the absence of affordable rental accommodation has been a major impediment to recruiting and training new Irish and European cabin crew members to Ryanair’s inflight team. This accommodation, which is located one bus stop from Dublin Airport, will be rented at affordable rates to Ryanair cabin crew during their first year of employment.”

The scheme is made up of three- and four-bed family homes. Ryanair has previously outlined the challenge to recruitment posed by the housing shortage and said it would look at buying units to house staff. It has previously rented shorter-term units to provide accommodation to people relocating here.

Fosterstown Place is 2km south of Swords village and 3.5km north of Dublin Airport and is served by Dublin Bus.

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