PROPERTY WEBSITE DAFT.IE is helping to make accommodation available for free for doctors and nurses who are on the frontline in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Young nurses have spoke out about the challenges of renting during the coronavirus crisis: their housemates moving out of a shared rented accommodation because healthcare workers are at an increased risk of contracting Covid-19 by treating those patients. 

One nurse in the west of the country told TheJournal.ie: “The first thing they asked me was had I been tested. It’s a very tense atmosphere at the minute. You can trace it all back to me being on the wards.”

According to the latest figures, 752 out of all confirmed Covid-19 cases in Ireland are of healthcare workers, which represents 25%.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has since advised that medical staff should no longer share accommodation, putting pressure on them to change their current living arrangements. 

In response, property site Daft.ie said that it wants to provide accommodation for doctors and nurses who are on the frontline of the Covid 19 crisis.

In a statement, the company said it’s “partnering with large companies based in Dublin to connect their employee’s now empty apartments with the many healthcare workers who are in need of clean, convenient places to stay as they self-isolate outside of hospitals”.

This free short-term housing can help ease our doctors and nurses concerns of sharing a home with their families or housemates while giving them the safe and secure space they need to replenish their energy on their breaks from duty.

It said that it was still working through the details, but expect it to be live on www.daft.ie by next week.

Eamonn Fallon, CEO of Daft.ie said: “Ireland’s healthcare workers are doing an amazing job and we want to support them in anyway we can.

“Our team are working day and night sourcing rent-free apartments for our frontline doctors and nurses. We hope to be in a position to start filling them by early next week.”

Note: Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.