Holly Cairns: Four Years of Delay on Short‑Term Lets

Taoiseach, when the government announced plans to regulate short-term lets, nearly everyone welcomed it. The Department of Tourism said the measure would lead to 12,000 homes returning to the long-term rental market. The Fulter Ireland Chief Executive said the registration system was simple and user-friendly. Even Airbnb and the Self-Catering Federation welcomed the introduction of a register. The catch? That was back in 2022, four years ago, when the government first announced these plans. Four years of inaction, of delay, of excuses. This week we learned of yet another missed deadline. A plan to have the register come into force on May 20th is dead in the water, as is any prospect of homes returning to the long-term rental market anytime soon. The government is prioritising proposals that will see renters living in sheds in back gardens with no protections, instead of bringing the potentially thousands of homes listed on Airbnb back into the long-term rental market. Taoiseach, do you not see that for what it is? An insult to the thousands of renters all over the country, that this government would prefer to see them paying thousands every month to live in cabins in back gardens, rather than regulate Airbnb. Nearly every week you tell us that housing is this government's number one priority. I have to tell you, I don't think anybody believes that. Because not only have you refused to introduce long overdue regulation of an out-of-control short-term letting sector, you've gutted the regulations before they've even come into force. Initially your plan was to restrict short-term lets to towns of 10,000 or more. Then, thanks to lobbying by the Healy Rays, you abandoned that plan, raising the bar to towns with a population of 20,000 plus. You shafted renters to keep the Healy Rays happy, only for them to walk out of government a few weeks later anyway. Taoiseach, record numbers of people are now homeless, including more than 5,500 children. Meanwhile, in some areas of the country, there are 25 times more homes on Airbnb than there are to rent. A government that did take the housing crisis seriously and wanted to protect renters would do something about that. On top of all this, there is no clarity on what will happen in towns with a population below 20,000. Will housing need even be a consideration, or are you telling every town and village in rural Ireland, every square metre of a Gaeilteacht, that nothing is going to change? Taoiseach, what is your plan for short-term lets in these areas? Will housing need be a consideration for planning? And why have you been dragging your heels on regulation for four years? What is your plan? Does the government even know? First of all, the short-term letting and tourism bill will provide the statutory basis for the introduction of a register for all short-term lettings in Ireland. It's the first thing. And that will be accompanied with a planning statement from the Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Brown, governing that entire framework. And that will broadly restrict the approval of new planning commissions for short-term lets in cities and large towns. And all of this is aligned with the European Directive and the European approach to this. And bear in mind, Deputy, that even in your own area there's been a lot of pushback, not from any particular deputies, but generally from people who've been operating Airbnbs in West Cork, in Kerry, in all the western seaboard, southeastern areas, from a tourism point of view. So there has been reaction against it, yeah. Not from any one or two of these, but from people on the ground. Yesterday I was answering this question from a different perspective from your colleague Michael Collins, who was completely against any ending of the short-term lets and so on. We have decided on the 20,000. We think it's a reasonable balance. And if we can get the short-term lets back to housing in the cities and the large towns, that will be a good day's work. And it's not simple either in terms of planning laws and in terms of the frameworks around that to make sure that we get it right. And government will introduce this, and we will be doing it, and we're nearly there, to be quite frank, in terms of completing the process. And again, it's an added measure in addition to all the other measures. Now, you're derisive about what you call sheds. They're not sheds. And again, talk to people. You say you've spoken to people in your constituency. A lot of people in West Cork approve of the planning exemption proposal around units at the back of their houses and so on. They actually approve of it. And some people would be paying up to 80,000 for those if they're modular units, for example. And they may use it for their family members. But family members won't be there forever. We have a housing supply crisis. I think it actually makes sense that we'd free up the planning permitting situation for units of that kind. We will keep it under review. I'm in favour of anything that increases supply. I'm not really interested in rhetoric. I'm not interested in opposing everything that everybody proposes. The vast, vast majority of what government has proposed over the last number of years on housing has been opposed by yourselves and others. You oppose any private sector involvement. And we have a lot of workers working in Ireland. There are a lot of people out there who would actually, would avail of these kind of units and would take pressure off the more conventional rental market. So it is about supply. And we make no apology for it. And next week we're going to look at more planning guidelines for housing. Thank you Taoiseach. Deputy Cairns will respond. Taoiseach, being from West Cork, I absolutely understand the importance of tourism in the area. I grew up working in local cafes and restaurants that rely on the influx of tourists in the summer. What those businesses and local schools, post offices and everything else, you name it, rely on also is locals, is people living in the area, is workers in the area. And this is about getting a balance right. And the balance at the moment is not right. In Cork South West there are almost full housing estates where there's almost nobody living in them full-time anymore. The amount of short-term lets is out of control. You've been dragging your heels on this legislation for four years. I asked you why you didn't answer that question. Do I recognise the importance of tourism? Absolutely. Do you recognise the importance of people needing a home? In your response previously you spoke about all of these different measures where you're measuring housing success. Do you include the number of homeless people? In Cork South West people are contacting me. Taoiseach will now respond. Deputy Cairns, Taoiseach will respond. Thank you. Absolutely and that's what we're doing. I mean we are legislating in terms of Airbnbs in any area above 20,000. That is a very significant change and rightly so because the priority is housing. Our priority is housing and will remain housing. And the balance, there is an issue of balance there in terms of the proposal. And I think this would be a major step forward when we bring in this legislation in terms of anywhere over 20,000 for cities and large towns. And I think that will be significant progress. We will have specific policies for the Gaeltacht areas. They are important. And Derek Leary and James Brown are working closely with the Gaeltacht. And I believe that there is a need for the Gaeltacht to be able to have a say or to have a voice in the local government. Thank you.