Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One learns something new every day.

Deputy O'Callaghan made reference to the impact of developments on Gaeltacht areas. That is one of the considerations. In my role as Minister of State, I can no longer get involved in such matters but we all would have dealt with planning a lot. It is day-to-day work for us. Each planning application has to be dealt with on its own merits. In Gaeltacht areas, Irish language competency has to be one of the considerations. It is already there under the planning and development guidelines of 2022, in the national development plan and under objective 29 of the national planning framework. In effect, we are introducing a further structured approach to bring certainty in terms of specific planning guidelines for Gaeltacht areas. However, language competence is only one of the considerations.

I do not have any Gaeltacht areas in my constituency and cannot speak with authority in that regard but I certainly know, from going on holidays to the Gaeltacht over the years, that tourism is a key feature of what they do. We are trying to strike a balance. The one thing we do not want is an abuse of any system. It is about achieving a balance between ensuring houses are occupied by people who are living in the area and, equally, ensuring that area, including Gaeltacht areas, continues to have a viable tourism offering. That is what we are considering in the overall regulations that will accompany the legislation on short-term lettings. Those regulations will come from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

I think I have covered all the points that were raised.