Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

There is always a problem in Gaeltacht communities and other rural locations with holiday homes, but unregulated short-term lets have exacerbated that. There is now a whole category of people, who because of the income stream through short-term lets are able to afford to purchase holiday homes where they previously were not. It is exactly as Deputy Ó Snodaigh outlined. That creates a problem in restricting supply for others and for people who want to live there all year round, which has an economic impact. It also has the impact of pushing up prices. People from the east coast or cities who are on higher incomes because of higher living costs have higher purchasing power. If they also have the income stream from an unregulated short-term let on top of that, it really exacerbates that problem and those pressures. I completely accept that tourism visitors are part of a sustainable community. However, the warped nature of it is so extreme that it is causing huge pressures and problems to the point where qualified practitioners such as physiotherapists are not able to get housing in a Gaeltacht community and are living out of a van instead.