Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. We are looking at the possible effects of short-term lettings on the housing market. There is some anecdotal evidence that it has had an impact but short-term lettings have been there for many years. It is not something that has happened overnight. There are a lot of issues around some of the short-term lettings. There are issues in terms of planning, for example where houses were built with certain conditions attached to them and now we find that some of them are being let out and used by Airbnb and similar services. The planning issues must be looked at. Perhaps there should be guidelines in that regard.

We have talked about vacant homes and the witnesses have mentioned accommodation over shops. One of the biggest issues I have had is with shops which have been left idle for many years. With a change of planning they could be used, whether for short-term or long-term lettings, and they could be renovated. The whole country is littered with such shops. They are in towns and villages in every area. They are everywhere in my own area of Finglas, Ballymun and Santry. It frustrates the life out of me because in the Ballymun area they are left idle for ten or 15 years rather than anything being done with them. They are just left there. It is absolutely scandalous.

I would like to ask about the Revenue issues and the tourism tax because I am curious. We probably need a proper register to deal with short-term lettings, whether arranged through Airbnb or otherwise. Obviously they have to be registered with Revenue, or they are supposed to be in any event. There must be a proper register. There is also the issue of using a tourism tax. Could such a tax be used a bit more because we have lots of people in mortgage trouble who allow people into their houses for extra income? They do not necessarily register in any way. It is just a way to pay the mortgage and it has been accepted in a way. I can understand it. There has been a huge number of people renting out one or maybe two rooms. They are in financial trouble. We do not want to penalise them or make their lives any harder but perhaps there is a way in which we could implement some sort of a tourism tax as opposed to going through Revenue, where we are hitting these people very heavily. I do not know.

There is a big concentration of short-term lettings in the city areas, but I was quite surprised, when I saw the map for Airbnb, at how many of them were in some of the other areas. I did not think there were many in my own area but I then found out that there are actually quite a few around the suburbs - Ballyfermot, Finglas, Cabra and all these areas. Most of the short-term lettings, however, are better suited to being where the tourism is. That concentration has surprised me.