Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the precise conversation we need to have because it is important for us to understand the complexities of this issue. I appreciate that an Airbnb host will not know at the start of the year how many nights he or she will want to let for. If someone wins a holiday on a radio show, for example, he or she might decide that rather than having an empty house for a week, it should be put up on Airbnb at the last minute. I get that completely.

I suppose I want to propose a couple of things. Mr. Robinson is right when he says there is no legal definition of a "primary residence". While that is the case, there is nothing to prevent Airbnb from asking somebody who registers as a host to state whether the property they are letting is his or her primary residence. It is a straightforward thing. As Airbnb could not verify that, it would have to take people on trust. Nevertheless, it would be really valuable information and it would not cost Airbnb anything to get it.

According to last year's An Bord Pleanála ruling, specified planning permission is needed if the property is actually available for the full year. The difficulty with Airbnb's inability to answer the questions I asked earlier - Mr. Robinson said he does not have the data - is that it does not know whether any of its hosts are in breach of the An Bord Pleanála ruling. I absolutely appreciate Mr. Robinson's point that when those renting out their properties move away from full-year availability to availability for part of the year only, there is ambiguity because of the lack of a definition of "the short term". I suggest that Airbnb, as a platform, surely has a responsibility - even within the limited regulatory framework we have - to want to know if anybody is in breach of the An Bord Pleanála ruling, which is the one bit of legal clarity we possess.

I appreciate Mr. Robinson's optimism with regard to the Barcelona case. The housing manager of Barcelona city said last week that he does not share that view. He was very upfront about his stance. Obviously, this stuff is being carried widely, particularly in the British press. Essentially, Airbnb is being accused of allowing a significant number of people who are not legally compliant to advertise on its platform. It has been claimed that this issue affects approximately 7,000 of the 16,000 lets in that market. Mr. Robinson wants to convince us that he is a responsible business person who wants to engage with us. He is doing a very good job of it so far. The doubt I have is that in one of Airbnb's most profitable markets, 7,000 of the people it allows to use its platform are not compliant with the law. I accept that Airbnb might not like the law and might not think it is good for its business, its hosts or the tourism economy. It has been suggested, however, that 7,000 hosts are in breach of the law.

The State and the authorities have a responsibility to ensure that there is enforcement. Barcelona is now doubling its number of inspectors. As a responsible business person, Mr. Robinson has to live up to that. My point is that it is really important to get the Government regulations right. We all agree we want regulations that work for people who are contributing to the economy, including the tourism economy. There is nothing wrong with people generating income for themselves. We want to make sure there is no abuse of the system. We want to ensure there are no unintended consequences. I think that is where we stand.

If Airbnb is not willing or able to give us the data, or to amend its collection process to be able to provide data that let us know definitively whether we have a problem, we are still in the same position we were in two weeks ago before we began holding these hearings. We just do not know. I am not necessarily looking for an answer. I want to propose something. When officials from the Department appeared before the committee, we asked them what data the Department is getting from Airbnb. I would like to repeat my final parting comment to the officials. I said to them that if I was on their side of the discussions with Airbnb on the memorandum of understanding, I would ask it to find a way of providing the data which the Department would really like to have and which Airbnb cannot currently provide. If that information were provided as accurately as possible, it would demonstrate good faith and would enable us to produce a set of regulations that work for everybody.

Of course saying that something is available all year does not necessarily mean it really is available all year. We would like to have a better picture of the number of short-term lets by comparison with the number of commercial landlords. I am not against a commercial landlord who wants to provide a short-term letting. We have academics who come to Trinity College for three months. They need somewhere to rent for three months. I accept that short-term letting is part of the picture as well. I am a little disappointed that data which I think would allow us to know whether there is a problem are not available. I would have thought it is in Airbnb's interests to put that information on the table. If Airbnb does not have it, I suggest it should find a way of acquiring it so that it might be put on the table.