Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 5, line 17, after "Act" to insert "(other than section 27)".

I acknowledge that this group of amendments on short-term letting, while well publicised in the media in recent months and subject to review by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government, are a new element to the Bill as introduced. I will not go through the strategy for the rental sector or why we propose to regulate this area of the tourism market and will instead speak directly to the amendments. The substantive amendment is amendment No. 182. This amendment proposes the insertion of a new section 3A into the Planning and Development Act 2000 and it consists of a number of important provisions. I propose to briefly outline these provisions, along with the related consequential amendments in the group, and then explain their overall intended effect.

Subsection (1) of new section 3A provides that the short-term letting of a house in a rent pressure zone, RPZ, is a material change of use in the house, thereby requiring planning permission, unless otherwise specifically exempted from this requirement. Subsection (2) provides me, as Minister, with specific regulation making powers that will enable planning authorities to require persons involved in short-term letting in RPZs to provide specified information to their local planning authority. Subsection (3) is closely related to subsection (2) and provides that the contravention of a requirement of such regulations will be an offence, subject to a summary fine of up to €5,000, which is a class A offence. Subsection (4) is important as it clarifies that the new provisions, which are focused on short-term letting, as defined, will not affect short-term lettings outside rent pressure zones and long-term lettings within rent pressure zones. Subsection (5), which is central in understanding the core framework principles underpinning these proposals, sets out the necessary definitions for both short-term letting and rent pressures zones. In this regard, "short-term letting" means the letting of a house or part of a house for any period not exceeding 14 days, while "rent pressures zones" means any area designated by me, as Minister, as a rent pressure zone under section 24A or 24B of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004.

Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 188 are all consequential and technical amendments relating to the substantive short-term letting provisions I have just outlined.

Amendment No. 188 is a technical amendment to the Long Title of the Bill inserting a reference to short-term letting and the planning code. The other two amendments to section 1 of the Bill are also technical in nature. Amendment No. 1 amends the collective citation for the Residential Tenancies Act to exclude these short-term letting provisions from that Act, while amendment No. 2 inserts a collective citation for the Planning and Development Acts to include these new provisions.

I can discuss in greater detail the reasons for making these changes.