Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At my very first committee meeting with the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Simon Coveney, I was the first to raise the issue of short-term letting platforms. I said I felt short-term letting was having an impact on the rental market. I acknowledge, having come from the tourism industry, that the industry itself needs a certain amount of short-term letting. A holistic approach is needed.

I do not know how many times I have spoken about short-term lettings. I have spoken about this during private session, including today. I am not disputing that the planning regulations are required but I feel the process is cumbersome and will bog down the planners in the local authorities. At the first private meeting, I would look for clarification on what Deputy Ó Broin has said, that is, that when one establishes use for seven years, there is nothing the local authority can do about it. One can then continue to use the property in that way.

Trying to find the properties in question and identify whether they have been in use for seven years will consume local authority time. That is why I always felt we needed the measure in question but the more important regulatory aspect concerns the short-term letting platform. I understand it is not in the Minister's brief but, in the longer term, the only way we can regulate the short-term letting platform is through the regulation of the platforms rather than through regulating property owners letting out their properties.

I have a few more points. We are now saying that anybody who applies for planning permission for short-term rental of a property in a rent pressure zone will not get permission. I come from the tourism sector so I am addressing both sides. Within Dublin, there is a need for a certain amount of short-term letting for the tourism sector, but not to the extent evident at the moment. Who decides the percentage and why somebody should be allowed to engage in short-term letting through a platform?

Does the Minister acknowledge my point that this is cumbersome legislation and that enforcement is expensive? Through the regulation of the platforms, we could have controlled this more easily and quickly. We could simply have stated, in the regulation on short-term letting platforms, that one cannot put a property on the platform unless one has a licence from one's local authority stating one has planning permission. This would be instead of going through the cumbersome process of trying to prove the existence of unauthorised development in the face of owners saying they have been engaged in short-term letting for seven years. We will end up going backwards and forwards. We will end up with legal arguments and clogging up the whole system. I suggest regulating short-term letting and stipulating in a regulation that one cannot put a property on a platform unless one has a licence from one's local authority stating one is approved. This would be in addition to the planning process, which would not be ignored. It would be a lot easier than using up resources of local authorities across every county involved. We will end up with appeals and in courts and just get bogged down. We will not achieve the success we all want to achieve.

Many in my constituency and the tourism sector were worried. I acknowledge that this measure applies only to the rent pressure zones. We must acknowledge that, even within those zones, the tourism sector will require a percentage for short-term lettings. I refer to the old tradition of bed and breakfast, B&B. We are dealing with the modern version of what used to be a B&B years ago. How will a planner in Dublin City Council decide a certain property is really needed for tourism and is not having an impact? Who will get the good news and the bad news?