Mr. Paul Gallagher:

There are differing views depending on who one is talking to when it comes to Airbnb. As a hotelier, I see it as a form of unfair competition. I am not referring to somebody who has a twin-bed room in their house or apartment which they put on Airbnb. I am referring to whole floors in apartment blocks on Airbnb. We are all regulated, we are all tax compliant and we are all fire safety compliant. There are so many hoops we have to jump through that we cannot just rosy over the picture, as it were, that Airbnb is welcome in every form in which it exists. I am telling the committee that the industry does not think that and, certainly in the sector I would normally represent, we would have differing views as to how welcome it is. I recognise it is an important distribution channel and it brings valuable guests to Ireland. However, the services it provides require oversight if they are on a scale that is not just sharing rooms in a domestic dwelling.