Mr. Derek Nolan:

The job security is a bit better in this job. Talking to the hosts, you get a sense of who they are and why they are hosting. The majority of our hosts, and this is a truism, are ordinary people who share their own home for an average of three days per month. They make approximately €5,000 or €6,000 per year. That is the vast majority of our listings. Of those who have entire home listings, it is people who have holiday homes or converted properties. If one talks to people about why they are in the short-term rental market, it is often because they cannot be in the long-term rental market. It is either a holiday home, the family home, or a property they inherited from their parents and is shared with their brother, and for those months of the year it is a short-term rental. The property may not be suitable. As Senator Byrne said, properties on the Wexford coast are lovely in summer but not great in winter and one would not want to be staying in them at that point. There are all of those different factors at play and that is what is missing from some of the debate here. It is not binary that short-term letters will move over. Many of our hosts tell us that they cannot or will not be able to transfer over to the long-term rental market. Registration is important. What the Government is trying to do about getting the balance right between long-term rental and short-term rental is a good goal and registration will help that. What I do not think has happened is that enough consideration has been given to what that balance is.