Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)

I am just a bit confused with what my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick, mentioned about the mechanism of how it works and the self declaration. I am involved with homelessness but I am also involved in the tourist sector. I remember back in 2017 Airbnb was going to be done away with, there was to be no more and everybody was warned. Anything I had as Airbnb in Dublin I made sure was stopped immediately. Nearly ten years later I am hearing that there are over 22,000 Airbnbs and 34,000 or 35,000 short-term lettings. My fear is whether whatever legislation is coming will be enforced. I thought it was going to be enforced back then and ten years later we still do not have the enforcement.

As Senator Fitzpatrick mentioned, people can self-declare their property but they might not have any planning permission for it and they can set it up as a short-term let. Where is the policing on that? Is it the local authorities which then have to go through the areas and say that certain properties should not be short-term lets. Is that the way it is going to work? That is the first question.