Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' Bill on behalf of the Government. As the House is aware, new arrangements to regulate the short-term letting sector under the planning code were introduced in July 2019. The principal aim of the legislation was to return much-needed accommodation being used for short-term letting purposes in the designated rent pressure zones, RPZs, to the traditional long-term rental market, thereby increasing supply in the long-term market and helping to stabilise rents in those areas.

As has been outlined, Deputy Ó Broin's Bill comprises two amendments to the existing 2019 legislative provisions on short-term lettings: first, to make it an offence to advertise or let a house, or part of a house, in a rent pressure zone where that letting does not have the necessary planning permission or exemption, and second, to enable the Minister to make regulations permitting on-the-spot fines to be issued to persons, estate agents or online platforms that advertise or let properties for short-term letting purposes, contrary to the statutory provisions.

While the Government is not opposing Deputy Ó Broin's Bill and while also acknowledging it is well intentioned and has some merit, it is considered that amending the Planning and Development Act, as proposed, is not the most appropriate mechanism to achieve the goals set out in the Private Members' Bill. In this regard, I would make the following points. First, in light of the fact the current provisions, as operated by local authorities under the planning code, have not been as effective as envisaged, the Government has agreed a specific action in Housing for All, action 20.4, "Develop new regulatory controls requiring Short-Term and Holiday Lets to register with Fáilte Ireland with a view to ensuring that homes are used to best effect in areas of housing need". Officials from my Department and the Department with responsibility for tourism, along with Fáilte Ireland, have been working on new legislative arrangements to replace the current short-term letting provisions with a new registration system for short-term lets to be operated by Fáilte Ireland, which it is intended will become operational by early 2023.

While the precise details of the new arrangements remain to be finalised, it is envisaged they will incorporate somewhat similar proposals to those in Deputy Ó Broin's Bill in placing restrictions on the advertising of short-term letting properties by their owners or agents on online platforms as well as restrictions on the online platforms themselves, with associated penalties. These new arrangements will go further than what is proposed in the Private Members' Bill and will be easier and less cumbersome to enforce, with local authorities and the planning code no longer having any role in this area.

The proposal for the application of on-the-spot fines for non-compliance with the short-term letting provisions would be out of step with the existing approach and practice under the Planning and Development Act. On-the-spot fines are generally applied on routine minor offences with fairly nominal penalties. Planning offences are generally regarded as being more substantial, requiring conviction by the courts and the application of more substantial penalties, including fines, imprisonment or both,as appropriate. It is considered that such a departure from the existing approach under the Planning and Development Act would not be justified.

To give an example of the types of penalties that can be applied in this area, the courts just last week issued a fine of €1,000 to the owner of a short-term letting property in Dublin for operating without the necessary planning permission or exemption, with the €3,500 legal costs of the planning authority also being awarded against the property owner in question, in addition to the latter having to bear his own legal costs relating to the case. In any event, it is considered that the issuing of on-the-spot fines in this area could best be examined in the context of a new registration system to be operated by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, rather than such fines being introduced in the final months of the current short-term letting provision.

Like all Deputies across the political spectrum in the House, one of the key overriding priorities of the Government is to address the negative impacts of the current supply-constrained housing market on our society, particularly in those areas where housing demand is most acute. The proposed new registration system for short-term lets will be specifically targeted at assisting supply in the private rental market. The Government looks forward to the publication of the necessary underpinning legislative provisions in this regard in the coming months and their subsequent urgent enactment.

One of the key solutions to the current crisis is to increase supply, which is what the Government is singularly focused on doing. I listened to Deputies on the opposite benches, one after another, going through the situation in their various constituencies. That is what I deal with in my role and I see the huge constraint in supply. I held a clinic yesterday morning that was attended by a huge number of people in very difficult, vulnerable circumstances pointing out the lack of availability of rental supply. This is the first point I want to make in response to Deputies. As politicians, we are all dealing with the vulnerabilities of our constituents and trying our very best to respond to them as quickly as we can.

Second, it is quite amusing to hear Deputies cite the huge supply constraint in their constituencies and then advocate for a refundable rental credit. That would put more fuel on the fire of a constrained marketplace and encourage prices to go up, which would affect the most vulnerable. Such an approach is diametrically opposite to the role of the help-to-buy scheme, for example, which incentivises supply of new properties and has enabled well over 20,000 families to get the keys to a new home. Looking at the current rental market, we see a situation whereby thousands of landlords, 85% of whom are renting out one property, have left the marketplace. The response to that from the Deputies of a certain party sitting opposite me is to tax those landlords more by imposing a second home charge, as set out in their party's pre-budget submission, of €400 on all second properties. All Deputy Ó Broin has to do is look at his party's pre-budget submission to see that proposal. It is a reflection of where Sinn Féin is coming from in respect of a market in which landlords who are renting out only one property and who are needed to secure tenure for renters are departing.

I will outline what the Government has done. We have introduced tenancies of indefinite duration in an effort to protect vulnerable renting citizens in our State. Second, we introduced a number of Bills throughout the Covid crisis to protect the most vulnerable and ensure people could stay in their tenancies at a time when a massive challenge faced the State. We also introduced new measures of tenure such as cost rental provision, which will be a huge asset in providing long-term, sustainable tenure below the market rate. This is key in assisting citizens to have security of tenure into the future. These measures are part of our singular approach, which is about driving up supply. If we look at the metrics in terms of the commencement notices that have been issued over the past year, we see that the constant trajectory is one of increased supply. There are diggers on sites and builders are constructing more homes to ensure we are within touching distance of getting to the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, requirement of providing more than 33,000 homes per annum. I am very much aware that much more is needed, but our construction industry is trying to ramp up construction and deliver it at pace. The State is delivering record levels of social housing units through the local authority system, including by changing the delivery mechanisms, on which we are absolutely focused.

When it comes to the vulnerable people I meet in my clinic every week, as I always say in this House, no one has a patent on compassion. We are all meeting vulnerable people every single week. That is why comments such as that we are putting vulture funds higher up the ranks than citizens do a total disservice to this debate. As a politician, where I am coming from is to try to do my very best in my constituency. I can look the people coming into my clinic in the eye and say there is huge hope. I can point to my town, where some 300 units are currently under construction, to show there is hope on the horizon. I know it is a very tough time at the moment but we are working from a low base to increase supply at pace. That is the way to a better future. We all need to work together, including on the Bill brought forward this evening, which I welcome. I want to be very clear that I welcome it. It is the comments that surround the debate and that are made for the social media clips with which I have an issue. Saying that we are placing a greater premium on a vulture fund than we do on the citizens we meet every week does a huge disservice to politics.

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