Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When one compares Airbnb figures in Galway with those for longer term lets on daft.ie, on 1 May 2017, there were 13.5% more properties to let on a short-term basis on Airbnb than the total number of properties for the combined provinces of Connacht and Ulster on daft.ie. That is why we must examine the report’s recommendations very seriously and why the Government needs to implement some of them.

The committee made the following recommendations: that a two-level regulatory regime be introduced via primary legislation in relation to short-term lettings with a strict regime of regulations targeted at entire properties, short-term commercial lettings at one level, and a less stringent second level focused at those who rent out their primary residence for a period of 90 days or less per year; that a licensing system be introduced for short-term lettings and short-term letting platforms and that such a system should require platforms to register all hosts with the relevant local authority and to share information on letting type, availability and use with the local authority, and the revenue generated by the host with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners; that casual short-term lettings of up to 90 days in a given year should be exempt from planning permission. Any short term letting in excess of 90 days should require change-of-use planning permission; that a study of the impact of short-term lettings on Ireland’s housing and rental market be commissioned, focusing particularly on Dublin 1 and Dublin 7 and the ripple effect which may have been experienced in the surrounding localities; that in order to track properties shifting from long-term letting to short-term letting that landlords be required to provide a reason for a tenancy ending to the Residential Tenancies Board and the local authority; that each local authority is adequately resourced and each establish a role with specific responsibility for short-term lettings; and that the working group establishes the data required in order to continuously monitor the impact of short-term lettings.It states that, on foot of this, a system should be put in place for short-term letting providers to be required to provide the Department with these data. It also states that a review of current planning and development laws and regulations should be carried out to establish whether they are robust enough to prevent abuse of the system.

The report recommends that local authorities begin strict enforcement of Article 10(4) and that they should ensure that apartments being used for short-term lettings have the necessary planning permission. In recommendation 10, it suggests that the working group engage with stakeholders from other jurisdictions to establish the regulations or amendments they introduced to curb the impact of short-term lettings. It also recommends that the memorandum of understanding between the Department and Airbnb be ceased as the committee does not believe the memorandum of understanding is sufficient or appropriate. It states that educational material to help inform short-term letting hosts of their legal rights and responsibilities should be posted on the website of the Residential Tenancies Board and that adequate resources should be provided to local authorities in order for them to put in place a systematic inspection and enforcement regime of short-term lettings and to publish periodically the results of these inspections.

We ask that all these recommendations are taken on board and that the Department would indicate to us a timeframe as to when it intends to implement those recommendations. We commend the work of the committee. However, I note that Senator Buttimer made a number of comments about housing being built in certain areas.