Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Garvey for giving me this opportunity on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to update the Seanad in relation to the planning guidelines that will supplement the short-term letting legislation.

In line with the specific action in the Government's Housing for All plan, to develop new regulatory controls requiring short-term and holiday lets to register with Fáilte Ireland with a view to ensuring that houses are used to best effect in areas of housing need, that is, action 20.4, on 7 December 2022, the Government approved the publication of the general scheme of the registration of short-term tourist letting Bill and for the priority drafting of that Bill, which provides for the establishment of a new registration system for short-term lettings to be operated by Fáilte Ireland. Work on the Bill is being led by the Minister for tourism and her Department. The legislation must support the development of vibrant urban and rural areas through ensuring that existing building stock is utilised for long and short-term rental, as appropriate, in order to ensure that the benefits of tourism can be effectively harnessed to provide benefit to local economies, while ensuring that the vitality and long-term housing needs of communities are maintained.

In parallel to the drafting of that Bill, the Department of housing has committed to providing planning guidelines to local authorities, which is of course what the Senator is asking about. In tandem with the establishment of the register and associated regulations, the guidance is intended to provide clarity to the short-term let sector with regard to planning requirements. Ensuring consistency in approach by planning authorities in respect of the assessment and determination of short-term letting-related planning applications on a national basis will require a careful balance between the relative need for housing and tourist accommodation in any given area. In effect, the guidelines will provide local authorities with an appropriate framework within which they can make an informed, balanced decision with regard to short-term letting planning applications, having regard to the broader needs of the local area concerned. In that regard, the Department of housing recognises that home sharing, that is, the letting of a room or rooms in a person's principal private residence, which was the original model on which the Airbnb concept was based, is an acceptable principle in support of tourism. New guidelines will allow that to continue unhindered after the enactment of the short-term letting Bill.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will engage with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders on the development of the guidelines. Officials from both the Department of tourism and the Department of housing are in regular engagement on the drafting of those guidelines. It is intended that a draft of the planning guidelines will be published by the Department of housing in conjunction with the publication of the Bill by the Minister for tourism, in order that relevant property owners, as the Senator says, can have notice as to what to expect. Stakeholder groups and Oireachtas Members will also have greater understanding of the planning requirements as the Bill is being progressed through the Houses of the Oireachtas. The final planning guidelines will then be issued by the Minister for housing upon the enactment of the short-term letting Bill. That is the sequence.