Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne. I congratulate him on his new appointment and I wish him well.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I congratulate the Minister of State. I commend him on his work as the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs. He did an exemplary job. I wish him the best of luck in his new post. I thank him for taking this matter on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

I want to raise the question of the short-term tourist letting register being proposed by the Government. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, which will hear presentations at a meeting this afternoon, including from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I was concerned when the proposal was published. We all know there is a problem with the availability of long-term letting in Ireland. There is a view that doing something to tackle short-term lets being available would suddenly make a lot more long-term properties available. The website of the Department, citing Fáilte Ireland, estimates that as a result of the proposed register up to 12,000 properties could come back onto the long-term rental market. This is a particularly dangerous prediction to make and, quite frankly, it is nonsense. There is no way we will see 12,000 properties come onto the long-term rental market as a result of the introduction of the register. What is the basis on which the Department asserted this figure? I get the sense it has been plucked out of the air.

I appreciate that a number of people, particularly in urban areas, are skirting some of the rules. They put up properties on a regular basis for short-term lets. These represent a minority of the properties that are short-term lets. I am concerned about the potential impact of this on tourism, particularly during the summer and particularly in rural and coastal areas, if it is not properly thought out and if there is no consultation with the stakeholders in the sector.

If we think about short-term lets, it is not just those properties that get let out week after week on Airbnb, booking.comand other sites. The majority of lettings on Airbnb are rooms in family homes. They are not available throughout the year. They are often available only during particular periods of the year, in some instances when festivals are on. I am conscious of the Wexford Opera Festival, the Rose of Tralee and the Cork Jazz Festival. To accommodate people under pressure families make rooms available for people who are guests. In other instances, we have business people coming here who may require accommodation for a certain number of weeks while they find permanent accommodation elsewhere.

We have a number of self-catering and holiday cottages. While they may be beautiful in July, the idea of staying in them during a freezing cold January is certainly not appealing. The tourism sector is already under pressure because a lot of accommodation is being used to house displaced persons from Ukraine and other areas. I am worried this has not been properly thought out. It is taking a housing sledgehammer to try to solve an issue. The impact this will have on tourism will cause a problem.

There may now be a requirement on older properties to have their planning permission updated with regard to the planning regulations. This may require applying to a local authority to change the planning permission for older holiday properties. I am concerned about this. I believe it will have a serious impact on the tourism sector. I urge that there be consultation with the sector. I do not believe that adequate assessment has been carried out of the impact on tourism of this proposal.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator and the Cathaoirleach for their kind comments. I thank the Senator for raising this matter and I apologise that the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is not available. She asked me to take this matter.

The Government approved the priority drafting of the registration of short-term tourist letting Bill and publication of the general scheme of the Bill in December. It provides for the registration of short-term tourist lettings with Fáilte Ireland in line with the commitment under Housing for All, the Government's housing policy. The Minister has since written to the Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, of which the Senator Malcolm is a member, in line with agreed protocols for pre-legislative scrutiny of legislation. This afternoon, departmental officials, along with officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Fáilte Ireland, will attend a meeting of the committee in public session for pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme. Many of the issues the Senator has raised can be fleshed out in more detail with the officials.The Department is also engaging with the European Commission on the draft legislation under the notification requirements of the technical regulations information system directive.

The main provisions of the Bill are the establishment of a short-term tourist letting register, the provision that any party offering accommodation for periods of up to and including 21 nights will need to be registered with Fáilte Ireland and an obligation on those advertising properties for short-term letting to ensure that they have valid registration numbers. The Bill also provides for enforcement of the proposed regulations.

The rapid growth of short-term tourist letting is a worldwide trend. In the international context, it is notable that on 7 November last, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation to enhance transparency in the field of short-term accommodation rentals and help public authorities ensure that the balanced development of this sector as part of a sustainable wider tourism sector. The Commission stated that while short-term accommodation bookings offer benefits for hosts and tourists, they can, of course, create concerns for local communities struggling, for example, with a lack of affordable housing. Our Department's statement of strategy includes the goal of supporting the recovery and economic growth of a competitive tourism sector that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. The Government's housing policy, Housing for All, includes the objective of making more efficient use of existing housing. One of the actions to achieve this is the development of new regulatory controls requiring short-term and holiday lets to register with Fáilte Ireland with a view to ensuring houses are used to best effect in areas of housing need, including in the Senator's constituency.

Using data derived from screen-scraping, which is the only source of data available in the absence of the register, which we propose to establish, Fáilte Ireland estimates that approximately 30,000 short-term tourist letting properties in the State are currently advertised online. It is impossible to forecast with any certainty at this stage but it is estimated that of the 30,000 relevant properties, up to 12,000 properties may become available for long-term housing requirements. The Senator can discuss that in more detail with the officials this afternoon.

While the loss of properties from the short-term letting sector will impact on the availability of tourism accommodation, it is important that growth in tourism is sustainable and does not impact adversely on host communities. The establishment of the register will help the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and local authorities in ensuring proper planning and sustainable development. From a tourism perspective, the proposed legislation will for the first time allow Fáilte Ireland to have a full picture of tourist accommodation across the State, significantly enhancing its ability to promote and drive tourism investment. The Bill will be examined further during the drafting process. In that context, what the Senator and other members of the committee are saying, the proposed EU regulation the Digital Services Act, which came into force in November, will be taken into account.

With regard to resourcing of this initiative, I understand that Fáilte Ireland has appointed a dedicated team of ten staff to establish, maintain and implement the proposed short-term tourist letting register. This team is helped by other teams across Fáilte Ireland, including those with responsibility in the areas of legal, ICT and finance. Preparations are being made for the launch of the register, including the establishment of systems and procedures to maintain it and stakeholder engagements.

Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. The Senator has one minute for supplementary questions.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I note the Minister of State's language when he indicated the Department stated that it is impossible to estimate or that it cannot estimate how many properties will be available. This is not what it says on the Department's website, which indicates much more clearly that we will see 12,000 coming back into use.

Nobody disputes the need for a register. A register makes sense; it has to be a level playing field. The difficulty is that because there has not been adequate consultation with stakeholders, it will have a real impact on tourism in rural and coastal areas and elsewhere. I get where there are pressures in terms of long-term rentals. My worry is that while we might gain a small number of additional long-term rentals as a result of this, we will actually see a lot of short-term lettings coming out of the tourism sector. That will cause a real problem this summer. We will obviously have further engagement but I ask the Minister of State take back that there should be consultation with the stakeholders to ensure this is done properly.

Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State has one minute if he wishes to give a quick response.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue. The Minister said she looks forward to working with Oireachtas colleagues to progress the legislation in the interests of tourism and its sustainable development and in contributing to solving our housing crisis. We hope this legislation passes this year.

I am not privy to its agenda, but I have no doubt the joint committee will be taking the full opportunity to engage with as many stakeholders as possible. We have a very serious housing crisis in this country. We must pull every single lever to house our people while making sure our economy can continue to thrive. Our economy includes that very important industry of tourism.