Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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59. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on whether there is a chronic shortage of tourist accommodation in Dublin; the action his Department is taking to help create additional hotel capacity; and if his Department has made any proposals to either the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government or any planning authority to help address the shortage. [38843/16]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Fáilte Ireland monitors the performance of tourist accommodation through regular occupancy surveys.  This analysis indicates that while the country as a whole has sufficient stock of tourist accommodation, there are capacity constraints in areas of high tourist traffic at times of peak demand and additional capacity is required in certain parts of the country, particularly in Dublin city.

In this context, Fáilte Ireland released an assessment of the supply and demand for hotel accommodation in Dublin earlier this year.  This in-depth study, which is currently being updated in order to take account of the most recent data, confirmed the current shortage.  Encouragingly, it also found that there is sufficient room stock, either being developed currently, or being planned, to meet projected demand in the future.  However, due primarily to the time lag involved in putting together major construction projects, the bulk of the new room stock will not come on stream until after 2018.  In order to investigate the matter further, I am currently engaged in a number of meetings with stakeholders in the accommodation area to assess what, if any, blockages there are to the provision of tourist accommodation.  I plan to engage with both Dublin City Council and Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government as part of this process.

Furthermore, in response to consumer preferences, and in order to boost the economic rationale for investment in hotel development, Fáilte Ireland's revised Registration and Renewal of Registration Regulations for Hotels 2016 came into operation on 1 August 2016.  Changes set out in the Regulations should make investment more attractive by allowing hotel operators provide more rooms per square metre and thereby operate at a lower cost base, thereby improving hotel capacity, competitiveness and profitability.  Consumers should also benefit in terms of increased room capacity, competition and range of accommodation.