Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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702. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will take into consideration the major importance of short-term letting to the tourism industry in Kerry; if he will oppose the proposed planning clampdown as it will have devastating financial consequences on Kerry tourism, local businesses and families that depend on this yearly income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29426/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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On 15 April, the Government approved the general scheme for the Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill. This Bill, which is being progressed by my Department, will provide the statutory basis for the introduction of a register for all Short Term Lettings (STLs) in Ireland, which will be implemented and managed by Fáilte Ireland from 20 May 2026, ensuring compliance with the new EU Short Term Rental Regulation which was adopted by the EU on 11 April 2024. The bill is solely concerned with the establishment of a register. It will go through the full legislative process in the Oireachtas later this year.

The new STL register will be available online and will provide a full picture of the stock of registered tourist accommodation across the state.

All STL hosts offering accommodation for periods up to and including 21 nights will be obliged to register with Fáilte Ireland, confirm their compliance with current statutory obligations pertaining to planning, building and fire safety requirements and hold a valid registration number that must be displayed when advertising their STL property on online platforms. The registration process will be straightforward and should take only minutes to complete for each unit.

An annual registration fee per unit will apply, ranging from in the region of €50 for a room in an occupied house to around €150 for whole unit depending on the number of guests that can be accommodated.

The establishment of the register will provide greater transparency around short-term rentals which will inform both planning and policy decisions, support the promotion of sustainable tourism and assist local authorities with the enforcement of planning requirements for STLs.

In its submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport & Media in February 2023, Fáilte Ireland set out its methodology and estimation of the number of entire properties that could potentially be returned to the long-term housing market following the introduction of new regulatory controls for short term lettings.

That assessment, which identified that 10,700 homes could potentially be returned to the Long-term housing market was based on the enforcement of existing controls introduced by Regulations under the Planning and Development Act 2000 which came into effect on 1 July 2019.

Fáilte Ireland’s research, which has found that, based on November, 2024 data, there are approximately 32,000 STL properties in the State currently being advertised online and up to 64% of these properties are full houses and apartments. This research also points to an ongoing annual 10% increase in the size of the STL sector, year on year. It is important that in such a fast-growing area, we have data on where this growth is happening. At present, no such data exists.

My colleague, Mr. James Browne TD, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, will set out the planning guidance for STLs in a National Planning Statement on short term letting and will progress any necessary legislative changes to implement the new Planning requirements. Minister Browne will publish this National Planning Statement in advance of the final enactment of the STLT Bill to provide clarity for the tourism sector.

The new Housing policy, proposed by Minister Browne and approved by Government on 15 April is to generally preclude new planning permissions for STLs in cities and towns with a Census population in excess of 10,000 persons and to enable local authorities have discretion to develop policies for other locations having regard to relevant local criteria to be set out in the planning guidance. The identification of the number of properties that will potentially be returned to the Long-term Housing market is contingent on the particulars of the new housing policy for STLs. which is being developed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

At present, all STL properties with the exception of one principal private residence (PPR) based in rent pressure zones are required to have planning permission. If you rent out a room in your PPR, planning permission is generally not required, however if you rent out the entire PPR property for more than 90 days planning permission is necessary.

Tourism is of significant importance to the Irish economy, providing c. 227,000 jobs and €6 billion income in 2024. This Government is aware of the genuine concerns regarding the impacts on rural tourism and local economies arising from removing a cohort of properties from the STL market. However, meeting local housing need across Ireland is a critically important consideration and this Government is committed to using every lever available to assist in providing homes for our people, including returning properties to the long-term residential market.

[NEW - As mentioned earlier, failure to introduce regulatory controls for the STL sector would most likely result in further growth of the short-term letting market. This will exacerbate the impact on the long-term housing market resulting in further societal and economic consequences but it also has potential downsides for the tourism sector. It is essential that the State has oversight of the tourism accommodation offering across the country and without a registration process it will be impossible to collect accurate data on the short-term letting market. This is necessary to support policy decisions and the development and promotion of the tourism industry in Ireland in the long term.

In some EU Member States, the difficulties regulating the STL sector has led to an unmanageable level of growth in tourism in certain areas leading to ‘over tourism’ that has caused a backlash from residents and social unrest. While we are not experiencing this level of expansion in the sector in Ireland it is the case that lack of regulation will inhibit authorities from managing tourism numbers appropriately in the future.]

I and my Department will consider the full implications for the Tourism sector including the potential impact on jobs and the economy as we await the planning clarification from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.