Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

270. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to take into consideration the serious implications that a short-term let register will have on established short-term let accommodation providers in County Kerry (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40439/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

On 15 April, Government approved the General Scheme for the Short Term Letting and Tourism (STLT) Bill. The General Scheme was submitted to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel on 16 April for drafting and this work is currently underway. It is expected that the STLT Bill will go through the full legislative process in the Oireachtas later this year.

This Bill when enacted will provide the statutory basis for the introduction of new regulatory controls for the Short Term Letting (STL) sector in Ireland, including the introduction of a STL register 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 on 11 April 2024. The decision to introduce a STL register has been broadly welcomed by the tourism sector.

The new STL register will be available online and will provide a full picture of the stock of registered tourist accommodation across the state. STL hosts offering accommodation for periods up to and including 21 nights will be obliged to register with Fáilte Ireland, confirm their compliance with planning requirements and hold a valid registration number that must be displayed when advertising their STL property on online platforms.

The establishment of the register will assist local authorities with the enforcement of planning requirements for Short Term Lets. In addition, in terms of scrutinising and ensuring adequate future supply of accommodation for tourism purposes, Fáilte Ireland has developed a capacity and pipeline monitor to track movement in tourism accommodation capacity. This includes measuring changes in current capacity and the tracking of the pipeline of tourist accommodation in Ireland focusing on planning, construction commencement and opening phases of development. This will allow Fáilte Ireland to pinpoint challenges that exist in terms of the development of tourism accommodation; to measure the impact arising; and to work with partners and other stakeholders to identify and potentially develop solutions.

The Fáilte Ireland Pipeline Analysis as of Q1 2025 identifies 11,550 bedspaces under construction, with planning granted for a further 36,250 bedspaces and planning submitted for a further 7,750 bedspaces. As of Q1 2025 there are 11,550 bedspaces under construction.

The combined insights of the accommodation capacity and pipeline monitor and the STL register will help shape and inform Ireland’s long-term accommodation development plans to meet changing consumer demands and trends.

Further to a commitment made in the Programme for Government, my Department is currently reviewing the national tourism policy framework. The new framework will shape how our tourism industry develops in the period to 2030. Accommodation bed-stock for tourism use will be considered as part of the new Policy Framework and subsequent Action Plans.

Fáilte Ireland has estimated that, based on data for May 2025 which has been screen scraped from publicly available STL listings across four major booking platforms, there are in the region of 34,000 STL properties in the State currently being advertised online and up to approximately 64% of these properties are advertised as “entire” houses and apartments. In Kerry, the May data includes an estimated number of STLs of 3,910, with approximately 70% (2,720) being "entire" houses and apartments. Due to the absence of full addresses on published STL listings it is not possible to identify from the screen-scraped data what proportion of those properties are in different locations in Kerry. In the absence of a register there is no way of knowing whether these are principal private residences or otherwise. Fáilte Ireland's research 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.

The new Housing policy, proposed by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne T.D., 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. Minister Browne 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. The National Planning Statement will be published in advance of the final enactment of the STLT Bill to provide clarity for the tourism sector.

At present, all STL properties with the exception of your 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 227,000 jobs and €6 billion income to our economy in 2024. Short Term Lets are an important part of the overall tourism accommodation ecosystem and I am aware of the genuine concerns regarding the impacts on rural tourism and local economies of removing a significant cohort of properties from the STL market. However, meeting local housing need across Ireland is a critically important consideration and Government must use every lever available to assist in providing homes for our people, including returning properties to the long-term residential market.

My Department will consider the full implications for the Tourism sector as we await the publication of the National Planning Statement for STL by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.