Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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1666. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has carried out work on planning guidelines for drone delivery bases, given that while the regulation of the drones fall within the Department of Transport drone bases are a commercial activity in terms of land use and operating times. [43978/25]

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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1667. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has considered guidelines for drone delivery bases and the way their hours of operation might be regulated given that while the regulation of the drones fall within the Department of Transport, drone bases are a commercial activity in terms of land use and operating times. [43979/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1666 and 1667 together.

Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the 2000 Act), all development, unless specifically exempted under the Act or associated Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended (2001 Regulations), requires planning permission.

Section 5(1) of the 2000 Act, provides that “if any question arises as to what, in any particular case, is or is not development or is or is not exempted development within the meaning of this Act, any person may, on payment of the prescribed fee, request in writing from the relevant planning authority a declaration on that question, and that person shall provide to the planning authority any information necessary to enable the authority to make its decision on the matter.”

Where any party is unhappy with the decision of a planning authority in relation to an application for planning permission, the decision may be appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála within four weeks of the decision of the planning authority in accordance with section 37 of the Act.

Part VIII of the 2000 Act provides for a comprehensive system of planning enforcement that may be pursued by any individual or planning authority in respect of unauthorised development. Under planning legislation, enforcement of planning control is a matter for the planning authority concerned. The planning authority may take action if a development does not have the required permission or where the terms of a permission have not been respected.

Under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case in which a planning authority or An Coimisiún is or may be concerned, except in very specific circumstances.

My Department currently has no plans to undertake work on planning guidelines for drone delivery bases.

Drones are regulated by the Irish Aviation Authority who control where drones may be flown www.iaa.ie/general-aviation/drones/uas-geographic-zones and licences drone operators.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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1668. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will review the planning guidelines to prevent further proliferation of gaming arcades in suburban village centres. [43982/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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In accordance with the Planning and Development Act 2000 all development to which the Act applies requires planning permission, unless it is specifically exempted under the provisions of the Act or associated Regulations made thereunder.

My Department currently has no plans to undertake work on planning guidelines for gaming arcades and I am satisfied that such matters are most appropriately addressed at local level through the inclusion of relevant policies and objectives in local authority development plans, including, for example, through land-use zoning. The making of a development plan is a reserved function of the elected members of each planning authority.

Under section 30 of the Act, I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála is or may be concerned.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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1669. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government in relation to the new regulations on short-let rentals (details supplied), if an exemption will be put in place for existing short-let properties which were never previously available for long-term let. [44001/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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A review of the current Exempted Development Regulations is ongoing and a wider public consultation on exempted development regulations will be undertaken shortly. Members of the public, State bodies and other concerned parties will be able to make submissions in writing as part of the consultation process.The Government cannot pre-empt the outcome of any consultation and therefore no decision has been made in respect of any revisions to current exempted development provisions. This includes exemptions for modular housing structures in gardens and the associated use of such structures. Any update to Exempted Development Regulations will require positive resolutions by both Houses of the Oireachtas before it can be signed into law.

With regard to Short Term Letting, the EU Short Term Rental (STR) Regulation was adopted by the EU on 11 April 2024 and is applicable from 20 May 2026. This Regulation lays down harmonised rules on the collection and exchange of data on short term rental services for member states, hosts providing short term accommodation rental services, and online platforms that offer services to hosts providing short term accommodation rental services within the EU.

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (DTCAGSM) has drafted the Short Term Letting and Tourism (STLT) Bill General Scheme in full alignment with the STR Regulation. The introduction of the STLT Bill will provide a more effective legal and administrative basis to regulate short term lettings. This Bill when enacted will provide the statutory basis for the introduction of a register for all Short Term Lettings in Ireland, which will be implemented and managed by Fáilte Ireland from 20 May 2026.

The Government has recently agreed a policy to generally preclude new planning permissions for short term letting in cities and towns with a Census population in excess of 10,000 persons, at the most recent Census of Population. It was further agreed that local authorities should have discretion to develop policies for other locations having regard to relevant local criteria to be set out in the guidance. This guidance will be introduced in the form of a National Planning Statement (NPS).

My Department is currently developing a National Planning Statement for the short term letting sector to supplement and support the introduction of the STLT Bill. It will consider a variety of factors, such as existing planning legislation, the long term housing need in the local authority area, the location of the proposed short term let and balancing housing need with the potential impact on tourism and economic development.

My Department has met with various stakeholders such as booking platforms and industry representatives and will continue to do so during the development of the National Planning Statement for the short-term letting sector. The legislative basis for a National Planning Statement is contained within the Planning and Development Act 2024. The relevant provision governing National Planning Statements is due to be commenced later this year.