George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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243. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment given the heavy reliance in previous consultations with online travel agent platforms, and the limited engagement with the grassroots micro-businesses who will be most impacted, if he will commit to structured, meaningful and time-bound consultation with representative short-term letting host groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62412/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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On 15 April, Government approved the General Scheme for the Short Term Letting and Tourism (STLT) Bill. This Bill, when enacted, will provide the statutory basis for the introduction of a register for all Short Term Lettings (STLs) in Ireland, to 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 by Government to establish a register for short term letting (STL) has been broadly welcomed by the tourism sector.

Fáilte Ireland has estimated that, based on data for September 2025 which has been screen scraped from publicly available STL listings across four major booking platforms, there are c.34,680 STL properties in the State currently being advertised online and up to 65% of these properties are advertised as “entire” houses and apartments. The research points to a 25.1% increase from an estimated 27,720 units listed in September 2022. It is important, in such a fast-growing area, that we have oversight and data on where this growth is happening.

My officials hold regular stakeholder engagement meetings with tourism industry representatives, including the Irish Self Catering Federation who represent individual STL accommodation providers, the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation and the major booking platforms, the most recent on 29 April and 30 June.

These meetings were held to ensure all stakeholders are aware of the new STL registration requirements in advance of their introduction from 20 May next year. Earlier this week, as part of this engagement process officials from my Department, attended and spoke at the Irish Self Catering Federation Annual Conference in County Clare. This engagement provided another opportunity to hear the concerns of individual STL accommodation providers and to provide further clarity on the new regulatory requirements for this sector.

Tourism is an important economic driver that supports one in 10 jobs in Ireland, and I am acutely aware of its importance and the concerns of the tourism industry, in particular short-term letting accommodation providers based throughout rural Ireland.

The STL sector has emerged and developed at a fast pace over the past decade and most (99%) of the Short Term Letting (STL) accommodation providers are not associated with industry representative groups. To ensure all accommodation providers are aware of their obligations from next May, my Department launched a communications campaign on 28 October. This campaign relates to the Short Term Letting and Tourism (STLT) Bill and the establishment of the Short Term Letting (STL) Register, which is my responsibility.

My Department has also developed a webpage where information is easily accessible for the sector and this is available at enterprise.gov.ie/en/what-we-do/the-business-environment/tourism/short-term-letting/.