Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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547. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider an exemption from the registration and planning requirements under the Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill 2025 for agritourism operators and owners of protected structures such as thatched cottages, in recognition of their role in rural economic development and heritage preservation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62725/25]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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548. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way in which the proposed national register of short-term lets, to be implemented by Fáilte Ireland, will accommodate the unique circumstances of agritourism providers and heritage property owners in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62727/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 547 and 548 together.

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 regulatory controls including a register for Short Term Lettings (STL) 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 to introduce a register for Short term letting has been broadly welcomed by the tourism sector.

From 20 May 2026, all STL hosts offering accommodation for periods up to and including 21 nights will be obliged to register with Fáilte Ireland via a digital system and confirm their compliance with planning requirements. The registration process will take just 5 minutes to complete and will result in a unique registration number being issued for each STL unit registered. This number must be displayed when listing the STL unit on any online platforms.

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% 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.

The Planning and Development Act 2024 (Act of 2024) was enacted in October 2024 and is in the process of being commenced. In the meantime, the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (Act of 2000), and associated Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (Regulations of 2001) remain in force until the relevant sections of the Act of 2024 are commenced and the corresponding sections of the Act of 2000 are repealed. Unless specifically exempted, all development requires planning permission.

Under the Act of 2000, all development, unless specifically exempted under the Act or associated Regulations, requires planning permission. Articles 6, 7, 8 and 10 and Schedule 2 of the Regulations of 2001, as amended (the Regulations), set out various exemptions from the requirement to obtain planning permission. A review of the current Exempted Development Regulations is ongoing and a four-week public consultation period on the matter concluded on 26 August 2025. The consultation on exempted development regulations generated a significant response from the public and other stakeholders, with over 900 submissions received via the online consultation portal.

The value of short-term letting is acknowledged as part of a mix of tourism accommodation. The economic benefit of agri-tourism is also recognised as an important part of diversification of income for farming families, with tourism accommodation playing a role in the retention, refurbishment and repurposing of agricultural and other heritage buildings. The aim of the Government Policy, announced earlier this year is to ensure that accommodation in urban areas can be brought back into long term letting, while ensuring that the benefits, which appropriate levels of short term tourism letting can have for rural communities, can continue. My Department is currently drafting a National Planning Statement to provide greater certainty for existing and future operators of short term letting accommodation.

Following the approval received from Government on the 15 April to generally preclude new planning permissions for Short-Term Lets in large towns and cities, my Department is working to give effect to this decision. This involves a review of the current Planning Acts with a view to remove references to Rent Pressure Zones in respect of short-term lets. My Department is also currently developing a National Planning Statement (NPS) 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.