Homeless people in hotels and tourists in houses

Sir, – While it is positive to see Dublin City Council planners issue enforcement notices relating to short-term holiday lettings ("Dublin City Council cracks down on Airbnb-style lettings", Business News, November 28th), the backwards reality is that we continue to put homeless people into our hotels and tourists into our houses. Dublin City Council's response is reactive and faces difficulties in enforcement in no small part due to much of the relevant information being undisclosed commercial data.

The better approach would be for Government to introduce proactive regulation of the companies that facilitate short-term lettings, in particular a requirement on these firms to ensure proof of correct planning for properties let out for greater than 90 days per year or a requirement to proactively flag such properties with councils.

However, I suspect such simple and sensible regulation will also flounder in the current political storm. – Yours, etc,

PATRICK COSTELLO,