Government accused of incompetence over scrapping of short-term let reforms

The Government has been accused of scrapping plans to reform the short-term let sector and risking a delay of tighter regulations.

In a statement on Friday, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said the Government had pulled temporary regulations due to come in on a placeholder basis from a European approval process which had to be completed before they came into effect.

However, the Department of Housing insisted that full regulation of the sector will come early next year.

Ireland had notified interim arrangements intended to put the sector on a tighter regulatory footing to the European Commission in July of last year, which were designed as a placeholder before a new registration system was established by Fáilte Ireland for the short-term letting sector – a commitment under the Programme for Government.

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A spokesman for the Department of Housing confirmed that these regulations had been withdrawn from the EU oversight process, saying this was because “good progress” had been made on developing the Fáilte Ireland registration system.

The spokesman said that at a recent meeting between Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien and Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin it was agreed that legislation underpinning the Fáilte Ireland system would be progressed “with a view to its early enactment and the associated establishment of the Fáilte Ireland registration system early in 2023″.

“In light of the foregoing, The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has therefore withdrawn its notification to the EU commission of the proposed interim arrangements provided for in the 2022 Act. The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media expects to seek governmental approval for the publication of her legislative proposals in this regard in the coming weeks.”

Mr Toibin said the interim measures were “dead” and “won’t be implemented”.

“We must now wait until the Fáilte Ireland registration scheme [comes] online.” He said it was “incredible” that any Irish Bill would “have to jump through EU hoops to be able to be implemented” and accused the Government of not doing its job correctly. “It is another example of Government incompetence that is leading to dysfunction in the housing sector.”