The Government has not offered an updated estimate for the number of homes that could be returned to long-term residential use as a result of its scaled-back crackdown on short-term letting.
It had been previously suggested that between 10,000 and 12,000 homes could be returned to use as a result of new rules for short-term letting properties such as those advertised on Airbnb and other platforms.
However, such estimates were made before this week’s decision by the Coalition to set the threshold at which new planning permission restrictions would apply to short-term let properties to towns and cities with more than 20,000 people.
This was a rowing back on the previous Government plan to set the cap to cover towns with populations of more than 10,000.
READ MORE
The move means short-term let properties in places like Malahide (population 18,608), Killarney (population 14,412) and Ashbourne (15,680) will not face the same restrictions as the 20 towns in the State with populations higher than 20,000.
On Tuesday, Minister for Tourism Peter Burke denied the change in policy was a response to pressure from Kerry-based Ministers Norma Foley and Michael Healy-Rae, who opposed the previous plan amid concern over how it would have affected people running short-term rentals in tourist towns like Killarney.
Burke said the change to the proposals happened after discussions with the tourism sector over a number of months.
The Government proposals include new planning permission restrictions and a new Fáilte Ireland register for short-term let properties.
The last Government announced it was preparing legislation for the new register in December 2022. Fáilte Ireland estimated at the time that up to 12,000 properties “could come back into the long-term rental market or the residential housing market” as a result of the proposals.
Last year, the Dáil was told that, according to Fáilte Ireland, there were around 32,000 short-term let properties being advertised online and “potentially 10,000 of those properties” could be “suitable for long term housing”.
The Irish Times asked the Government this week if there is a new estimate for the number of short-term let homes that could be freed up for long-term use in light of the scaling back of the planned restrictions.
The Department of Enterprise and Tourism referred the query to the Department of Housing.
The Department of Housing said the Government decided last April to “set out a policy direction that proposes to generally preclude new planning permissions for short-term lets in cities as well as larger towns across the country”. It said that on Monday the Cabinet Committee on Housing “proposed to apply this to towns and cities with populations over 20,000, subject to Cabinet approval”.
The department’s statement said it is finalising a National Planning Statement (NPS) for short-term letting activity to give effect to the decision. This NPS will ensure there is “a clear overall policy approach ... to determining planning applications for short-term lets in areas under 20,000 people”.
The statement added: “With a high percentage of short-term lets being located in large towns and cities, these areas would deliver a significant number of the short-term letting properties that may be returned to the long-term housing market following the introduction of the proposed regulatory controls.”
It said: “Previous reviews by Fáilte Ireland reported one third of properties returned were likely to be located in Dublin alone.”
A statement from Browne said: “We know that large towns and cities have the most acute need for rental homes” and “there are thousands of properties being treated as commercial units when they could be long term residential units that people could rent or buy.”
Browne added that he wants to see the legislation move “urgently so that we can bring as many short term lets as possible back on stream as homes”.
Fáilte Ireland did not offer a new estimate but said: “Short-term letting accommodation continues to play a vital role in Ireland’s tourism offering, providing flexible options that cater to the diverse needs of visitors.
“For communities to thrive, however, a balanced mix of long-term residential and short-term tourist accommodation is essential.”
