Planning permission requirements for short-term lets 'largely ineffective', says ESRI report

The report, published today in conjunction with the Department of Housing, notes that the number of planning applications received in 2023 to register a property as an Airbnb - just 91 dwellings - is dwarfed by the 9,142 Airbnbs operating in rent pressure zones (RPZs) at the same time. File picture

A requirement on short-term lets like Airbnbs to seek planning permission in order to clamp down on the number of such rentals in Ireland appears to have been “largely ineffective”, according to new research.

Likewise, it is unlikely that the prevalence of short-term rentals across Ireland is directly responsible for the severe lack of rental supply currently impacting the country’s tenant population, according to the study by the the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).