Minister expects Europe to allow Ireland to start crackdown on short-term lets within months

The new legislation would create a short-term tourist letting register, meaning that homeowners renting out their properties for more than 21 days have to register with Fáilte Ireland

The Government’s proposed Short-Term Tourism Letting Bill has been delayed for over a year by the European Commission, due to concerns that the laws would be too restrictive on companies like Airbnb and Booking.com. File photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images

Tourism Minister Catherine Martin expects a “positive outcome” to be reached with the European Commission to allow Ireland begin its crackdown on short-term lets in the coming months.

The Government’s proposed Short-Term Tourism Letting Bill has been delayed for over a year by the European Commission, due to concerns that the laws would be too restrictive on companies like Airbnb and Booking.com.

The commission itself has also flagged concerns around the alignment of Ireland’s proposed short-term rental laws with its own proposals to regulate the sector.

However, Ms Martin, who is responsible for the legislation, wrote to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien late last month to update him on the ongoing delays to the legislation.

In her letter, Ms Martin said that officials from her department have engaged further with the EU Commission in recent weeks. This includes a commitment to provide an updated general scheme of the legislation to the Commission at the “earliest opportunity”.

Ms Martin adds in the letter that she believes, based on recent engagement with the EU, that there will be a “positive outcome” reached shortly.

A spokesperson for the Department of Tourism said that when this process is completed, the department will be able to publish the updated legislation.

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Under the proposals, Ireland would have a more regulated structure to the short-term rental market. At present, anyone seeking to turn their property into a short-term let is required to seek planning permission if they want to rent it for more than 90 days a year.

The new legislation would create a short-term tourist letting register, meaning that homeowners renting out their properties for more than 21 days would have to register with Fáilte Ireland. It is understood the work to create such a register is complete and can be implemented quickly after the legislation is enacted.

The new laws will also allow Fáilte Ireland to levy fines against households that attempt to let out a property without a valid registration number. These fines can stretch up to €5,000.

“Fáilte Ireland estimates that as per July 2023 data, there are approximately 34,000 STTL properties in the State currently being advertised online,” the spokesperson added.

Using estimates derived from ‘screen scraping, which is the only source of data available in the absence of a STTL register it is estimated that, of the 34,000 relevant properties, up to 10,700 properties could potentially become available for long-term housing requirements.”

It comes after Mr O’Brien raised his concerns about the ongoing delays to the legislation at a recent meeting of EU housing ministers.

“At a meeting of European Housing Ministers in Liége, Belgium, Minister O’Brien called on the EU commission and parliament to conclude its work on short-term letting assessment and allow member states such as Ireland to proceed with domestic legislation which has been prepared,” a spokesperson for Mr O’Brien said.

In recent days, however, there has been criticism of the proposed laws, with owners of short-term rental properties saying that it will devastate their businesses.

Over 50 short-term let providers held a meeting in New Ross in recent days, with one owner Susan Devane saying that the proposals will not lead to an increase in long-term rentals.

She said that properties in the short-term rental market will not "suddenly morph into thousands of long lets, because many premises, for various reasons, are unsuitable for such rentals."