Airbnb and other accommodation websites could be fined up to €5,000 if they advertise lettings which have not been registered with Failte Ireland under a new scheme aimed at freeing up 12,000 properties for long term rentals.
Tourism Minister Catherine Martin said bill which would mean all short-term letting advertisements must be registered with the tourism body. The bill will update penalties for the enforcement of the register and will allow Failte Ireland to levy €300 fixed payment notice on property owners who disobey the regulations, and up to €5,000 if the matter goes to court.
Meanwhile, platforms such as Airbnb, booking.com and others must also ensure the advertisements are registered or they could also face a fine of €5,000 per listing. It is hoped the move could return 12,000 homes to the long-term market, based on international experience in Amsterdam.
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Failte Ireland boss Paul Kelly said Holland had seen huge success with similar measures, though these had been brought in during the pandemic. Ten new inspectors have been hired to help enforce the regulations.
He said: “The list will be publicly available to local authorities they will now be able to check the Eircode of every single property that is advertised. They will be able to see if that has the appropriate planning permission or not.
"That has been incredibly difficult for local authorities because they haven’t been able to access those Eircodes.”
Minister Martin said the measures are “an important step in addressing the availability of private residential accommodation”. She added: “These new regulatory controls will ensure balanced and sustainable tourism development.
"Addressing the housing challenges will also address the staffing issues facing many tourism businesses as it will provide housing options to tourism and hospitality workers in these areas.”
It is hoped to have the system in place by the summer and homeowners will be given a six month grace period to comply. In a statement, Airbnb welcomed the news, saying: “Clear and simple rules are good news for everyone and will help more families share their homes to boost their income, while making communities in Ireland stronger.”
Meanwhile, Failte Ireland has said that it wants to see tourism accommodation being used for Ukrainian refugees come back into the tourism market “as quickly as it can” to help ease sector-wide shortages. Paul Kelly called on the Government to put other accommodation in place to ease supply.
He said: “The humanitarian response of the Government has taken a very significant proportion of the accommodation stock out of the tourism sector. The availability of accommodation stock is probably the biggest challenge to the tourism sector next year. We are very concerned about it.”
Speaking in the Dail later, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said Ireland’s current housing shortage is a “drag” on investment. Leo Varadkar said it was “definitely a real concern” but that it was not causing investment to go down.
The Enterprise Minister added that it is not possible to quantify exactly how it was affecting investment. “When I’m meeting the senior executives and senior board members of big companies that are thinking about investing in Ireland, they do ask about our infrastructure: Is there enough housing for the workers that they might want to come in? Is there going to be enough electricity, is there going to be enough water and wastewater?
“So, infrastructure is definitely a barrier to further growth in Ireland. What they all tell me as well is that these aren’t necessarily problems unique to Ireland, they find these issues in California as well.”
He added: “I think the housing shortage is a drag on investment. It’s not really possible to quantify to what extent that’s the case.“
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