Sir, – The Short-Term Tourist Letting Bill aims to curb short-term letting by introducing a register for short-term lets in a move that is expected to bring thousands of properties back to the market.
The Government predicts the register will move 10,700 self-catering and short-term holiday lets to the long-term rental market. The majority of these are in rural Ireland, including Kerry, Galway and Cork. The Bill is expected to be brought before Cabinet before the Oireachtas summer recess.
The real question is the urgent need to strike a balance between guaranteed access to affordable housing against the need to safeguard the valid interests of the tourism industry.
One city is leading the way in prioritising the needs of its citizens over tourists. Barcelona announced earlier this month that it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028 in an effort to make housing more affordable for residents.
Barcelona is not alone. Local governments in Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin have announced restrictions on short-term rentals in the last decade. Florence has announced the banning of new short-term residential lets on platforms such as Airbnb in its historic centre, as well as three years of tax breaks to landlords of short-term holiday lets if they start offering ordinary leases for residents.
Tourism is important – housing is even more so. Barcelona and other cities across Europe are prioritising the needs of citizens over tourists while refusing to accept the normalisation of a lack of affordable housing.
Ireland needs to show equal ambition to do the same. – Yours, etc,
CATHERINE CONLON,
Ballintemple,
Cork.