Government shows ‘lack of backbone’ with ‘Kilgarvan carveout’ on short-term letting Bill

The Government has been accused of showing “a serious lack of backbone” in its creation of a national register of short-term accommodation rentals by restricting it to towns with a population of more than 20,000. Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman described the measure in the new legislation introduced in the Dáil as the “Kilgarvan carveout”. It was a reference to the commitment to then minister of state and Independent Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae to set the 20,000 population as a threshold. O’Gorman said it suggested there were “certain parts of the country where some people are more deserving of housing than others”.Legislation introduced by Minister for Enterprise and Tourism Peter Burke established a national register of accommodation rentals covering stays for up to 21 nights and designated Fáilte Ireland “as the competent authority responsible for administering the register and overseeing the collection and sharing of relevant data”.READ MORETo be included, properties must have planning permission to operate as short-term lettings.The Bill was part of moves to tighten regulations and push more homes into the long-term private rental sector.O’Gorman said, however, that only 24 towns would be able to avail of the legislation and it would leave most towns “completely at the mercy of Airbnb or other short-term let companies”.The housing crisis was “just as devastating in rural Ireland as it is in built-up areas but the Government is saying that some places deserve housing more than others”.Healy-Rae also hit out at the legislation and said it could have been a “sensible” Bill but it had been “scutterised” and “created uncertainty for hardworking people who had spent years building businesses and bringing visitors to rural Ireland”.[ Aengus Ó Snodaigh says Liberty Recycling letter was forgedOpens in new window ]He supported a register but said “the Government has turned a reasonable idea into a planning headache for established businesses”.He cited Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments in April that anyone operating an Airbnb business for seven years did not need planning permission. But now operators were told they must regularise their position and seven years did not guarantee approval, he said.Burke insisted, however, that the Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill would “support effective regulation of the sector, provide clarity and certainty for hosts regarding their obligations”.“The framework also supports the Government’s broader objective of ensuring long-term residential accommodation is prioritised in areas experiencing housing pressures,” he said.There will be a unique registration number for each registered unit and “registration will be straightforward and fully online” with a €25 fee.Fáilte Ireland produces monthly estimates of online short-term letting activity and as of September it said “approximately 31,770 short-term letting properties were advertised across two of the largest booking platforms”.[ RTÉ to seek further Government funding as licence fee revenue to continue declineOpens in new window ]Sinn Féin enterprise spokeswoman Rose Conway-Walsh accused the Government of making an “absolute shambles” of the legislation. She hit out at the Minister for forcing the Bill through with just one day’s debate next week “after 2½ years to prepare” it.This was “simply unacceptable” for scrutinising a Bill “with serious implications for tourism, rural employment, local businesses and housing”, she said. The Fáilte Ireland register is due to open on December 1st with the short-term letting operators required to register before December 31st. “Who thought it was sensible to introduce such significant changes with a deadline falling during the Christmas period?” Conway-Walsh said.