Tourism Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
============================================================

Michael Cahill (FF), Kerry

I thank the Minister. Legitimate businesses should be allowed to carry on. Other tactics need to be employed to encourage and attract people into offering long-term letting. I again call for a planning waiver. The Minister has touched on it there. Many of those with whom I deal in Killarney, Dingle, Kenmare and all of the towns in Kerry such as Killorglin, Tralee, Castleisland, Listowel and Cahersiveen, believe if they apply for planning permission, be it short-term or long-term, it could actually be refused. That is a very real concern.
There is no point in me re-emphasising the importance of tourism to my county. We pride ourselves on tourism. We believe we are the premier tourist county. It is a great boast to have. We have the scenery. The people involved in the business of tourism in Kerry do it very well. Short-term letting is a big part of the business in Kerry. It is important to our visitors from all parts of the globe for that opportunity to be there. People invested in short-term letting and in their properties to put their kids through school, etc. They should not be dictated to in regards to what area they should be in.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13