Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Michael Collins (II), Cork South-West

It is Waterford. Waterford depends on tourism so the Minister of State will know all about it. It is a lovely place. Many people depend on the little bit of income from Airbnb, operating bed and breakfast accommodation or letting out a second home or whatever for the short term. They have very serious concerns. They will now have to fill out a form and be registered. They have no problem with registering. They are not afraid to be registered. However, there are very serious concerns about having to seek planning permission. According to this Bill, they will not be allowed to operate without it. That is on the form as of now. Perhaps the Government is going to change it. That is where my amendments will come into play. If that is not changed, these places will end up being shut down. That is an astonishing attack on tourism. We cannot let that happen here. It looks like it is happening. We have been pleading about this for the last year and a half here in the Dáil, in the audiovisual room and in other places. Meeting after meeting has been held on this issue across the road in Buswells Hotel. The Government is treating Courtmacsherry in the very same way as Dublin 4. That does not work and the Minister of State should not even dream that it does.
A woman in west Cork told me last week that she has packed up because of the terror of this legislation going through. She said that she and her friend had packed up. They said to hell with it; they are sick of it. Will the Minister of State listen to me for two minutes for God's sake? If he does not, no one else will. This woman told me that this meant ten bedrooms gone in her corner of the community. She is not going into the business again. She has packed up because of this legislation. She talked about the number of people who had booked rooms with her who went into Clonakilty or Bandon to have a bit of food or a pint. They used local taxis and the local transport bus to come and go. The Government is going to block all of that with this legislation. Will the Minister of State wake up? This is not going to work.
If it does go through, the Government parties will be run out of west Cork in the next election. The Minister of State keeps nodding over there but I will send this on to him. I am having a public meeting at 7 p.m. next Friday in O'Donovan's Hotel on this issue alone. I will stand by the tourism sector in west Cork. I will stand by the people of west Cork. I will not turn my back on them. The Minister of State keeps nodding over there but I will send it on to him.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-04