Tourist Accommodation
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-05
============================================================

Maria Byrne (FG), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss my question about short-term lettings. I was speaking to a number of business owners in County Limerick, small landlords who let out their properties on a short-term basis. It is my understanding that a register of short-term rental properties, especially those for tourists, is to be established and it will be run by Fáilte Ireland. I understand planning regulations have to be followed. Some of these businesses have been in operation for a long time. They talk about a "grandfather clause" where they have been in operation for over seven years. What will happen to the short-term letting properties that tourists stay in when using Airbnb? There are many small business owners who have such properties, which are their only source of income. They are afraid their building may not meet the criteria or there will be a delay in obtaining planning permission. Will the Minister of State make a statement on that?

---

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/seanad/2026-03-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-05