Tourist Accommodation
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-26
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Conor D. McGuinness (SF), Waterford

It is very welcome that this issue is under consideration and forms part of the Minister's engagement with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. This issue is impacting rural communities in particular. The lack of tourist accommodation, be it hotel, hostel accommodation or other kinds of accommodation such as glamping pods, is hampering economic development and economic diversification in rural areas that come under the remit of the Minister. It is also adding to the rural housing crisis that is of concern for many Departments. It is of concern to all of us here in the House but it has a particular resonance with the Minister's responsibilities. The move to short-term lets because of the absence of suitable hotel accommodation in many areas is having a disproportionate impact on those rural and coastal communities that are already under huge housing pressure. I am thinking of Gaeltacht areas such as Ardmore in my constituency. The measures that were announced a number of weeks ago to address the mushrooming of short-term lettings do not cater for towns such as Dungarvan and Tramore that are under the 20,000 threshold. We need to see action on this. I welcome that there is an understanding of the seriousness of the situation but we need to see action.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-26