Tourist Accommodation
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I have had significant negotiations with the Minister, Deputy James Browne, to achieve a balance. Obviously, it is critical that we have accommodation in our cities, where there is acute pressure on housing units - we are in a housing crisis - and that those units are made available for wider society. Equally, in areas where the tourism sector is very important, and tourism drives economic activity in rural Ireland, it is important that short-term lets that have already been in operation are able to continue. The planning statement will be published and it will state that there will be a presumption of planning to be approved on all short-term lets in areas with a population of less than 20,000. There will be a simplified application process for such operators to go through and there will be a two-year window for them to regularise once the register comes into operation.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-16