Proposed Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Michael Healy-Rae (IND), Kerry

I acknowledge that the minimum figure of 20,000 for towns was a put in place. I had lobbied strongly for that because we want to protect the tourism capital of the western world, which, as everybody knows, is Killarney, County Kerry and there is no doubt about that. However, I am worried about people in towns and areas with a population of less than 20,000 where the planning guidelines will be put in place for short-term letting who have not been operating for more than seven years. The people need to see as soon as possible what will be put in place. The can has been kicked down the road a number of times and I do not want to be fighting about that. All I am saying is that people need clarity.
We are very clear on what we are going to be saying to people: we do not want to hound or persecute fine respectable people who are operating very nice businesses, who are paying tax and who have invested heavily in their homes, in their accommodations, specifically for short-term lets. Even where they are located would not blend in with long-term letting because it could literally be putting two families up on top of each other in the same yard. An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach has them in his constituency, as do the Minister of State and other Deputies.
They know what I am talking about. At the same time, there is the whole question for the Government of whether it wants to stop places from having any long-term residential accommodation because everything would be short-term. Of course, we want balance. However, we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need to make sure we are protecting established businesses and try to give clarity as soon as possible, rather than upsetting people.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20