AirBnB Hosts Presentation to Oireachtas

Irish Host Community submission to the Oireachtas Joint

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment

on Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill 2025

November 2025

Sarah Cronin Falvey, Airbnb Host

Thank you to the Chair and the members of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment for inviting us here today to speak to you about the impacts of the proposed Short Term and Tourist Letting Bill 2025. We have been invited here to tell our stories as hosts in the Short Term Rental sector. We are a sector that has many labels, from Short Term Rentals to Short Term Lettings or self-catering accommodation. Regardless of our labels the stories we tell here today represent thousands of hosts across the country.

We are tired. For years we have been lambasted in the media as being a cause of the housing crisis. We have faced huge uncertainty as to whether we can continue earning our living. Our contributions to Irish tourism and the wider economy have been ignored. We have been drip-fed information about potential legislation and how it will affect us with no clarity or certainty.

Our Questions on STTL Bill

We are worried. We have no issue with registering our Short Term Lets. We understand the need to implement EU legislation and to collect data on Short Term Lets. However, this legislation, coupled with heavy planning burdens and potentially costly compliance measures threaten the viability of genuine hosts and their ability to continue.
There are so many unanswered questions. The registration system includes ticking a box to say that the short term rental is planning permission compliant.
• What kind of planning permission do we need?
• How much will it c o s t ?
• How long will it take to get?
• What are the long term implications of changing the use of property? Most are not used
exclusively for short term letting.

The process is unclear, time-consuming, and costly.
• Local authorities apply inconsistent standards.
• No national guidelines or templates have yet been issued.
• Many Short Term Rentals, such as converted barns, granny flats, or heritage properties, cannot realistically meet commercial planning criteria, despite being safe and well- maintained.

Furthermore, questions remain unanswered about Building and Fire Regulations. Linking registration to modern Building Regulations is impractical for older properties and rural structures. Compliance upgrades (e.g., for older listings, traditional cottages or yurts) are often prohibitively expensive and unnecessary given existing safety measures. Some properties or spaces available for short term letting were created purely for short term letting. They are not suitable for any other purpose.

Thousands of hosts around the country are living with fear and uncertainty while these questions remain unanswered.

Given a Voice at JOC Meeting

We are grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today. It is the first time we have been given a voice to speak as stakeholders in this regulatory process. We hope that you listen to our stories. Our stories are echoed in all towns and villages across the country. We are asking the members of the Committee here today to stand up for us. Take the fear and uncertainty away from us so we
can continue to provide a vital service in the months and years to come. Why is our service so vital? Short term lettings have existed for decades in different forms. Hosting visitors is in our DNA. Offering local knowledge and personal insight to ensure our guests stay is the best it can be. Helping visitors make memories, and a lot of times that brings them back year after year. We are the original “Cead Milé Failte”. We offer our homes and our histories to our visitors.

We are also keeping large scale national infrastructure projects progressing. Hosting workers for the ESB and National Broadband of Ireland and many more, in places where there are no hotels or other options.
We offer choices to people looking to relocate, work remotely, return home for a family wedding or a funeral and so much more. We are adaptable and flexible, to our guests needs. Short Term Rentals are a vital cog in a healthy housing market.

Vital Tourism Jobs

We are also vital for Tourism. Tourism is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry. 300,000 jobs are created by Tourism, with 200,000 jobs reliant on overseas visitors. In 2023 there was 6.5 million guest nights booked in Ireland. In 2023 € 1.7 billion was spent by visitors. 81% spent in shops, restaurants and cafes; on transport & on recreational and cultural activities. Budget 2025 allocated  €226 million to tourism services; including extending Failte Ireland’s international marketing campaigns. 77,315 tourism beds have been contracted to the Irish government for the 2025 season, potentially costing the tourism sector up € 670 million annually in lost earnings.

If our short-term rentals are eradicated where will people stay?
This Department is responsible for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. Short term letting hosts are enterprising people. We create jobs and support our local economies, from cafes and restaurants to local laundry services, hardware shops and tourist attractions.
The employment we create is flexible and usually seasonal. 70% of hosts are female. Employment roles within the sector and ancillary businesses are predominantly female driven – cleaning; launderettes; local shops and businesses. Short Term Letting hosting allows women who are homemakers, raising children and carers to work. It is vital to people, particularly women, in areas where other employment opportunities are low or unreliable.

Conclusion

Tourism generated approximately 67% of pre-COVID employment in regional and rural Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way drives €billion in revenue per year, an increase of 58% in 10 years. New regulation, in its current form, will devastate a whole industry and decimate many rural and regional communities who depend on tourism. We conducted our own research among the Irish Hosting Community in 2023. 89% of people surveyed would not switch their property to long-term letting. 80% said that their local community depends on STLs to bring business to their area.

We are here today to ask the Committee members to think carefully about how this legislation is implemented. Think about how your locality and your constituency. How will your towns and villages survive without having the option to stay in a short term let? Think about the impact on Tourism in your area. Think about the impact on Enterprise in your area. Think about the impact on Employment in your area. Think about our jobs. This is our livelihood.

Thatch Cottage Restored in Co Meath

Karla Piner – Connell’s House & Barn – Duleek, County Meath

I have been welcoming guests to Connell’s House & Barn in the Boyne Valley County Meath for almost ten years. I acquired a “Protected Structure” dating back to 1690 in 2014 with the specific intention to start a self-catering holiday cottage business.

Planning Permission for Barn Restoration from Co Council

Connell’s House & Barn is a landmark building on the Village Green in Duteek, consisting of a derelict thatched cottage and adjacent stone barn, which was literally collapsing into the street after years of neglect. I received planning permission in 2015 to Restore and Extend Connell’s House & Barn. I was told by my architect and a senior planner from Meath County Council, that I did not require Change of
Use Planning Permission, since the properties were existing, they did not have more than four
bedrooms, and I did not intend on sleeping more than four guests in each bedroom, so a standard
planning application to Restore and Extend was sufficient.
June 2016 l welcomed my first guests to Connell’s House & Barn and have since developed a
successful hospitality business, with guests coming from all over the world to visit
Newgrange (which is only ten minutes away) and all the other heritage sites in the Boyne Valley.
However, on 1st Juty 2019 suddenly my business became non-compliant, literally overnight,
when the first STR Bill was passed. Although my cottages are located in Duleek, County Meath,
they fall into the LEA of Drogheda County Louth, which is an RPZ.

I didn’t do anything wrong, I paid an architect to apply for planning permission and he followed
the correct planning policy at the time, yet with the introduction of the STR Bill in 2019, my
business was suddenly deemed illegal due to no fault of my own and I found myself in a situation
where I had to apply for planning permission all over again.

Business Closed by Government

The Bill was introduced during the busiest time of the year for all hospitality businesses, so l
focused on catering for my guests that summer and did not apply for Change of Use planning
permission. In January 2020, I started to make enquiries and I received three quotations in the
region of € 6 – 8k for a Change of Use planning application and a further € 2k for a Heritage Impact
Study, which is required for all protected structures. I was also quoted an additional fee of € 2k for
a Fire Cert. However, by March 2020 my business was closed due to COVID, so I did not pursue
my planning application any further.

The last five years have been extremely difficult as my business is in limbo. I never know from one
year to the next if I’ll still be in business and if I’ll have an income. The information from the
government has been inconsistent since 2022 and the goal posts are always moving in terms of
the deadline for the legislation as well as the content within it.
I was advised by three architects not to apply for Change of Use planning permission. I was told
to wait for the enforcement letter to arrive and only then apply for permission. I recently spoke
with a planner from Meath County Council and she said “we have received no communication or
guidelines from the Government in relation to this legislation”.

I’m a Furniture Designer and I worked in the furniture industry for almost twenty years. Like every
other mother, I’ve done the 6 am morning starts and ferried my three children to childminders, so
they can take my kids to and from school.

Why Start own Business?

Starting my own business and restoring a thatched cottage was a dream come true, it’s hard
physical work with long hours at times, but it’s given me the flexibility to take my own children to
and from school, as check out is 10am and check in 2pm. It doesn’t pay nearly as much as my
previous job, but it has transformed our family life and provided me with a very rewarding job.
Almost 90% of my guests are American and coming to Ireland is a holiday of a life time for many
of them, and staying in a traditional thatched cottage is exactly the experience they’re looking for.
I went to my bank manager in 2014 with a business plan to start a self-catering holiday cottage
business, I do not want to be landlord, that business model could not be further from the
hospitality sector.

Costs and Insurance

Since Brexit, I am clinging on to my insurance policy, as insuring these buildings is almost
impossible, hence why so many of them lie derelict across the country. If my business is shut
down and I can’t just become a landlord, as I can’t get insurance. I can’t even sell the building, as
no one can get a mortgage on building that has no insurance.
I have proved that restoring a thatched building is a viable business model, not only to preserve
these derelict buildings, but provide a valuable contribution to the tourism sector and support my
local economy in County Meath and further afield.

Small-Scale Airbnb Hosting in West Clare –

Lorna Cahill, Miltown Malbay, County Clare

I am a wife, mother of four, grandmother, and an Airbb host for almost nine years. Before having
my third child, I worked as a social worker in the field of homelessness, which gave me a real
understanding of the issues surrounding the housing crisis.

I have lived in Miltown Malbay, a small town/village of approximately 900 people in West Clare,
for almost 20 years. Our home is a 30-minute drive from the Cliffs of Moher and a five-minute
drive from a major local wedding venue.

Nine years ago, my husband and I made the decision to utilize an empty, unused granny flat
attached to our home as an Airbb out of sheer necessity, not lightly.
We are an “average famity” whose income was too high to qualify for assistance or student grants,
but not high enough to manage the costs of third-level education for our children.

College Fees

When our first two daughters entered college to train as a nurse and a social worker, respectively,
we hit a financial wall.  Our Airbb income became a godsend, allowing us to pay college fees and student  accommodation costs, preventing our daughters from having to drop out.
We continue to rely on this income today to put our son through art college, with one more round
of fees expected in three years.Our Airbb income became a godsend, allowing us to pay college fees and student accommodation costs, preventing our daughters from having to drop out.
We continue to rely on this income today to put our son through art college, with one more round
of fees expected in three years. Our Airbnb income-typically ranging from € 10,000 to € 15,000 in a good year-is not a huge amount of money, but it is life-changing for my family.
I feel unfairly blamed and scapegoated for a housing crisis that I am not a part of creating, nor one
that my specific activity negatively impacts.

The Granny Flat

The Granny flat cannot be let on a long-term basis for several practical reasons:
It is attached to our primary home.
It is extremely small, lacking space for essential amenities like a washing machine, dryer,
wardrobes, or significant storage.
It is suitable for short summer stays but not for long-term winter living.
This small unit has never been, nor will it ever enter, the long-term rental market because it is
totally unsuitable for that purpose.
We have welcomed over 2,000 guests from every corner of the globe, many visiting local
attractions or attending local weddings. Guests consistently rate the service and kindness
provided by my family as 5 stars.

In Clare, many hosts are in the exact same financial position, often utilizing attached granny flats
or garden units. If we are forced to close our doors due to planning restrictions: These families will face significant finacial hardship.
Small towns and villages like Miltown Malbay-already struggling with pub and restaurant closures -risk becoming “ghost towns” during the tourist season, further limiting opportunities
for young people in the area. I urge recognition that not all short-term rentals are equal, and for many average families and rural communities, they are a vital economic lifeline.

Presented to JOC Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise Tourism ad Employment 19/11/2025.

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