Press Release 17/02/2023

No Cooperation with Present Short-Term Register Bill 

The first-round table talks to discuss the Register for Short Term Rental was held in Failte Ireland Headquarters in Dublin on Thursday 16/02.

Register for STR- meeting TD’s in Dáil

The Irish Self-Catering Federation called for the talks some weeks ago when no guidelines for council planners and STR owners were presented to the Oireachtas Tourism Committee by the Department of Housing.  The following persons were in attendance to represent the various government departments: Bernard O’Shea from the Dept. Of Tourism with his team, Fergal O’Leary from Failte Ireland with his team, and Terry Sheridan from the Dept. Of Housing with his team.  Helena Healy represented B and B Ireland. The Overseas Travel Agents (OTAs) represented were Booking.com, Airbnb, and Expedia. The Irish Self-Catering Federation was represented by Maire Ni Mhurchú, Chair, a marketing agent, and an individual member from a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) area.

‘We were very disappointed with the lack of proposals from the Department of Housing to address the issues raised by the Oireachtas Tourism Committee and members of the ISCF. The Register for STR is essential for the growth of the industry, however, we have to recognize the economic value of the present self-catering assets to the tourism offering. We have lost much of the hotel-based accommodation stock to house refugees and now the Department of Housing is not bringing any proposals to the table to address the detrimental effect of changing the planning system for Self-Catering in all its forms.

Small Thatch Cottage in Inishowen, Donegal, Ireland

The ISCF members brought reasons as to why Self-Catering should be allowed to continue in RPZs to the table some months ago. We gave more detail about the recommendations at this meeting. We advised the meeting that outside RPZs no planning requirements should be imposed on Self-Catering businesses.

The Irish Self-Catering Legislative Committee met after the meeting and though we strongly support a Register for STR in Ireland we will be advising all members not to cooperate with the Register for STR until we have clarity on planning requirements for Self-Catering as a tourism product, both inside RPZ areas and rural and coastal areas.

The solution to the housing crisis in Dublin and urban areas is not suited to tourism accommodation in rural and coastal areas of Ireland. The Register for STR will be managed by Failte Ireland as the statutory agency, but the Registration Bill cannot go ahead if there are no clear guidelines from the Department of Housing which is putting the tourism self-catering offering at risk. We expect them to be called in front of the Oireachtas Tourism Committee again in the next few weeks.

This rural farm cottage was denied STR  Planning Permission by Kerry CoCo, Ireland