Data to Explain Housing Issues in Ireland

Introduction

The Short Term Rental (STR) did not cause the housing crisis in Ireland and is not the solution according to ESRI Profiling Short-Term Let Usage across Ireland.

The Irish Minister for Housing James Browne refused to issue data on Social and Affordable Housing completed, as it would be cumbersome to collate and commercially sensitive. He could not provide the Dáil with any clear data in May 2025. The reality is that there is a lack of housing completed, as in the case of Co Mayo, who built 5 social housing units in the past 5 years. Focusing on self-catering and holiday homes distracts from deeper housing issues, stated Kate English Economist.

Clear data on existing STR is essential in Ireland is needed with a Register for STR as a baseline and separated from Planning for existing stock. Due to Irish Tourism and Traffic Act 1939 only Hotels, hostels,  guesthouses and campsites are considered statutory accommodation, with STR not being formally registered. There was a register system run by Failte Ireland up to 2008, but as STR was not considered important it was discontinued.

Most self-catering are rurally based businesses managed by females +45 yrs,  and need an exemption from STR planning, as previously group schemes or hotels schemes applied for planning. Previous Government research in 2022  on STR properties was based on data scraping. Most of the accommodation is needed in urban high density areas, not in the rural areas of Ireland where most STR is to be found in Ireland with an economic value of €256.8 mil per annum.  

EU Housing Commisioner Meeting

The EU Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen met with the European Holiday Homes Association ( EHHA) who represent the self-catering indistry in all its forms at EU level on 02/09/2025. Data Sent on why Ireland has a housing Crisis was sent th the EU Commioner in May 2025 by the ISCF. Ireland has  no Register for STR since 2008 and no exact data on the number of Self-catering units in Ireland.

Data from Ireland for the EU Housing Commissioner: Ireland does not currently maintain a register of short-term rentals, so there is no reliable data on the number of self-catering units in the country. While the government conducts a census every five years, the data collected does not distinguish between self-catering accommodation and second homes. Ireland does have derelict houses data, but each council has their own data and the GeoDirectory has a much larger figure of empty houses. Ireland has in increase in population and a lack of social housing building and renovation of existing stock. The Government are now the main purchaser of housing, driving up the cost of housing to independent purchasers.

Tourism Infrastructure 

A Register for STR will give clear data on the  number of self-catering properties in Ireland. We do know that 40% of tourism beds are provided by self-catering, mostly in rural and Coastal areas ( Failte Ireland data). Tourism is Irelands largest indigenous industry according to Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC)  and employer meaning it is owned and developed within Ireland, rather than by foreign direct investment

Population of Ireland

This is not asked but the increased population in Ireland in the past 25 years, with the rate of growth  being the highest in the EU. THE CSO stated today that 5.4 mill people in Ireland with an 80,000 increase.

This is caused by Natural Increase and net migration of 63,600 in the past year.  There are 31,5000 returning Irish people, 25,300 from other EU countries, 4900 from UK and 9,600 from the US ( a 96% increase). The US citizens are buying up large rural houses for sale or long-term rent. We also have one of the largest groups of Ukrainian Refugees staying to 2027 per population group.   Linked to the lack of building from 2008 ( Economic Building Crash) to 2018 the Irish Government is playing catch up, while immigration continues.

There is a lack of tourism beds in hostels, BnB and less self-catering as over 21, 803  have been taken up by Refugees. Many of the urban hostel beds have been taken up by IPAS ( Illegal emigrants), so not available to tourists. The population of Dublin makes up 29% of the country’s population.

This in turn has led to very expensive hotels beds when events such as American Football Event and a Concert (+ Robby Williams concert) happened in an August weekend. Dublin Hotel Rates were 2nd highest in EU, more expensive than Rome but Edinburgh was still more expensive.

Data on Irelands Empty Housing

The Irish Central Statistical Office stated that 32,500 housing units will be built this year. The Government aim was to build over 40,000 and some commentators state that up to 80,000 houses are needed but will not be built due to a lack of capacity building, lack of investment and planning delays.

• Derelict properties – Clear data from GeoDirectory for June 2025 found that 20,000 were classed as derelict according to an Irish Times article, though the councils only listed 2052, with 27% of vacant sites in Dublin. 3.7% of housing stock or 80,328 properties recorded as vacant. The same article states that 33,000 new homes were built in Ireland in the past 12 months – a positive achievement for Government but falls short of the 40,000 proposed housing.
• Derelict Properties – Each county has own list but derelict properties in every village in Ireland, large variety of ways for councils to deal with it. Numbers of derelict buildings much higher than those in Councils lists. Lack of cultural will or statutory regulation. In Dublin 80% increase in derelict buildings from 74 into 131 in July 25.  Fines of €9.9M outstanding in fines in Dublin for derelict sites.
• Derelict Sites Register – Many Derelict sites are not on the official register. Officially there are 2025 sites where there is a demand for payment under derelict sites register. Derelict Sites Stats 2022-2023.

  

• Vacant Government Buildings
• The OPW are responsible for public buildings and other housing stock in Ireland- with 776 vacant Over 70 empty units – including 20 old Garda stations, 7 cottages in Crosshaven empty since 1983, derelict Coast Guard Cottages, prison, hospitals, schools.
• The HSE ( Health Services Executive) – HSE has over 230 empty properties. They vary in size from large hospital buildings to smaller units but 26 in Cork + Dublin lying idle, 10 in Galway, 8 in Kerry, 5 in Mayo and 3 in Offaly.
• Void Social Housing – Empty Council Housing – 2749 void Social Housing units in Ireland; 750 empty houses in Dublin,  495 in Cork, 220 in Limerick, 129 in Kildare.
• TDs are using FOI to get clear data of almost 3,000 houses across Ireland.  Cork 362 void with 177 over 6 months. The reason for social housing being empty for so long is that the central Government gives €12,000 to renovate a building, and as the councils throw out the kitchen, white goods and all furniture the cost is €40,000 per renovation of a social housing unit, bringing it up to Eco standards.

  

Unfinished Houses

All over Ireland there are unfinished estates of houses, post the 2008 crash. The Irish Government set up NAMA to deal with all the properties which were in default of mortgages, the developers going bust, but they did not clear all the unfinished housing estates. These houses are not on the derelict houses register as they were never registered as completed houses. Examples would be the unfinished estate in Castlemaine Co Kerry (attached photo).  In Mayo  there were  241 unfinished / empty houses and they just sit there  In Dublin 104 apartments have sat idled for 3 years due to a planning dispute between the developer and the Council Plans. There is a housing crisis and also a difunctional Government relationship with developers with Planners causing major issues for all who want to build houses, sell and develop tourism businesses.

Planning 

The Dept of Housing plans to retrospectively require all Self-Catering to have STR Planning Many of the existing Mon + Pop Self-catering did not get specific STR planning when opened and now Gov wants retrospective planning permission, at todays building standards.

The Department of Housing suggests a “decoupling” of STR rules from Rent Pressure Zone legislation, but under its current draft all existing operators would still be forced through planning, with deadlines as early as April 2026.  This planning Guidelines for STR is not yet written and presented to Government by the Dept of Housing officials. The EU commission is awaiting this information since January 2023.

They also propose to allow planning for STR only in towns and villages with a population of under 10,000, excluding towns with a large tourism focus such as Tramore, Ballina and Killarney. The regulation would treat Ballina ( pop. 10,087 ) in the same way as Barcelona (pop. 1.6M).

• There is a lack of planning staff – 540+ short in councils ( stated at a meeting with Dept of Housing). There is also no data on how long a planning application will take to go through the system,and it may take from 8 weeks to 3.5 yrs to get an approval.
• A significant number of “Ghost” STRs remain in the system – properties with historical STR planning permissions that are now second homes, long-term rentals, or under government contract. These distort the data, creating the impression that tourism supply is greater than it is, while genuine operators are being penalised. Each council needs to get clarity on the number of remaining STR Planning approved properties, before issuing new planning approvals.
• The ISCF has asked for an Exemption for all existing quality Approved properties ( doc attached). Most existing STR Stock will not meet today’s building standards or build 20, 50, 200 years ago.
• The Irish Dept of Housing wants to introduce this at the same time as the Register for STR Bill, and require all existing stock to have STR Planning before April 2026. The Dept of Housing has not yet produced any Guidelines for STR Planning for the local councils.
• The Guidelines for Glamping have been developed by the ISCF and presented to the Dept of Housing. This would allow the development of Glamping, Farm Regeneration projects and development of increased rural accommodation along Greenways and other areas of need.
• At present no Self-Catering business in the country can get STR Planning approval as the whole country is in a Rent Pressure Zone. We have been advised by the Dept of Housing that a ‘Decoupling’ of STR Regulations from the Long-term planning regulations at a meeting on 30/6/2025. However the Government has not formally announced this. Planning in rural areas for existing STR properties who apply in Dublinor Kinsale are being turned down. Planning Permission for new Tourism developments on sites where previous Tourism enterprises existed is also not been given permission. The Planning systems is completely dysfunctional.

Cost of Housing 

 Economist David McWilliams article from Saturday last  opinion piece  in the Irish Times “ Ireland  Probably the most expensive council houses on Earth, resulting in what could be termed “the housing list-isation” of the Irish property market.  There have been three broad phases in the Irish housing market since the crash. The first phase was immediately after the crash, up to about 2015. Having made a hames of the boom, being asleep at the wheel and missing the whole thing, the Central Bank got all macho and tightened up lending rules for buyers, excluding, in effect, tens of thousands of first-time buyers precisely at a time when prices were low and those buyers might have got on the ladder and built equity. It matters because houses prices are continuing to soar.

• The Central Statistics Office (CSO)claims that the State and institutional investors are buying about 41 per cent of new builds right now. It turns out that the State is buying the lion’s share of all new homes and, more importantly, the last two years have seen a marked shift in government behaviour.
• The latest data shows prices are up 7.8 per cent in the year to June, twice the rate of the increase in the average wage.
• Dublin has 29% of the population, needs a lot of apartments but as most already built have been bought up by institutional investors, the rent for individual workers in €1500- €2500 per month.

Conclusion

It is timer to stop scapegoating self-cateirng and start working together on solutions that sustain both housing and tourism.  The self-catering makes up a very small proportion of the total housing stock. The lack of Government infrastructure development, lack of tades staff and a very slow planning system are all adding to the delay in resolving the issues. With 40% of tourism beds in Ireland provided by self-catering, family-run small businesses, often single properties such as family-owned cottages, holiday homes or repurposed farm buildings, with the majority run by women over 45 years of age.  Rural Ireland deserves nothing less.

Data Compiled by Máire ní Mhurchú CEO ISCF.ie August 2025

Profiling Short-term Let UsageAcross Ireland

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