Where Have All the Self-Catering Gone?

 7 April 2026

People visit Ireland for the culture, the heritage and the scenery with self-catering available in even the most remote areas.

Self-catering holidays have been part of the tourism offering for generations. This type of accommodation grew out of the Bed and Breakfast (BnB) system as families began to offer whole houses on their land for rent. By the 1980’s the Irish Government could see that self- catering houses were in demand for holidays in rural areas. Celtic Cottages in  Roscarberry was one of the first larger scale self catering developments in West Cork in the early 1980s.

The Government gave grants to develop group schemes of holiday homes in coastal and rural areas from the late 1980s. All along the Wild Atlantic Way groups of rental holiday homes were built with Section 23 tax relief and Short-Term Rental (STR) planning. They were located on green-field sites, on the edges of villages, on the grounds of hotels and near beaches like Barley cove. The properties reached tax maturity after 15 years and in many cases were then sold off as individual houses.

At the same time more individual self-catering houses were coming on stream, often using renovated old buildings. A Register for STR system was developed by Failte Ireland to support self-catering, with a brochure and later a booking website. This was all disbanded in 2008 and from then on individual self-catering businesses developed with no restrictions or planning. The Government now proposes to bring in a new Register for STR in Ireland, but wants to link it to having STR planning permission, which is difficult to get at present due to Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) legislation. This means that some owners of self-catering properties have decided to sell up rather than contend with the difficulties of getting planning permission.

Loss of Tourism Beds

Tourism accommodation is measured in the number of beds across the EU, and hotels have clear data on beds. Information is published by Eurostat every quarter on the most popular tourism destinations and economic value.  The Register for STR will give clear data on the number of tourism beds in apartments, aparthotels, BnBs, hostels, glamping, guesthouses, hostels, hotels, ie. any place where tourists can stay overnight in a building with a roof.

There has been a gradual loss of tourism beds over the last 25 years, particularly in rural areas and small towns. As mentioned, many schemes of self-catering cottages were sold off upon reaching tax maturity. Many urban BnB’s are being used as homeless accommodation and younger women don’t have the time to offer BnB accommodation due to work commitments outside the home. Since 2021 many houses have been contracted to local councils, sometimes providing accommodation to asylum seekers and refugees.

After Covid many adult children returned to the family home in Ireland, and renovated part of the BnB or the self-catering cottage and it was lost to the market. Hotels have used their self-catering cottages as cash cows, gradually selling them off to private owners. For example, at  Trump Doonbeg a house recently sold for over €830,000 while in Waterville a group of 21 cottages is up for sale. Not only group properties are being sold off, but individual properties where owners have spent money renovating old buildings. The Irish Examiner listed  the Pond Cottage in Bantry for sale, previously rented via Trident Holiday Homes -another property lost to the west Cork tourism offering due to fear of the Register for STR.

Why a Register for STR

Due to the absence of a register for STR since 2008 there no data is available on the loss of self-catering properties. The local authorities and Failte Ireland have no detail on the number of beds available in an area, for a festival or other events. The Register is needed to give clarity. All the self-catering cottages built with STR Planning need to be assessed by each local authority to see what present use is, and if planning status needs to change. At present these are referred to as ‘Ghost STR properties’ by the ISCF and should not be calculated in the Register or tourism data. The requirement for individual self-catering buildings to apply for planning permission is causing many to sell a property rather than face a planning requirement with no clarity on costs or other requirements.

The Government has not supported SME Family businesses in the past 10 years, while propping up large tourism offerings. There has been a deafening silence from the Dept of Housing, no consultation with the Irish Self Catering Federation (ISCF) or other relevant bodies and no National Planning Statement for STR to clarify on how we can continue in business when a Register for STR is linked directly to having planning. Consultations means open conversations and none has taken place since 30/06/2025 with the Dept of Housing. The ISCF, ITIC and Historic Houses have called for a working group to resolve issues with planning, to no response.

The ISCF has called for exemptions for existing self-catering properties at an Oireachtas meeting in February 2026. The ISCF stated that there should be no requirement for retrospective planning for all self-catering micro-businesses. The bill in its present form was called unworkable and unenforceable by Chairperson of the ISCF Derek Keogh. We also need clear planning guidelines for those who want to set up a tourism accommodation offering. There have been many cases of glamping and self-catering businesses applying for planning and in Co Kerry alone 32 cases where turned down by local council.

The ISCF is holding an online meeting on 15th April on the legislation, as we do not want to lose any more small family tourism businesses.

] Cottages in Roscarberry village Co Cork[/caption]