Today with David McCullagh
Call for implementation of Short Term Lets register by May deadline
06 May 2026
Chapter 1: What are the government's plans for the short-term lettings register?
Plans by government to introduce the short-term lettings register look set to be delayed past the May 20th deadline. Under EU law, Ireland must introduce the register, which will require owners renting out their property for up to 21 nights to register and to put the registration number on all listings. The bill behind the new rules was due to go to Cabinet last week but wasn't ready.
It's uncertain now when it is due to be brought in. Moira Ní Vercoe, CEO of the Irish Self-Catering Federation, joins us now. Morning, Moira. Good morning, David.
Chapter 2: Why is Ireland required to implement a short-term lettings register?
How are you? I'm very well, thanks. Tell us about this register. Are you in favour of the register?
We are actually in favour of the register. We believe it's important to bring a register in and it's actually an EU directive, so every country in the EU needs to bring it in at some stage. There is an opt-out clause, but we don't believe that Ireland should do that.
However, we don't think that we are going to be ready for the 20th of May deadline because Ireland, unlike other countries, is bringing in two pieces of legislation at the same time.
Two pieces of legislation. Explain, please.
So we're bringing in a register for short term rental, which is just an online portal where you register your property and you have to put the number of that property up on all your advertising from then onwards. However, to get on the register, you need to have SDR planning and an awful lot of small businesses do not have SDR planning.
That's short term rental planning.
Yeah, short-term rental planning. And because of the rent pressure zones, we haven't been able to get it for some years.
Oh, so that's a double requirement on you then. So that makes it a little bit more complicated.
a lot more complicated because there's no national planning statement coming out from the Department of Housing. And at an Oireachtas meeting, we called in February for exemptions for some existing businesses. So in other words, that we could get the register in place. And we also talked to the Department of Housing a year ago about decoupling the register from the planning requirement.
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Chapter 3: What challenges exist in meeting the May 20th deadline for the register?
So, for example, in Donegal, they're talking about bringing in an application form, charging you a few hundred euros and giving you planning. In Cork and Kerry, there is a full planning application, despite the fact that the house has already been there for 60 or 70 years and been working as a short-term rental.
OK, it sounds a bit complicated. It sounds like it is not going to happen on the 20th of May in just over two weeks time.
No, and we would like the government to come out and make a statement as to what they want to do. Like we know that Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and Cyprus are bringing it in in September. And we think September would be a much better time at the end of the summer season and give confidence to people who want to book.
In terms of the register, Moira, you mentioned giving confidence to people renting. Presumably there'll be inspections and so on to make sure the accommodation is up to standard, will there?
Well, the Irish Self-Catering Federation and Vulture Ireland both have an inspection regime. I'm not sure if the register is requiring that at the moment, but we have quality assurance for Vulture Ireland and ISCF properties.
So if it seems unlikely it'll happen in two weeks' time, you would expect it to come into effect later in the year?
Yes, we would hope that it would come into effect later in the year. But we need to make sure that the moms and pop businesses in rural Ireland are not feeling under threat like they are at the moment and that they have confidence that they will be able to continue their businesses.
OK, Maureen Iverku, CEO of the Irish Self-Catering Federation. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Thank you very much, David.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of short-term rental planning in Ireland?
I guess The key thing to remember here is this piece of legislation is a new law and it's in two weeks' time. It's not some whim of thresholds. It's something that's coming across the European Union and there had been due notice in relation to the various pieces of legislation and people quite literally getting their houses in order.
It wouldn't be the first EU deadline that was missed?
No, and I think the ultimate irony is if Ireland is fined by Brussels for this at a time when we need all the resources we can to mobilise house building, home delivery and ensuring that we use all levers to optimise supply. This is one lever which is within the government's gift to ensure that there's a proper...
um framework there and also the register is really really important like the whole point of having a register is to produce consistent data about the operation of this short-term let sector so not having the register in place would undermine the ability of government to produce quality data needed for good policy making good um housing planning
And indeed, the SRI, which published a report a number of years ago, recommended the establishment of a national short-term let register, mandatory registration for all short-term let properties, linking that data with private rental sector and housing market data. This is how we get... quality data for the sector at a time when supply is absolutely key.
Because we're seeing it at the close, it's about an abject lack of private rental housing market supply at the same time when you've got roughly two-thirds of the short-term let market being entire houses and apartments. That's not what the initial Airbnb model was about. It was about people offering a spare room in their homes for visitors to rent.
Given that lack of data and given the lack of the register to date, is it possible to even hazard a guess about how much stock could actually be freed up by introducing the register?
Well, the ESRI are estimating that maybe 10,000 units could come back if all of the regulations were enacted. And that is a substantial input to the sector. That really would help ease the level of housing pressure. And I think what's also kind of compounding the situation is that
A couple of months ago, we were looking at some kind of threshold of the regulations applying to settlements of 10,000 and over. And now that looks to be moved to 20,000. So there's only so many towns and cities that are above 20,000 population. And therefore, the regulations that are going to come in, they will not apply to a lot of villages.
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