Airbnb and other short-term rental providers face multimillion-euro fines under tough new rules targeting illegal lettings, writes Craig Hughes.

The Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill 2025 will introduce penalties for platforms that allow short-term lets without planning permission to be advertised on their sites when it comes into law next year.

Online platforms could be fined up to 2% of their annual revenue for breaches of the long-awaited legislation, which was published yesterday.

In the case of Airbnb last year that would amount to €96m.

However, there remains some opposition from members of the Cabinet from Co. Kerry, with concerns over how it would impact the tourism industry.

It was revealed last week that Kerry ministers Norma Foley and Michael Healy-Rae opposed the inclusion of a measure that would mean shortterm lets would not be permitted in areas where the population is 10,000 or greater, and this issue was not resolved before the publication of the General Scheme of the legislation yesterday.

The new laws and 2% fine rule would mean that Airbnb – the largest online short-term rental platform in the world, which had revenues of €4.8bn last year – could face financial penalties up to €96m.

Under soon-to-be published planning regulations, new short-term lets in towns with a population of more than 10,000 will effectively be banned, in a bid to return supply to the long-term rental market, though some flexibility is anticipated to be provided to local authorities to make exceptions.

Homeowners will also be permitted to rent out their ‘primary residence’ for up to 90 days a year.

The legislation is being advanced in conjunction with a new central register of short-term lets by Fáilte Ireland, which has been held up until 2026 as the European Union seeks to roll out uniform rules across the bloc.

Fáilte Ireland will manage the register and will be required to share data with the planning authorities to support the enforcement of planning laws.

Once enacted it will be illegal to have unregistered short-term lets.

Once the register is in place, officials will be able to identify where short-term letting properties are.

People offering short-term lets will be given a unique code for the property, which will be required for online advertisements to be placed.

Online platforms will have to provide monthly reports to Fáilte Ireland for any area falling under the legislation.

The reports will include the contact details of the host, the address of the property and activity data about the number of nights the property was rented out for.

The Irish Daily Mail revealed last week that the memo underpinning the legislation was rebuffed by Cabinet ministers after being brought at the last minute, having not been placed on the agenda for the meeting in advance.

There was also strong resistance in Government to the inclusion of a measure that would mean short-term lets would not be permitted in areas where the population is 10,000 or greater.

Independent Kerry TD Mr Healy-Rae, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, said last week that he did not believe the legislation would lead to large numbers of existing short-term lets being placed on the private market.

The deputy said: “There’s concern, I’ve always said that I’m not sure it will achieve what it’s hoped to achieve.

“People seem to think if you introduce it that all those properties will go from short-term lets to back on the market. I don’t think that’s the case. I think it would be a small amount.”

Mr Healy-Rae said he does not have a vested interest in the legislation as, despite letting out several properties and owning several guesthouses, he does not have any short-term letting properties, and does not use Airbnb.

Minister for Housing and Planning James Browne will publish a National Planning Statement on Short Term Letting prior to the enactment of the legislation which will define where shortterm letting is permitted.

The Department of Tourism said that the policy will “generally preclude” new short-term lets in cities and towns with a Census population in excess of 10,000 people.

However, this could be altered by the minister, while local authorities will also have discretion to develop policies – leaving the potential for exemptions to me made in tourist towns.

Under the General Scheme of the Bill, the fines should “be proportionate to the nature of the contravention”, but should also “not be such as would likely cause the entity to cease trading”.

An independent panel will be appointed by Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke to determine the level of financial sanction imposed.

In a statement, Minister Burke said that he is aware of “genuine concerns regarding the impacts on rural tourism and local economies” of removing “a significant cohort” of short-term lets from the market.

He said that he would continue to engage with the sector but added that meeting local housing need across Ireland is a “critically important consideration and Government must use every lever available to assist in providing homes for our people”.

Mr Browne did not specify when he would publish the planning statement that will define the areas where short-term lets can operate. Instead, he said it will be “in advance of commencement of the [short-term let] legislation’ coming into effect.

“This guidance will seek to recognise the needs of tourism and those who visit Ireland, while also acting on the urgent aim of this Government to increase domestic rental supply,” he said.

Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the move to impose fines on the platforms was “welcome” but criticised the Government for the slow pace of delivery of the legislation.

“It’s a decade since I first raised the issue of short-term lets on the floor of the Dáil with [then Housing Minister] Simon Coveney.

“The earliest it will be up and running is 2026 – I don’t get any sense of urgency,” he said.

Mr Ó Broin also said that his party “never opposed the register” and welcomed its introduction, but cautioned that it could be hard to enforce.

“The sections on online platforms are a step in the right direction, but the process seems cumbersome and could be difficult to enforce. Given we’ve had trouble with enforcement in the past we can’t make the same mistake twice,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Airbnb said: “We have long called for Ireland to introduce proportional shortterm letting rules, including a host register, that protect the families, communities and businesses that depend on tourism.

“While Airbnb is not the cause of long-standing housing challenges, we will continue to work with the Government as it looks to bring in new regulation.”