Get the popcorn ready. What unintended consequences will come from this one.
Dead right to do it and looks like a good idea to bring it in. Be interesting to see if anything changes with it though apart from more poor Landlords complaining of how hard done by they are
An extra 2% tax and pats on the back all around, hooray
A bit late. One TD quit politics entirely because he was so fucking useless tackling what was obvious to everyone. Rents are outrageous by design.
Cian O’Callaghan raised the issues well on the Government’s approach to this. Farming it out to Failte Ireland and keeping it as a licensing system makes little sense. The approach in the SF Bill is better, if not perfect. AirBnB and the other short term letting providers should be required to check for appropriate planning before advertising a property. If they advertise it without doing that then they should be fined. The government then just need to audit that.
>One can tell how seriously the Government takes any kind of function by looking at who it gives it to. When the Government is really serious about collecting tax, it gives the function to the Revenue Commissioners. When it is not serious about regulating the building industry, it says that the people to regulate the building industry are the lobby group and representative group for the construction industry. We know, when it comes to tackling short-term lets and how they impact on rental supply, that the Government has looked at who is interested in maximising the number of short-term lets in the country and the accommodation for tourists and given the responsibility to Fáilte Ireland. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has departed. It appears from his comments that the Government intends to bring in a loose licensing system to be operated by Fáilte Ireland for short-term lets.
>We certainly have not got any detail in the comments indicating that there would be anything beyond some sort of loose licensing system. If that is not the case, I ask the Minister of State to give us details as to how this would be a robust system. If it is a robust system, why has it been given to an agency that has no remit in this in terms of rental or housing supply? Why on earth is the Government taking that approach to something so important that needs to be dealt with urgently?
>Not only does Bord Fáilte have no remit in this area; it is not the body monitoring housing demand around the country and will never be. It is monitoring tourism figures. That is its bottom line, to ensure the maximum number of tourists. That is absolutely at odds with trying to have balance in short-term lets and how they impact on reducing rental supply. Why is the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage relinquishing its responsibility in this and giving it to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Bord Fáilte? Have any of the short-term letting companies been involved in lobbying on or devising what I consider to be at best an incredibly ineffective scheme? It is not going to work. If we were being cynical, we would think it has been designed to fail, potentially at the behest of industry.
Not giving this to revenue like they didnt do with the vacant property tax tells you all you need to know about how serious they are about this.
Up to the 80s tax evasion was rampant in Ireland. Revenue commissioners was overhauled and given lots more powers. So much that it is now one of the most efficient and well run gov dept. They have the experience and power to deal with this issue.
8 comments
Get the popcorn ready. What unintended consequences will come from this one.
Dead right to do it and looks like a good idea to bring it in. Be interesting to see if anything changes with it though apart from more poor Landlords complaining of how hard done by they are
An extra 2% tax and pats on the back all around, hooray
A bit late. One TD quit politics entirely because he was so fucking useless tackling what was obvious to everyone. Rents are outrageous by design.
Cian O’Callaghan raised the issues well on the Government’s approach to this. Farming it out to Failte Ireland and keeping it as a licensing system makes little sense. The approach in the SF Bill is better, if not perfect. AirBnB and the other short term letting providers should be required to check for appropriate planning before advertising a property. If they advertise it without doing that then they should be fined. The government then just need to audit that.
>One can tell how seriously the Government takes any kind of function by looking at who it gives it to. When the Government is really serious about collecting tax, it gives the function to the Revenue Commissioners. When it is not serious about regulating the building industry, it says that the people to regulate the building industry are the lobby group and representative group for the construction industry. We know, when it comes to tackling short-term lets and how they impact on rental supply, that the Government has looked at who is interested in maximising the number of short-term lets in the country and the accommodation for tourists and given the responsibility to Fáilte Ireland. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has departed. It appears from his comments that the Government intends to bring in a loose licensing system to be operated by Fáilte Ireland for short-term lets.
>We certainly have not got any detail in the comments indicating that there would be anything beyond some sort of loose licensing system. If that is not the case, I ask the Minister of State to give us details as to how this would be a robust system. If it is a robust system, why has it been given to an agency that has no remit in this in terms of rental or housing supply? Why on earth is the Government taking that approach to something so important that needs to be dealt with urgently?
>Not only does Bord Fáilte have no remit in this area; it is not the body monitoring housing demand around the country and will never be. It is monitoring tourism figures. That is its bottom line, to ensure the maximum number of tourists. That is absolutely at odds with trying to have balance in short-term lets and how they impact on reducing rental supply. Why is the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage relinquishing its responsibility in this and giving it to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Bord Fáilte? Have any of the short-term letting companies been involved in lobbying on or devising what I consider to be at best an incredibly ineffective scheme? It is not going to work. If we were being cynical, we would think it has been designed to fail, potentially at the behest of industry.
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2022-05-24/speech/151/
Hotels are full too apparently.
Are we seriously supposed to get so worked up about a few thousand whole-house/apartment short-term rentals in the country?
There are < 4000 whole-house airbnbs total in Dublin. http://insideairbnb.com/dublin
Not giving this to revenue like they didnt do with the vacant property tax tells you all you need to know about how serious they are about this.
Up to the 80s tax evasion was rampant in Ireland. Revenue commissioners was overhauled and given lots more powers. So much that it is now one of the most efficient and well run gov dept. They have the experience and power to deal with this issue.