The government published the details of its new Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill last Friday.
The government published the details of its new Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill last Friday.
It sets out the framework for how the new registration and enforcement system is expected to work going forward, said Gareth Redmond, research and policy officer with Threshold.
But "the real test will be how effectively it is implemented", he said.
"In particular, whether the penalties deter continued non-compliance and whether the planning system can effectively prevent properties that should not be used for short-term letting from continuing to operate," said Redmond.
Indeed, a report by Indecon for the Housing Agency said that "the impact of any new regulations in the Irish context will depend significantly on the extent of enforcement".
"An important consideration in this regard is whether any new regulations place any obligation on the intermediary letting sites to ensure that properties that are listed meet the regulatory requirements," it says.
The bill does give Fáilte Ireland, as lords of the register, the powers to require short-term letting platforms to share information, and to remove listings. Platforms also have to comply with EU regulations, and carry out random checks to make sure registration numbers are valid.
If they don't do this, and are found in contravention, they can be fined an amount proportionate to the nature of the contravention, which can't exceed 2 percent of the platform’s annual turnover, or cause the platform concerned to cease trading.
Hosts, meanwhile, face their own obligations.
The idea behind all the changes to short-term let regulation is that operators will legally have to register their short-term lets with Fáilte Ireland, and display their registration number when they offer it to rent out.
And, to get on the register, they should be planning-compliant.
To support that, under the new bill, a host has to declare to short-term letting platforms, such as Airbnb, whether the unit is supposed to be subject to a registration procedure, and if it is, give its registration number – and they have to give accurate information, otherwise they are guilty of an offence.
If they breach this, Fáilte Ireland "may" make them an offer, that if they pay a fixed payment of up to €500, they won't face prosecution.
If Fáilte Ireland doesn't offer them that option, though, or they don't pay within 21 days, and the thing ends up in court and they lose, the host could face a Class A fine of up to €5,000, the bill says.
Hosts can also face the same options and penalties if they advertise or offer a unit "by means other than an online short-term rental platform" without providing a valid registration number, the bill says. So, if they advertise without that number on a social media marketplace, or standalone website run by a host themselves.
Stronger penalties would apply when a person is proven to have "knowingly or recklessly" given information to an online short-term letting platform that is "false or misleading", or believes any information when they gave it wasn't true.
They would also face stiffer sanction if they "knowingly or recklessly" provide misleading information to Fáilte Ireland when registering, the bill says.
Those breaches would attract, on summary conviction, a Class A fine of up to €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both, the bill says.
The bill also gives Failte Ireland the powers to ask hosts to rectify information, and suspend the validity of the host's registration number, or withdraw it completely, if it checks a host's declaration and documentation and finds something is awry and that isn't fixed.
Still, the fixed-penalty notices do seem relatively low, "particularly where a property owner could be generating significant income from continued short-term letting", said Redmond, research and policy officer with Threshold.
There were 5,080 entire homes listed on Airbnb in Dublin as of September 2025, according the Indecon analysis for the Housing Agency.
The average cost to let one of those was €305 a night, it says.
Rates for short-term lets have been rising faster than long-term private-market rents too, the analysis says, so fewer days of of holiday letting are needed to match or surpass returns from renting in the private rental sector.
A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise said that: "The fixed-payment notice is intended as an alternative to prosecution for a specific offence. Payment of the notice does not remove the legal obligation to comply with the registration requirements."
And, "where a host continues to advertise or operate a short-term letting (STL) without complying with the legislation, further enforcement action may be taken, including the issuance of additional fixed-payment notices or prosecution for ongoing non-compliance, as provided for in the Bill," they said.
The spokesperson said that: "The proposed level of fines is proportionate and reflects the nature of the offences involved, which are summary offences relating to compliance with registration and regulatory requirements."
Redmond says he would still question if the level of fixed-payment fines will be sufficient to deter persistent breaches.
Fundamentally, the effectiveness of the approach will depend on how frequently enforcement action is taken, he said, "whether persistent offenders are prosecuted, and whether the consequences are sufficient to change behaviour. The existence of an enforcement mechanism is one thing; ensuring it acts as a meaningful deterrent is another."
To get on the register, operators have to declare that they are planning compliant – so, confirm that they have planning permission if they need it, and are exempt if not.
That may be less of an issue for operators of some unauthorised short-term lets than it might have been.
Operators with properties that have been ticking away for more than seven years, and have not come to the attention of the council's planning enforcement officers, are set to benefit from a smooth route to planning regularisation, suggests the draft national planning statement issued by the Department of Housing.
Lois Kapila
Meanwhile, in areas with a population of 20,000 or less, hosts are to get a two-year breather to get their planning affairs in order.
Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin, his party's housing spokesperson, has strongly criticised both those measures.
The seven-year grandfather clause effectively rewards commercial short-term lets and online platforms for long-term breaches of planning law and has no justification, he said in a statement issued earlier this week.
"It will dramatically undermine the ability of the regulations to bring homes granted planning permission for long term residential occupation back into such use," he said.
"Likewise, the two-year transition period is far too long," he said, allowing operators who cannot get planning permission to continue to trade in breach of planning for years.
Indeed, said Redmond, of Threshold.
"The concern is that, while the registration process will require hosts to declare that they have the necessary planning permission and will facilitate data sharing between Fáilte Ireland and local authorities, this does not necessarily prevent properties without the required permission from continuing to operate in the meantime," he said.
That's an issue in particular in areas with populations of less than 20,000, he said. "Ultimately, the effectiveness of the approach will depend on whether local authorities have the resources and capacity to take enforcement action, rather than registration itself acting as an effective safeguard."
Currently for its part, Dublin City Council has one full-time enforcement officer to carry out inspections on foot of public complaints about alleged short-term lets, said a council spokesperson, earlier this month.
The council's Short Term Letting Unit also has three full-time administration staff, who at the moment proactively trawl short-term letting platforms and then assign cases to the full-time enforcement officer for direct investigation, they said.
"The Short Term Letting Unit is also assisted by the general pool of staff as required, including planning enforcement officers from the Planning Enforcement Section," said the spokesperson.
Should the money be set aside for, say, more maintenance for council housing citywide? Or for tourist-y things in tourist-y areas? Or something else?
The Joint Committee on Drugs Use in June 2026 called for Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act to be repealed – which it said would decriminalise simple possession of drugs for personal use.
The current regime just isn't working, she said.
They agreed a motion to review the impact of the plan, within a couple of years, and to compel the council to amend it, if the review finds it is needed.
