An attempt by a local authority to ban Airbnb and other short-term tourist rentals at the gates of the Dingle Peninsula has been quashed by An Bord Pleanála.
One of Kerry County Council’s planning conditions for the redevelopment of a vacant three-storey building in Milltown was that no part of it could be used for commercial overnight accommodation. A second condition sought to prohibit short-term rentals in four of the eight units.
Carnol Developments Ltd, through its agents Hughes Planning and Development Consultants in Merrion Square, appealed the terms, saying the bed and breakfast ban was unjustified.
In a city where there was very little long-term rental housing, blocking some units from short-term rental would make it commercially unviable, officers also said.
The council inspector agreed with officers, saying of the ban on short-term rentals that “the basis for this condition is not described in the internal reports on file”. The overnight stay restriction was for rent pressure areas and Milltown was not a rent pressure area, senior planning inspector Pauline Fitzpatrick noted.
Section 5 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, sets out the parameters to be met, including time limits, for short-term rental in areas of rental pressure, the inspector said . “Short-term rentals in areas outside the designated rent pressure areas are not affected by the arrangements.
“Milltown is currently not in a rent pressure area. I agree with the applicant’s agent that the condition, without a solid basis for his attachment or evidence of problems in terms of short-term rentals in the town, is unjustified.
“I argue that exempt development provisions, if any, should apply and I recommend the removal of the condition,” Ms Fitzpatrick said. The council agreed and also removed the council’s condition not to allow certain units to be used for long-term rental. .
Elsewhere in Killarney, which has been designated an area of rent pressure, due to the severe shortage of long-term rental accommodation, some 183 enforcement warning letters have been sent to Airbnb operators to vacate accommodation.
However, 87 or less than half of the cases are still open and are being prosecuted, a council meeting recently said. As a result of the investigation, only two applications for planning permission have been submitted to change the use of an accommodation into a holiday home for short-term rental.
Meanwhile, a Freedom of Information Act request revealed there are no building permit statistics on the exact number of short-term rentals in Killarney. A total of 49 tourist establishments across Kerry are registered with the council in 2021, the response says.
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