European Parliament member for Ireland south, Billy Kelleher, told the annual conference of the Irish Self Catering Federation that there is a “critical lack of understanding” among policymakers regarding the importance of the self-catering industry in supporting tourism and providing essential services to visitors in rural areas.
In opening the conference he told delegates that the tourism industry is facing significant challenges due to rising costs, expensive investments, and the removal of approximately 77,000 beds from circulation to accommodate asylum seekers and refugees, potentially harming rural tourism in Ireland.
He said increasing regulatory compliance requirements could lead to a significant reduction in short-term accommodation options for tourists, negatively impacting the tourism sector.
He reiterated the point that the unique personal connections between property owners and guests are vital to Ireland’s hospitality industry; losing this connection could undermine the country’s appeal and marketing as a destination.
Billy Kelleher MEP told the conference: We discussed the issue of registration for short-term lets some time ago. That particular regulation was passed and is to be implemented in member states over the next number of years. Of course, when you decide to engage in discussions with stakeholders, we have to consider being more broadly based in terms of who we engage with. At the time, we had a lot of engagement with tourism bodies across Europe, and we also engaged with the operators of technology in the short-term rental market—mainly Airbnb and Booking.com at that time.
Clearly, the obligation to implement a regulation falls to member states, and it is often the case that there is a disjoint between what we do in the European Parliament and the implementation or interpretation of a regulation on the ground and the impact of that. This not only relates to the short-term rental regulation but also in general. This leads to broader issues regarding people’s views of regulation coming from the European Union and the impact that has. Then we are accused of being distant.
Primarily, I suppose the reason that this particular regulation needed to be addressed was the dislocation in large cities across Europe regarding the inability of key workers to reside in city centres. It was becoming increasingly difficult to the point where Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and many other cities with huge volumes of tourism were experiencing essential workers—and others servicing the industry—being unable to find any accommodation in major cities. That’s how the thinking evolved around addressing this issue.
This was, of course, coming against the backdrop of rising house prices across the European Union after the initial crash a number of years ago. Ireland is not alone in this; I know that some areas have done a lot of work in the area of housing prices and the impact that rising housing prices and rental costs are having on economies in general. From a European perspective, particularly in Northern Europe, there was major dislocation in the housing market and the rental market. Politicians of all hues across Europe were saying something had to be done.
The primary problem was Airbnb itself and others in the business of facilitating a supply and demand scenario without any assessment of the impact it would have. Clearly, there was a major impact. The regulation was discussed and it was asked of EU member states to come forward with a plan to implement it, as is always the case with regulations.
For the self-catering industry, particularly when I speak about it in Ireland, your members, Mora, and the members in this room are primarily located in rural Ireland. We must be very conscious that what happens in Paris or Berlin is not the same as what happens in the Bar Peninsula or Hook Head. We really have to be aware of the need for flexibility. I did look at some of the impact and debates around the ARUs Committee on this issue when concerns were beginning to arise.
Registration and the obligations that will be required for the self-catering industry to comply with the registration have moved into areas that weren’t envisaged, i.e., primarily the issue of planning and compliance with other regulations, and that is a significant challenge. I also believe I have relayed this to my colleagues in the Dáil some time ago and have raised the issue publicly on a number of occasions. I also believe that people are unaware of the importance of the self-catering industry to tourism in Ireland. I think that is a significant weakness.
If you take areas in my county, West Cork, for example, the only way that tourism functions is through bed and breakfast and self-catering because there just isn’t the demand or the economies of scale for large hotel developments in these areas. The only way the villages survive in West Cork is by the self-catering industry providing accommodation in short-term lets. If we don’t address that particular issue and support this industry, then I feel we’re going to have more significant challenges in the time ahead.
The tourism industry is under pressure; the cost base is rising quite dramatically. The cost of funds in terms of investing and further upgrading is expensive. We have taken huge numbers of beds out of circulation due to our obligations and requirements to house people who come to our country, either as asylum seekers or refugees—about 77,000 beds. So if we are then to impose or put further obligations on and inhibit your industry, then I would be very concerned for large tracts of rural Ireland in terms of the broader tourism industry.
I’m not saying this because I know it’s something you’d like to hear; I’m saying it because that is a fact. If you look at the Oireachtas committee hearings and the interrogation of witnesses, primarily those from the department and others, I am concerned that there’s a lack of understanding about the critical importance of the self-catering industry in tourism and the provision of services for tourists in rural Ireland. If we are to remove these services from circulation by asking for deep compliance with every aspect of regulation, then we will have major areas of this country where there will be no short-term accommodation available for tourists.
In my view, if we are to hand the entire tourism industry over to Airbnb, we do lose something unique in Ireland, and that is the contact between the person involved in the property—be it a guesthouse, bed and breakfast, or self-catering—and the tourists. If we remove that connection, then very quickly we undermine the concept of what makes Ireland unique and the way we market the country regarding hospitality, helpfulness, and the ability to have someone assist you beyond just giving you a key and charging you to stay in a bed.
You do this exceptionally well because you are dependent on it. You want returns on a regular basis, if possible, and you want to ensure that the people who leave your self-catering property enjoy themselves and that they will provide further referrals because of that experience. That is the issue that I am deeply worried about. Disruptive technologies are here to stay, and we can regulate all we like.
And we will try to regulate to ensure that we bring balance into the property market, the housing market, and the rental market in urban areas. But let’s be under no illusions: if we are depending on regulating the self-catering industry to the point where they can no longer offer short-term lets and have to transition into long-term lets to address our housing challenges, we are going to fail. The impact of taking all of your accommodations and converting them to long-term rentals will not address the issues we are facing, which are primarily related to large urban areas.
That is the issue we have to address. I do hope that over the next number of weeks and months, we will have an election, and whoever is returned to the Dáil will reconsider their obligations to regulate the short-term rental market and letting market. They need to look at this through a new prism and see it as an opportunity to incentivize and encourage tourism in rural areas, rather than from the negative perspective of how to squeeze more of these properties into long-term rentals, which does not necessarily mean that people will stay in these places for a long time due to their rural location.
When I looked at the Oireachtas committee hearings and reviewed some of the commentary, there was a significant lack of evidence presented by the officials discussing the regulation of planning obligations, planning requirements, and the immediate impact that would have on your industry. As a public representative for many years, I’ve found that the more advocates you have, the better chance you have of success. It is clearly evident that when you take bed nights from tourist areas, there is an immediate economic impact—restaurants, bars, and other service providers suffer greatly.
We have seen this in another context, which has unfortunately been used in a divisive way to undermine the state’s capacity to house people. It demonstrates that if you remove beds from areas, particularly rural areas dependent on tourism, you will quickly experience a cascade effect of closures of other services, and that cannot be allowed to continue.
So I sincerely want to wish you well at your conference. In Europe, we are always aware that an over-enthusiastic implementation of a regulation, as proposed by the commission, often aims to address urgent urban needs in major cities, which have competing interests, a huge number of tourists, and a requirement for a functioning city with a reasonable rental market available for workers, students, and others. So, Mora, I wish you well at the conference. I know you have a very busy agenda, and I am aware that Jim conducted a report on the importance of your industry and the impact it would have in the event of changes in regulation. I also think that as people canvas and traverse rural Ireland, it will be important to consider these issues.
Primarily over the next number of weeks, they should also be advised of the importance of your industry, not just from yourselves, but from the restaurants, the bars, the bus operators, the golf courses, and many others regarding the integral part you play in providing a much-needed service in those rural areas.
Finally, when we look at Ireland over the next number of years, we talk about a major increase in population and the need for significant infrastructural developments, as well as huge investments in housing, water, and sewer systems. There will always be pressure for short-term fixes or for people to be seen doing something to address a need. However, if we continue to point the finger solely at the rental market and the short-term let, particularly in terms of short-term catering, then we really do not understand the urgency of the bigger issue.
I cannot see how putting the self-catering industry under pressure and forcing it into long-term rentals will have any meaningful impact on the ability of a student in Dublin, a nurse in Dublin, or a doctor in Cork to find reasonable rental accommodation. Therefore, I applaud your advocacy on behalf of the broader self-catering industry. I commend what you have done to date in terms of its importance and how you advocate for it.
I do have some family involved in tourism, particularly in caravan and camping parks, which are again an integral part of tourism in Ireland and more importantly offer a slightly different suite of services. This diversity provides a broad base of attractions available to tourists who view Ireland through various lenses. People want to stay in Dublin for two or three days, but equally, they want to explore the beauty of our countryside, and that requires self-catering to be a central part of that.
I must say that I have used self-catering primarily when I was younger; they are very family-friendly and allow families the time and space they need together. This is particularly important for families with young children. From an Irish perspective, self-catering offers a way to holiday in your own country, especially when putting young children on planes and heading off to 35°C heat and sunburn is not attractive at the time.
It provides Irish people an opportunity to holiday in their own country at affordable costs in areas they might not otherwise visit, especially with young families. Additionally, I would like to see engagement at a European level. I know we have friends from Scotland here, and though we may be in competition with Scotland from time to time, we also have common interests.
I want to emphasize that this is an issue that requires a lot of support in terms of advocacy, so I urge those in this room to start speaking To people outside of this room, we need to engage with them, but more importantly, we must explain to those who do not understand your industry the impact that you have on rural Ireland—on villages and towns across the country—and also the knock-on effect you have in terms of economic impact on restaurants, bars, golf courses, and many other services provided to the people who stay in your self-catering accommodations right across this country.
Moderator Eoghan Corry: It’s a very powerful speech, and it will resonate with everyone who heard it in the room for a long time. Thank you very much. You mentioned that there are people who don’t get it; officials and politicians don’t get it. What would be your advice to drive this point home? Everyone in the room is in agreement, and you’ve validated all those concerns.
Billy Kelleher MEP: Yes, well, I think the biggest problem we have is that there is an urgency around the housing crisis, as we see it as a people, and that’s very evident when you go and knock on doors. There is always the urgency to respond to that in terms of policy. I think the regulation that came from Europe was primarily for that purpose, but for urban areas and a very different audience.
So my advice would be that over the next number of weeks, politicians should be informed of the importance of your industry when they are out campaigning. That’s the Democratic engagement. Beyond that, the minute this election is over and a government is formed, I think you have to start speaking to local authority members, coucillors, but most importantly, immediately to the ministers and officials to re-engage.
This particular short-term letting bill has fallen not necessarily because everybody saw the light, but simply because it has come to the end of the political calendar without being passed. So we have to be conscious that there will still be obligations to regulate.
Moderator Eoghan Corry: The frustration in the room is when you go to Dublin and they say, “Oh, we’re waiting for Brussels,” and when you go to Brussels, they say, “Well, we’ve got 27 different farms to attend to.” Yes, we are caught in that loop of lobbying with no impact.
Billy Kelleher MEP: Well, I mean, solving the problem is now entirely a member state competency. The regulation has gone through that process; it’s now up to member states to address it. If you look at the regulation and its purpose, it was primarily about registration. It was to try and find out what was Happening in the market, there would be an obligation for registration so that we could collate the data. This way, the Airbnbs of this world would be obligated to collect data and inform the various authorities. That was the purpose of it; that is the purpose of it. I mean, you have to identify the disruptors out there. I met with Airbnb and many others that are providing this technology to facilitate supply and demand. That was the major reasoning behind it, and I think the encroachment beyond that could be considered an overreach by authorities in member states.
