Under the terms of a legislative amendment introduced by Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien, beginning 1 September 2022 Airbnb and other online platforms that accept ads for short-term rental properties will face heavy fines for running ads for certain properties.

The intent of this initiative is to drive holiday properties back into Ireland's year-round housing inventory.

Owners of short-term lets in any of Ireland's 54 Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) - which exist primarily but not exclusively in dense urban areas - must apply to their local authorities for planning permission. Online platforms will now face fines of up to 5000 euro per incident if they advertise short-term leisure lets that have not received the requisite planning permission.

This situation is especially dire for owners of properties in some rural areas which fall within the RPZ of a contiguous urban area.

And the stress being placed on ad platforms is aggravated by the fact that there's nothing like a central registry of properties with planning permission.

Timing of this situation - as Ireland tourism is trying to recover from 2+ COVID years without international visitors - is obviously very bad.

Will tourism leaders be able to convince Mr. O'Brien to delay implementation? Stay tuned.