Planning implications for some Airbnb hosts in Mayo  

The Minister for Housing has said short-term let hosts in Mayo and the wider West of Ireland region will have 90 days per year when they will not need planning permission under new legislation.

It emerged last week that thousands of short-term holiday lettings in the West would require planning permission as a result of the Government's decision to extend Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) nationwide.

Many tourism hotspots in Mayo, which were not classed as RPZs previously, did not require planning permission for short-term holiday lettings.

Westport was classified as an RPZ in 2023 with Castlebar receiving the designation last month.

Under a 2019 law designed to get holiday lettings back into the private rental market, properties rented out for short periods in RPZs are required to have planning permission. 

“Every time a rent pressure zone is extended, the planning requirements kick in for short-term lets,” said Minister James Browne on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland. “When this law passes, you have 90 days within a calendar year that you can rent your property out, that you don’t need planning permission, so you’re not going to see anybody even considering it for several months,” he added.

Mr Browne claimed that many people live in the homes that they are renting out as short-term lets so they will be unaffected by the new law.

He said that he and Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke are bringing in “very strict new laws” for short-term lets that will ban new planning permission for short-term lets in towns with a population of more than 10,000.

Short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb have become a thorny issue in Mayo.

Airbnb was previously described as a “scourge” in the county with local councillors also expressing concern about holiday homes lying vacant for long periods of the year. 

“We are fed up with having all these houses empty while people struggle to get on the property ladder," said Cllr Peter Flynn recently.