I want straight answers today on the delay and the disorder surrounding the short-term letting and tourism Bill. The general scheme was approved by the Government last April, yet we are here again with no Bill published, no final planning guidance and no clarity for the people whose livelihoods are directly affected. At the same time, tens of thousands of small family-run accommodation providers across the country, many of whom are in the rural and coastal communities we represent, are still being told they must be ready to comply with new rules by 20 May 2026. They are being asked to plan their futures, their homes and their businesses without seeing a single line of the law they are supposed to comply with. That is not good governance. Will the Taoiseach explain to the House why the Bill has still not been published?

I raised this issue numerous times with the Taoiseach and others but the Government still went ahead and rammed through the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025. I have highlighted over and over again since then that this Bill will destroy smaller rural family businesses across the whole western seaboard. The Government is trying to make criminals of ordinary decent taxpayers. The tourism committee carried out pre-legislative scrutiny in January. I attended and spoke at the meeting and pleaded with the Government to use common sense. The report is still not published. I have asked for a full debate on the issue every week since then at the Business Committee and on the floor of the Dáil but to no avail. Last Tuesday I put down a Topical Issue on the matter but neither the senior Minister nor any of his two sidekicks could come into the House to debate the issue. Instead, I got a well-worn, stock answer delivered by a random junior Minister who appeared to lack a good grasp of the issue.

Today's newspapers are reporting that the whole scheme is being kicked back to the summer or beyond and yet I cannot get a straight answer here in the House. There are rumblings of backbench division on this issue. If recent history has taught the Taoiseach anything, my advice would be that he sits up and listens on this one, if not to me then to those sitting behind him. The Government must not force families out of business for a foolish notion that it will free up thousands of properties for the rental market. Is it the idea to fleece them for the thousands in compliance fees while flushing a good going element of the rural economy down the toilet?

Will the Taoiseach confirm for the House that the registration deadline of 20 May is dead in the water? Will he also confirm when the legislation will be published and commit to not ramming it through the House without proper debate and consideration of Opposition amendments? Finally, will he consider making the accommodation I have repeatedly asked for, that the established operators are treated with respect and granted a planning exemption in order to comply with Fáilte Ireland registration?

First of all, no one is wiping anybody out in rural Ireland. It suits the Deputy to create a storm and to spread rumours saying the Government is going to do this and that. Let us get the background to this. Everyone in this House was agreed that housing was the number one priority, or at least I thought it was the number one priority, facing this Dáil at its commencement. The objective in terms of the short-term lets legislation is actually to get more houses back into the rental market. The policy decision we have taken, of which the Deputy is well aware, is that it relates to towns over 20,000, so that excludes straight away all of the western seaboard and the north western seaboard, all the way along. We are looking at towns and cities above 20,000 people.

Planning law is planning law and the seven-year rule is there. Basically if someone is operating an Airbnb for seven years he or she does not need planning permission. That is my understanding, my lay-person's articulation of it. Essentially, there would be great difficulty in enforcing anything at that stage. I am sure the Deputy would accept that. He is wily enough in terms of planning issues as they affect people so I am sure he will agree that is the position.

There is an EU directive governing this as well and that is governing all of Europe. In the cities we want less of the short-term lets and we want more housing because we need more housing for younger people. People are arguing about the rents being high and we need more supply. There is an issue there and the Deputy should acknowledge that. It is not a foolish idea. There is a logic behind it and there is a rationale behind it. The fundamental objective is to continue to support tourism in those areas where tourism is a key industry and that is all along the western seaboard, the south west, the west, the north west, along the east coast, the south east coast and so on. They are all well below the 20,000 threshold and the idea is to balance the need for long-term housing supply and greater housing availability while also protecting rural and regional tourism and jobs. The national register is to be compiled by Fáilte Éireann for short-term let providers. It is to be established by Fáilte Ireland. The issue is still being examined by Government in terms of the planning statement and so on and how to enable people to adjust to the situation and the policy position we have identified and announced.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. He said that I create a storm but this has been talked about for two years and the Government cannot-----

Sorry. They are ringing me from west Cork.

Here is the storm.

He has been sitting here for a half and hour and his phone did not ring.

The Taoiseach is talking about creating a storm. This is a serious storm for the people who are facing a crisis at this moment. They are talking about signing up to something on 20 May. It is like signing a blank cheque. Are people going to have to sign up to something on 20 May, like signing a blank cheque? That is what we are asking. All we are asking for are clear guidelines as to what is going ahead. Are people going to have to sign up to something that they do not know what they are signing up to? There is no point in the Taoiseach saying here what way it might be and that this is the way he sees it. I am not in the business but other people see it totally and utterly differently. What they want is clarity. That clarity should have been there months and months prior to this. We should be debating this in the Dáil, agreeing or disagreeing to it and going forward on that basis.

When the Government has a final position, there will be plenty of opportunity for debate in the Dáil. We are not rushing anything in and we are not going to ram anything through. The Deputy needs to be clear as well. Long before any of this happened, change of use always required planning. The Deputy knows that. He is pretending the Government has suddenly invented that. We have not. He has been around meetings and is on Facebook every second night at a meeting here and a meeting there-----

That is what I am entitled to do. That is what social media is all about Micheál-----

Deputy, you have had your contribution.

Every second night - it is more like twice a night.

He is saying the Government is going to bring in this draconian law about change of use. Change of use has always been there.

Sure, you cannot bring it in. The Taoiseach does not-----

Deputy, you have had your contribution. There is nothing different about you to every other Member. Allow the Taoiseach to make his contribution because you are running down the clock, not him.

Hear, hear.

We are very conscious, and have been, of the need to protect regional tourism, rural Ireland and the jobs that go there. That is why we took the population threshold of 20,000. We will be back to the Deputy.