When the Government announced plans to regulate short-term lets, nearly everyone welcomed it. The Department of tourism said the measure would lead to 12,000 homes returning to the long-term rental market. The Fáilte Ireland chief executive said the registration system was simple and user friendly. Even Airbnb and the Irish Self-Catering Federation welcomed the introduction of a register. The catch is that was back in 2022 - four years ago – when the Government first announced these plans. Four years of inaction, delay and excuses.

This week, we learned of yet another missed deadline. A plan to have the register come into force on 20 May is dead in the water, as is any prospect of homes returning to the long-term rental market any time soon. The Government is prioritising proposals that will see renters living in sheds in back gardens with no protections instead of bringing the potentially thousands of homes listed on Airbnb back into the long-term rental market. Does the Taoiseach not see that for what it is? It is an insult to thousands of renters all over the country. This Government would prefer to see them paying thousands of euro every month to live in cabins in back gardens than to regulate Airbnb.

Nearly every week, the Taoiseach tells us that housing is the Government’s number one priority. I do not think anyone believes that. Not only has it refused to introduce long-overdue regulation of an out-of-control short-term letting sector, it has gutted the regulations before they have even come into force. Initially, the Government's plan was to restrict short-term lets to towns of 10,000 or more. Then, thanks to lobbying by the Healy-Raes, it abandoned that plan, raising the bar to towns with a population of 20,000-plus. It shafted renters to keep the Healy-Raes happy only for them to walk out of government a few weeks later anyway.

Record numbers of people are now homeless, including more than 5,500 children. Meanwhile, in some areas of the country, there are 25 times more homes on Airbnb than homes to rent. A Government that took the housing crisis seriously and wanted to protect renters would do something about that.

On top of all this, there is no clarity on what will happen in towns with a population below 20,000. Will housing need even be a consideration or is the Government telling every town and village in rural Ireland and every square metre of the Gaeltacht that nothing is going to change? What is the Government's plan for short-term lets in these areas? Will housing need be a consideration for planning? Why has the Government been dragging its heels on regulation for four years? What is the Government's plan? Does the Government even know?

First of all, the short-term letting and tourism Bill will provide the statutory basis for the introduction of a register of all short-term lets in Ireland. That will be accompanied by a planning statement from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne, governing that entire framework. That will broadly restrict the approval of new planning permissions for short-term lets in cities and large towns. All of this is aligned with the European directive and the European approach to this.

Bear in mind that even in Deputy Cairns's area there has been a lot of pushback, not from any particular Deputies, but generally from people who have been operating Airbnbs in west Cork, Kerry, along the western seaboard and in the south-eastern areas from a tourism point of view. There has been a reaction against it - not from any one TD, but from people on the ground. Yesterday, I was answering this question from a different perspective from the Deputy's colleague Deputy Collins, who is completely against any ending of the short-term lets and so on.

We have decided on the figure of 20,000. We think it is a reasonable balance. If we can get the short-term lets back to housing in the cities and the large towns, that will be a good day's work. It is not simple either, in terms of planning laws and the frameworks around that, to make sure that we get it right. The Government will introduce this. We will be doing it and are nearly there, to be quite frank, in terms of completing the process. It is a measure in addition to all the other measures.

The Deputy is derisive about what she calls "sheds". They are not sheds. Talk to people. She says she has spoken to people in her constituency. A lot of people in west Cork approve of the planning exemption proposal around units at the back of their houses and so on. They actually approve of it. Some people will be paying up to €80,000 for those, if they are modular units, for example. They may use them for their family members but family members will not be there forever. We have a housing supply crisis and it makes sense to free up the planning permitting situation for units of that kind. We will keep it under review.

I am in favour of anything that increases supply. I am not really interested in rhetoric. I am not interested in opposing everything that everybody proposes. The vast majority of what the Government has proposed over the last number of years on housing has been opposed by the Social Democrats and others. The Social Democrats oppose any private sector involvement. We have a lot of workers working in Ireland. There are a lot of people out there who would avail of these kinds of units and take pressure off the more conventional rental market.

It is about supply and we make no apology for it. Next week, we will look at rural planning guidelines for housing as well, which the Deputy will probably oppose, but we have to produce more supply.

Being from west Cork, I absolutely understand the importance of tourism in the area I grew up working in local cafés and restaurants that rely on the influx of tourists in the summer. What those businesses and local schools, post offices and everything else also rely on is locals - people living in the area and workers in the area. This is about getting the balance right. The balance at the moment is not right. In Cork South-West, there are housing estates with almost nobody living in them full-time any more. The amount of short-term lets is out of control.

The Government has been dragging its heels on this legislation for four years. I asked the Taoiseach why but he did not answer that question. Do I recognise the importance of tourism? Absolutely. Does the Taoiseach recognise the importance of people needing a home? In his response previously, he spoke of all of these different measures of housing success. Does he include the number of homeless people? In Cork South-West, people are contacting me. They are being evicted and have nowhere to go. That has to be weighed up against the importance of Airbnbs, too.

Absolutely, and that is what we are doing. We are legislating in terms of Airbnbs in any area above 20,000 people. That is a very significant change, and rightly so because the priority is housing. Our priority is housing and will remain housing. There is an issue of balance here in terms of the proposal and this would be a major step forward when we bring in this legislation-----

It leaves out the Gaeltacht.

What do I tell the areas with fewer than 20,000?

-----in terms of anywhere over 20,000 for cities and large towns. That will be significant progress.

What about the Gaeltacht areas?

Deputies, please.

We will have specific policies for the Gaeltacht areas. Tá siad tábhachtach. Tá na hAirí, na Teachtaí Calleary agus Browne, i dteagmháil maidir leis na Gaeltachtaí. Admhaím go bhfuil cás faoi leith ann ó thaobh lucht na Gaeltachta a labhraíonn an teanga go rialta agus gur cóir go mbeadh seans acu tithe a cheannach nó a thógáil ina n-áit dúchais féin.