First up, the Government’s decision to legislatively intervene to lift the Dublin Airport passenger cap, and secondly, Ministers accepted that a more balanced approach to restricting short-term tourism lets was needed. This is due to change this May 20th when Fáilte Ireland introduces a register of short-term lets. The lazy narrative that limiting all short-term lets will result in increased housing supply is neither proven nor credible. The Cabinet meeting last week raised the town population threshold for short-term letting to 20,000, so that short-term lets in towns with populations below this level can continue to operate. Also, what about those short-term lets in areas above a population of 20,000?

Source: The Irish Times February 16, 2026 15:02 UTC