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To ask the Chief Executive if he will respond to the various suggestions contained in the email submitted with this Question and in particular if he will arrange for the unauthorised Airbnb key containers locked to various DCC structures to be removed across the City.

Dermot Lacey

  Please look at the attached photo of a DDC sign-post with seven lockboxes attached.  (can DCC remove these?).

Here are my main points.  

We are in a housing crisis, yet very many family homes are being converted to holiday-lets.  This is not right.   

There is a lot less regulation on holiday-lets compared to standard lets; so landlords are incentivised to convert homes to holiday-lets.

The polluter should pay!  Holiday rentals lead to a large increase by fly tipping (photos attached).  I reckon the majority of dumped bags in our area are from holiday-lets.  I talked to two Airbnb cleaners, they told me that they are instructed to dump the rubbish bags ‘away’ from the holiday lets.   

DCC should invoice Airbnb for the rubbish they remove that is dumped by holiday lets. 

Owners of B&Bs and guest houses pay rates, have fire regulations etc, but are left with vacancies, while holiday-lets are allowed to break the law at every turn, taking the B&Bs income. 

DCC does not get any rates from holiday lets.  At any one time there can be over 1,000 Airbnb rentals in Dublin, (approx 2,000 bedrooms) how much money would DDC be able to secure on rates if these rooms had a rateable valuation?   DCC should make an estimate as to how much ‘rates’ they are losing and then bill Airbnb for this loss of income. 

Security!   Many holiday lets are in apartment buildings where the security access code is given to all the holiday guests and the cleaners, this makes the apartment blocks exposed to a security risk

From our own experience, holiday-lets make lousy neighbours.  Illegal parking, partying, dumping rubbish and smoking cannabis on the street are what we have to put up with. This activity is particularly annoying if you live in an apartment complex.

The Italian government recently billed Airbnb €1bn in lieu of lost tax revenue; Airbnb settled by paying €600m.   We should do the same.

Some Airbnb users are given DCC Residents Parking Discs for the duration of their stay, this is an abuse of a facility that is meant for the citizens; tourists should pay the correct parking rates

Once on Pearse Street I witnessed a woman dumping a bag of rubbish beside a DCC bin, I asked her why she was dumping her rubbish there, she told me she is renting an Airbnb and was told by the agent to dump her rubbish at that location.