AirBnb’s role in tourism
Sir, – In relation to Liam Coates’s article (“Why did two Kerry politicians fight to protect Airbnb in the Kingdom?” Home News, April 26th), I would beg to give an Airbnb host’s perspective on the private rental situation.
In many cases, those properties would not be available to long-term rental clients in any event. Many of them are cheek-by-jowl with the owner’s home place and whereas short-term letting on platforms like Airbnb expose them to a generally short duration of occupancy – anything from two days to a week – it does not entail the level of exposure to all the legal and personal negatives of renting to long-term tenants.
Yes, it will mean a bigger income level, per night, than long-term letting will, but it is seasonal in nature. And this is offset by the much higher amount of cleaning, laundry, utility bills and pure hard work on the part of the hosts as they prepare for the next set of guests.
The elephant in the room I have not seen being mentioned anywhere, is the fear felt by property owners that accepting long-term rentals will mean entering into a lease with their tenants that will possibly become a noose around their necks. Most of us will have heard of landlords’ nightmare experiences with bad tenants and how the Residential Tenancies Board seems to be toothless in resolving matters to the satisfaction of the property owners. At least if you, as an Airbnb host, get a difficult guest you can be reassured that they will be gone in a matter of days. Difficult long-term tenants can take years to evict, as they can string out the legal processes involved.
Kathy Sheridan: I leaned over to the man beside me and asked him to put on headphones. Everyone looked away
Céire Sadlier: I love being called ‘love’, although there are some exceptions
Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+: 10 of the best new shows to watch in May
Look inside: A super stylish penthouse at Temple Bar's Wooden Building
The two rental options are as different as chalk and cheese. One is hospitality based and labour intensive, while the other is a legally binding contract to provide long-term accommodation, where the landlord should hardly ever need to personally interact with their tenant. Airbnb success for the hosts depends on their listing getting almost entirely five-star reviews from the guests, as this is how most prospective clients will arrive at a decision to book.
Imagine you are a family of five or six looking to find good places to stay for a few days as you holiday in Ireland. Where else could you expect to get a whole house with complete privacy, comfortable living quarters and the facility for cooking all your meals, for around €150 per night? This is the attraction for visitors. It makes a vacation in Ireland financially viable, and it allows them to interact, if they wish, with friendly Irish hosts who can advise them on how to get the best from the area they are visiting.
Contrast this with even a mid-price hotel, at least two rooms at €250+ per night per room, add in the need to pay restaurant prices for all your meals and you will know how most tourists see the benefits of Airbnb. Of course, there will always be people who prefer to stay in hotels and that is their choice.
The housing shortage in Ireland has not been caused by short-term rentals but by government inaction over decades in the planning and execution of proper building policies and a complete failure to anticipate the rise in our indigenous population, along with the demands of a planet that now sees constant relocation needs. Airbnb has become a convenient whipping boy for politicians to blame their own failures on. – Yours, etc,
JOHN PHELAN,
Tralee,
Co Kerry.
Women and transgender rights
Sir, – I was perplexed by Una Mullally putting the term biological sex into quotation marks and contrasting it with a person’s “true identity” (“Let’s not import British toxicity about trans people”, Opinion, April 28th).
Biological sex is a matter of scientific fact not interpretation. While we can understand and respect that transgender people feel incongruence between their biological sex and their experienced gender, it is biologically impossible for humans to change sex. In the case of trans women, it is a matter of fact that people born with a Y (male) chromosome will carry it all their lives. No amount of surgery, drug and hormone treatment or self-identification will change that settled biological fact.
The point of the recent supreme court decision in the UK was simply to state this biological reality in the context of law, so obvious but all too often obscured in thickets of scientific illiteracy and ideology. The rights of transgender people in the UK remain protected, and the rights of women to single-sex spaces are now stated as lawful. This is simple common sense but a matter of enormous relief to many women.
In a legal context, judgments of the UK supreme court are not binding on Irish courts but are of “persuasive significance” when there is no Irish precedent available as a reflection of the development of common law in both jurisdictions. – Yours, etc,
JANE MAHONY,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
A journey on the Dodder
Sir, -“A journey of discovery on the Dodder” was a beautiful read (Weekend, April 26th). In relation to the accompanying photographs, I don’t think we need to consult Eanna Ní Lamhna to ascertain that the third image is that of a goldfinch and not a goldfish as your caption asserts. – Yours, etc,
FRANK J BYRNE,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 9.
The dumbest generation?
Sir, – Jennifer O’Connell isn’t alone in questioning whether hers is the first generation “thicker than our parents” (Opinion, April 26th).
My own parents’ generation worked daily with their hands to mend and create just about anything, drawing on their resourcefulness to stretch what little they had. Mum sewed her own wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses by hand, can name any tree or flower, and cook any dish. Dad can grow, repair and build anything with what’s on hand. These skills were basic necessities in a world where making do was the only option.
It is often said that “talent skips a generation,” but it’s disappointing to see so many of these skills slipping away. Simply put, we have more access to information than ever before but we’re struggling with basic critical thinking. Technology has brought extraordinary advances, but we were meant to coexist with these tools, not surrender to them entirely.
Perhaps, even amid the demands of modern life, there’s still a chance to reclaim these skills and, with them, a quieter kind of resilience and pride we would do well to remember. – Yours, etc,
FIONA DALY,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Unsustainable tourism
Sir, – I was amazed to read your article “What high-end tourists get up to in Ireland: You always have to make things happen. We do a lot of helicopters” on April 27th and to see no reference or question within it to the disproportionate impact of first-class travel on our climate. Your newspaper generally does a good job highlighting the climate crisis but surely this was an excellent opportunity to ask, even in passing, what wealthier travellers – who account for a disproportionately higher per capita share of emissions – and their travel agents are doing to reduce and mitigate these emissions.
It would be great to see climate questions appear in articles whose main topic is not necessarily climate change. – Yours, etc,
MARK GODFREY,
Ballyhaunis,
Co Mayo.
Sir, – Rosita Boland’s article about what an Irish tourism company organises for millionaire tourists should have had a trigger warning for climate change anxiety (“Ireland’s high-end tourism”, Weekend, April 26th). As we face our national and international obligations under the Paris Agreement, how can we justify allowing tourists fly roughshod over our landscape in private helicopters? – Yours, etc,
BEN McCABE,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Coimisiún na Meán’s plans
Sir, – Coimisiún na Meán has recently published its Work Programme for 2025. Curiously, and alarmingly, it contains no plans to regulate the marketing of infant and follow-on formula, despite clear legal powers under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022. Section 46N(7) and Section 139K(5) of that Act specifically empower the commission to prohibit or restrict marketing of foods, “in particular infant formula, follow-on formula,” where public health interests of children are concerned. Yet, Coimisiún na Meán’s priorities include regulating advertising of high-fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) foods, but not milk formula, even though it is listed alongside HFSS foods in the Act itself.
In doing so, Coimisiún na Meán appears to be picking and choosing which parts of its legislative mandate to implement. Parents deserve protection from the exploitative marketing practices of the formula industry, as repeatedly urged by the HSE, Department of Health, WHO and Unicef. Infant formula is a necessary product for some families and decisions about infant feeding should be free from corporate manipulation.
Legal powers to better protect families were written into Irish law in 2022. Is it now acceptable for the regulator to ignore them? – Yours, etc,
Dr SARAH BRENNAN, General Practitioner, Chair, Baby Feeding Law Group Ireland
Dr CLARE PATTON, School of Law, University of Leeds,
Dr GABRIELLE COLLERAN, Clinical Associate Professor, Paediatrics, Trinity College Dublin,
Dr ANNE DOOLAN, Consultant Neonatologist and IBCLC
Dr. ALAN O’REILLY, General Practitioner, IBCLC
Dr DENISE MCGUINNESS, Assistant Professor of Midwifery, University College Dublin
Dr. LIZ O’SULLIVAN, Lecturer in Nutrition, TU Dublin
Dr. AILEEN KENNEDY. Lecturer in Dietetics, TU Dublin
Dr. AOIFE LONG, University College Cork
Dr EDEL QUIRKE,
Dr JENNIFER HANRATTY.
When the credits roll
Sir, – It was amusing to read that Donald Clarke inadvertently left the film Sinners before it had finished (“Yes I gave Sinners five stars – without even watching it all”, Ticket, April 26th).
The final scene in this extraordinary movie, post credits, was certainly a surprise. I saw it by accident, having left my seat to exit the cinema as the final credits rolled and the lights were fully on. The long walk from the back of the luxury IMC cinema in Dún Laoghaire to the exit door saved the day. By the time I reached the door, the additional scene had started.
I stood, waited and watched, as did several other caught in the same scenario. It was not helped by the cinema putting the lights fully on just as the final credits rolled. It is some comfort to know that even seasoned film critics like Clarke can get caught out. – Yours, etc,
LINDA CUSACK,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin
