The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
COUNCILLOR Cillian Murphy has called for a report on the impact of short term lets on communities across Clare to be commissioned by the County Council.
In response to his proposal, a written report prepared by Direct of Services Liam Conneally said it was recognised that an over-concentration of holiday homes and short term lets in an area
can create a high level of vacancy outside of the main tourism season.
This, he said, can have a negative effect on the sustainable development of rural settlements and areas and their communities.
Mr Conneally’s response stated, “It is therefore essential to achieve a balance between the tourism needs of the county and the need to support the permanent population of settlements and rural areas.
“The provision and distribution of holiday homes in settlements and rural areas throughout the county, particularly along the Atlantic Coast is monitored through the development management
process to ensure that the overall vision of sustainable communities is achieved.”
“The housing policies of the Clare County Development Plan have and continue to be informed by current trends both nationally and locally.”
The report said that the current county development plan includes a provision that where there is an oversupply of holiday homes, new residential developments be for permanent occupancy only.
It said that further analysis can be done after the upcoming census.
“Further analysis on the impact of short-term lets on communities around the county should be based on the new data from the forthcoming 2022 Census once it becomes available.
“This analysis work will be carried out by the forward planning unit as soon as the new census data for Clare becomes available and a report will be prepared for Council.”
While Councillor Murphy said he welcomed the report, he said that for true understanding there would be a need “to go further and deeper than the census”.
He said there would be a need for qualitative and quantitative research, to speak to local interests and to try to get an understanding of the economic and social impacts on areas.
Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy said that the research should possibly be done by the Government, and that there is a perennial conflict between the rights of owners of private property and the common good.
Councillor Joe Killeen said that there is a need for a certain amount of short term lets, given the importance of the tourist sector.
Independent Gerry Flynn said that while short term lets are useful to the county’s tourism product, he warned that without permanent communities there would be no tourism product.
Summing up, Councillor Murphy said that the research could be done for less than €20,000, while he said that at the moment views on the short term lets are informed only by “complete assumptions” rather than any established facts.
He also warned that short term lets have taken over in a lot of communities, and Clare could end up with short term communities rather than long term ones.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
