Legends.
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Two immortals
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And by the sounds of it sweet fuck all being done about it, only some tongue clucking from the charities regulator
Galway city being ‘hollowed out’ by short-term lets
Airbnb has become a ‘free-for-all’ says councillor
Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 05:28
Andrew Hamilton
Galway Green Party councillor Pauline O’Reilly says Airbnb is having a negative impact on the city and its ability to tackle the homelessness crisis. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy
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Galway city is being “hollowed out” with residents being pushed further away from the city centre to make space for short-term holiday properties such as Airbnb.
According to figures obtained from Galway City Council, there are more than 1,200 properties engaged in short-term letting in the city – almost four times the 311 people registered as homeless in Galway.
While new legislation governing short-term lets came into effect in July, Galway City Council has only received four planning applications seeking a change of use from a residential property into an Airbnb.
Green Party councillor Pauline O’Reilly says Airbnb has become a “free-for-all” and is having a negative impact on the city and its ability to tackle the homelessness crisis.
“The figures are incredibly low when you consider the number of people who are involved in Airbnb,” said Cllr O’Reilly. “Even though we have regulations in place since July it is true to say that tourism lets are effectively still unregulated in Galway city and indeed right across the country.
“This is having a deeper impact here in Galway as we experience higher tourism numbers than other parts of the country, especially with Galway 2020 coming next year.
“When you look at short-term letting, it is very much an unplanned system of accommodation for tourists. You really have a free-for-all. The city centre is being hollowed out. This is the wrong way to do planning. We need to see people living where the services are.”
Of the 1,200 properties thought to be involved in short-term lets in Galway, only 720 are estimated to be active at any one time. The local authority estimates that a further 480 properties are exempt from the new legislation as they are principal primary residences.
This leaves an estimated 240 properties in Galway City which are now required to register with the local authority and apply for a change of use planning permission.
In recent weeks, Galway City Council wrote to the Department of the Environment highlighting a number of issues surrounding the enforcement of the new legislation including a lack of staff and difficulties finding the legal owners of some properties.
Homelessness
Since July, Galway City Council has received 26 complaints from members of the public in relation to properties being operated as short-term lets.
Homelessness has grown faster in the west of Ireland over the past three years than any other part of the country.
According to figures from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, homelessness in the Western Region grew by 153 per cent between March of 2016 and August of 2019.
The largest part of this increase came in Galway city and county, where the number of homeless people more than doubled from 127 to 311 over this period.
“Homelessness is having a devastating impact on families. We have an increase of 327 per cent in this region in child homelessness. There are homes there but they are being used for the wrong purpose,” Ms O’Reilly said.
With the European Capital of Culture, Galway 2020, set to begin in the city in January, organisers are mindful of managing the impact that extra tourists could have on an already busy city.
“Galway 2020 is a city and county designation, with over half of our events taking place throughout the county and the remainder across the city,” organisers said.
“While planning our programme for next year we have been very cognisant of this and a lot of our programming, especially around peak times such as Galway International Arts Festival, is focused on programming events throughout the county and not adding pressure on the city.”
I see Galway have sent an SOS to the British royal family to help them get their culture disaster off the ground. Will and Kate have obliged… the fish monger in Cork will be seething.
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Just supporting the sister-in-law
This was a TFK exclusive on the Galway good news thread yeserday pal
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Can you sign me up pal? -
When are they coming? - i’m hitting Galway in the next couple of weeks.
March 5th. My 80 year old auntie Mar is very excited about it, we are hoping to find her a nice spot to observe all the proceedings and maybe have some tea and buns. You are more than welcome to join us a chara
Is that some Galway 2040 plan?
You wouldn’t want to be working on the top of those towers in a fresh February breeze.
Could be … ah yeah … they’ll roll out a shinier one then for 2030.
given the haimes they made of eyre square maybe they should call this project can’t
Two nogra men there, the rest were eyeties
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