Irish documentary heads to Wales amid Airbnb and rental crisis

An Irish documentary which examines the impact of the housing crisis in Irish speaking heartlands, where 1,000 houses are currently listed on Airbnb, will head to Wales in its next episode.

Tomorrow night on TG4, investigative current affairs series Iniúchadh TG4 examines the housing crisis in the Gaeltacht (the regions in Ireland where the Irish language is or was the primary language of the majority of the population).

The programme 'Níl Aon Tinteán' presented by investigative journalist Kevin Magee More reveals that more than 1,000 houses were listed on Airbnb for short term let in Ireland’s Gaeltacht regions this summer, but less than ten houses were available for long-term rental.

The documentary 'Níl Aon Tintéan' examines the impact of the housing crisis in Ireland’s Irish speaking regions.

The increase in the number of short-term lets and the proliferation of holiday homes has led to a shortage of long-term rental accommodation in the Gaeltacht, which is forcing locals to seek accommodation elsewhere.

A sample of Airbnbs and rental properties taken in a random week in August this year showed that there were 1017 houses listed on Airbnb for short-term rent in Ireland’s Gaeltacht compared to only 10 houses available for long-term rent which were listed on the rental website Daft.ie.

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Loss

In terms of a regional breakdown of the period Co. Kerry’ Gaeltacht regions had the highest number of short-term lets available at 543, but not a single house listed on Daft.ie for long-term rent.  In Donegal’s Gaeltacht there were 225 houses listed on Airbnb while only three houses appeared in the same region on Daft.ie available for long term rent.  The Connemara Gaeltacht had 221 Airbnbs available and only four houses available for long-term rent.

In smaller Gaeltacht areas, Múscraí in Cork had 10 Airbnb listings, but no long-term rentals were listed on Daft.ie. An Rinn, in Co. Waterford had 15 Airbnb listings with two houses available for long -term rent on the Daft.ie site.

According to the Connemara-based activist and commentator Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, people living in the Gaeltacht are being forced out of the local housing market because of the demand from outsiders for second homes that often double as Airbnbs. Speaking in Irish, he said: “There are problems when houses come on the market here, because it's an open market. Because there is a housing problem all over the country, people are coming from other places and are buying these houses as a second home or as a holiday home or a home to retire in and so on. So that's pushing locals out of the market."

As a result of the lack of suitable long-term rental accommodation, people who want to raise families in the Gaeltacht are being forced to move and live elsewhere he said.  “Most of the houses available are on Airbnb. They are not available for people who want to rent long-term.  People aren’t staying here anymore, they are leaving and when they go, there aren’t strong Irish-language communities in the places they go to and that is a loss for the Irish language and Gaeltacht communities."

"It is sad"

Kevin Magee travelled from one Gaeltacht region to another, he heard similar stories from young people who can’t get planning permission or find a suitable place to live in the Gaeltacht.

Máire Eibhlín Ní Chlochartaigh, a native of Mainís in the Conamara Láir Gaeltacht, wanted to settle there. It is an area that is being promoted by the Government development agency, Údarás na Gaeltachta, as one of the best places in the world to live and work.

However, Máire Eibhlín was refused permission to build a home on family land and has to move from the Gaeltacht to find somewhere else to live as a result.

She said: “Our planning application was rejected because we were told the site was not suitable, we were also told that a house on the site would interfere with the local landscape. It really broke my heart. I shed tears, my heart was broken.  It is sad. I hoped that I would have children here one day and that we would give them the same opportunities as I had.

“The amount of money we spent and lost on the planning process, we lost our confidence, and we made the decision last year to give up on it.  We saw a site in another county, and we are going to buy that instead.”

Research carried out by Dr. Séin Ó Muineacháin for Údarás na Gaeltachta shows that on average almost a fifth of homes in the Gaeltacht are holiday homes with the proportion increasing in some Gaeltacht areas.

When we look at the housing supply in the Gaeltacht, what stands out is that almost one fifth of those houses are only used as holiday homes.  Almost 20% of the housing supply in those areas are made available for rent on the likes of Airbnb, available for short-term rental for tourists who are coming into the area.

When broken down area by area, the figure is higher than 20% in many Gaeltacht areas. 45% of homes in the South Kerry Gaeltacht are classified as holiday homes. In the north Donegal Gaeltacht, the figure is 42%.  In the West Mayo Gaeltacht, 34% are holiday homes. In Conamara Láir the figure is 19% and in Na Déise it is 12%. In Ceantar na nOileán and An Cheathrú Rua in the Conamara Gaeltacht, 10% of houses are holiday homes, according to the analysis carried out by Dr Séin Ó Muineacháin.

Cymru

Kevin Magee travels to Wales to look at how Gwynedd Council has dealt with the problem of short-term lets that make it difficult for Welsh speakers to afford homes in Welsh speaking areas. “The biggest problem is that young people can’t afford to live in their own communities. As a result, they have to go and live in England and they are no longer living their lives in Wales and not speaking Welsh, and bringing their children up to speak Welsh,” said Beca Roberts, Plaid Cymru chair of Gwynedd council.

Second homeowners in Gwynedd already pay more council tax than permanent residents, and from this month, anyone who buys a house in Gwynedd and wants to change it into a second home or an Airbnb will have to get planning approval from the council.

“People are starting to think twice before buying a second home or an Airbnb. We have seen houses come onto the market as a result,” she said.

Iniúchadh TG4 – Níl Aon Tinteán airs on Wednesday 11 September at 9:30pm on TG4 & TG4.ie