Dublin City Council has refused planning retention to a significant Airbnb operator close to Dublin Castle and Temple Bar to continue offering its apartments for short-term letting to tourists.
Dublin Castle Suites advertises its 10 apartments on the Airbnb platform and can earn up to €350 per night, per apartment on busy weekends.
The owner of the apartments facing on to Parliament Street and Dame Street would earn only a fraction of its current rental income if the apartments are to be rented for long-term letting only.
A question mark has now been put over the lucrative enterprise following the council’s decision to refuse planning retention to allow the apartments to continue as short-term lets.
RM Block
The applicant, Olympia Real Estate Limited, now has the option of appealing to An Coimisiún Pleanála, which could reverse the council’s planning refusal.
In its decision, the council noted that there was a general presumption in the Dublin City Council Development Plan against the provision of dedicated short-term tourist rental accommodation in the city due to the impact on the availability of housing stock.
The council stated that Olympia Real Estate Ltd has not provided a sufficient justification for the provision of short lease apartments at this location.
It found that the proposal to continue the apartments for short-term letting “would create an undesirable precedent for similar type development and would devalue property in the vicinity”.
Olympia Real Estate Limited lodged the planning application after the council issued it with a warning letter over the use of the apartments for short-term letting.
Planning consultants for the applicants, Cunnane Stratton Reynolds (CSR), stated that “enabling housing as short-term let accommodation in this instance redirects such demand away from mainstream housing”.
“The proposed tourism accommodation will assist in the attractiveness of the area for tourists and will promote a continued busy and vibrant city centre,” the consultants added.
CSR stated that its client’s ability to acoustically meet the standards of normal accommodation was not available given the protected status of the premises in question.
They state “in a period of substantial housing crisis these units cannot remain vacant”.
Objecting to the planned retention, Fiachra Brennan of Oakcourt Park, Dublin 20 and who works on Parliament Street said that “these are high-quality urban apartments which should be available on the long-term rental market”.
“The applicant has pointed to issues with regard to soundproofing and insulation – this should not preclude the use of the property for its intended purpose,” he said.
