Airbnbs far more plentiful than homes to rent in Westmeath

The number of properties advertised for short-term holiday stays on sites such as Airbnb is far exceeding the number of homes available to rent in many parts of the country - and Westmeath is no exception.

The Irish Times recently reported that there were just five homes being advertised for long-term rental in Killarney, compared with 309 Airbnb listings for full properties in the county Kerry town.

Similarly, the Galway City Tribune found that Galway city and county had up to 1,600 properties available on Airbnb, compared with around 20 properties for longer-term rental on Daft.ie.

While the number of holiday lets available in Westmeath isn't quite as vast, a search this week showed that for every one home being advertised for long-term occupancy in the county there were at least seven Airbnbs being offered for short-term stays.

The Daft.ie property website was listing a mere seven properties available to rent anywhere in county Westmeath on Monday of this week.

Just two homes were being advertised for rent in Athlone at the time, along with three in Mullingar, one in Moate, and one in Clonmellon in the north-east of the county.

In contrast, a search on the Airbnb site brought up over 50 Westmeath properties available to rent in their entirety over the coming months, including a number of apartments, flats and guesthouses in Athlone, a guesthouse and a cottage in Moate, and a bungalow in Glasson.

A stay for two people at one of the Airbnb apartments in Athlone was listed for €224 per night, while a riverside flat in the town was being advertised for €176 a night.

The Government introduced regulations in 2019 which required property owners to submit a planning application for a change of use if they were letting all or part of a premises for short-term stays.

However, it's evident that these regulations are being widely ignored, with Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien admitting last week that he did not believe they were being "adhered to".

Minister O'Brien said he intended to bring in additional legislation to target short-term lettings in the coming weeks.