By Sean Moriarty

Killarney Municipal District officials are facing a dilemma when it comes to upholding planning permission laws for short term letting properties.

Killarney is a designated Rent Pressure Zone and as a result owners of properties that are used for short-term lets are obliged by law to apply for planning permission.

Last year the council sent 183 warning letters to the operators of such properties.

“94 are closed for various reasons and the remainder are active and are being pursued by the Local Authority,” a council spokesperson told a recent Killarney Municipal District meeting.

However Cllr Brendan Cronin warned that, in a tourist town like Killarney, such properties add greatly to the income of local families.
“Stopping it could have devastating consequences for a critical part of a family’s income. There are many instances that it could have been an old house that was done up or a small adjacent property that’s providing a bit of income for a couple of months in the year,” he said.