Sir, – Further to “The Irish Times view on the Short Term Lettings Bill: no excuse for stalling” (June 12th), our self-catering company, Cottages for Couples in West Cork, aims to bring 6,000 visitors to our 15 properties in West Cork this year. According to Fáilte Ireland this is worth €2 million to the local economy. We support 15 jobs locally.
If this legislation impacts negatively on our business, none of our properties will be available for long-term rentals and we will have no alternative but to close our award-winning business after 30 years, with obvious consequences for the local economy.
This is no exaggeration.
Does this Government really think that the owner of a holiday home in Baltimore who uses their property for six to eight weeks each year will suddenly decide to move it to the long-term rental market? Of course not. Instead they will stop renting it out for the other 44 weeks, thus depriving the local economy of much-needed year-round income.
Ann Ingle: Deliberately going out of my way to move for no particular reason has never appealed to me
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How risky is it to buy a second-hand EV?
The self-catering sector supports the need for a registration system but the Government have got this one seriously wrong.
There is definitely room for improvement. – Yours, etc,
ANNA and PETER WARBURTON,
Cottages for Couples,
Skibbereen,
Co Cork.
