Call for action against Airbnb as hundreds of Mayo properties listed

Homeless charity Threshold has slammed the fact that hundreds of sites in Mayo are being let out for short-term tourism in the midst of a housing crisis.

Recently compiled figures have revealed that almost 8,000 properties are up for let on the website Airbnb, which supplies short-term stays for tourists. In Mayo, 1,134 entire properties were listed on the site in late 2024.

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Figures from an Oxford Economics report also showed that 280,000 nights of Airbnb accommodation were booked for 2022.

Threshold’s CEO, John-Mark McCafferty, believes that action is paramount to solving this growing crisis.

“The bottom line here is that there could be many homes brought back to the long-term market,” Mr McCafferty said. “Existing planning regulations are not enforced, and short-term let regulations are not yet passed into law.

“This is resulting in thousands of homes being advertised for short-term lets in this lucrative market, while the housing and rental crisis escalates nationwide.”

These sentiments were echoed by Mayo County Councillor Harry Barrett, who labelled Airbnb as ‘an absolute scourge’ and detailed the impact on Castlebar, where 164 properties were listed on the site last December.

“It’s a moral disgrace that there’s properties in this town [Castlebar] left vacant for years and years while these people suffer and our kids in their 20s and 30s can’t find a place to live in this town,” he stated.

December 2024’s figures show that Westport had the highest proportion of whole property listings, with 104. Meanwhile, Swinford had 80 full homes for rent.