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Cork Senator says AirBnB's website should be shut down while Level 5 restrictions are in place 

Tuesday, 16 February 2021 11:14

Tim Lombard says the government needs to draw up laws to stop short term lets as he claims they are being used for parties. 

Speaking in the Dáil, Senator Lombard said there is no way of knowing if AirBnB hosts are operating according to current Covid regulations. 

A number of rooms, apartments, houses and cabins are available to book in Cork City and County, however many hosts have a 'no parties' rule in their terms and conditions. 

Tim Lombard says the AirBnB website should be closed down until it agrees to work with the relevant bodies: 

"You can book whatever you want, wherever you want to go in Ireland, and there's nobody standing in your way at the moment. We contacted a local authority. They have no listing of the actual Airbnb's even though it's their job in many ways to actually licence them. So we do have a huge issue about how Airbnb's have been operating in this COVID restriction, in level five. And I think we need to do something drastic, there is no need for this website to be operating in the current scenario."

AIRBnB Response

In response to a statement request from RedFM News AirBnB say they have seen no evidence to support the Senator's claims. 

The statement adds that parties are banned on Airbnb and they take swift and robust action against those who breach their strict policies however they say have not had specific issues brought to their attention for them to investigate 

In a recent crackdown on antisocial behaviour, Airbnb removed or suspended 2,500 listings across Europe, and they say their Neighbour Support Line makes it easy for anyone to highlight concerns. 

The statement adds that it is false to suggest that listings on Airbnb are intended solely for leisure, they say there are legitimate reasons for travel during this difficult time such as work related travel that is required for workers providing essential services, and the Senator's comments fail to take these use cases into account.

In conclusion they say they want to be good partners to communities, they share clear information about government travel restrictions. and remind all hosts and guests to follow the rules..

 

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