Summary: <br> <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="https://twitter.com/ellieobyrne1" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">Ellie O’Byrne</a> is co-editor of <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">Tripe and Drisheen</a>, a Cork-based local news substack, and we discussed a <a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/cork-city-councillor-to-seek-injunction?utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F25633180-ellie-obyrne&utm_medium=reader2&s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener external" data-wpel-link="external">recent article</a> of hers.<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="https://blog.hereshow.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ellie-Obyrne-even-better-scaled.jpg" data-wpel-link="internal"></a><br> <br> <br> *****<br> <br> <br> <br> In talking to Ellie, I mentioned a tweet from Cllr Fiona Ryan of People Before Profit, who claimed that there are 25,000 ‘Airbnb vacancies’ in Ireland. I used the website <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="http://insideairbnb.com/dublin" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">InsideAirbnb.com</a> to show that these are mostly rooms in occupied houses or regular Bed & Breakfasts, or houses that are normally occupied by residents, and let on Airbnb when they are away.<br> <br> <br> <br> Of those that remain – about 8,000 throughout the country, of which about 400 are in Dublin – they are concentrated in tourist areas and a number of them are purpose-built tourist accommodation, not suitable for residential use.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> But as others have also pointed out, we have 25000+ Airbnb vacancies. What a functional housing market we have! <a href="https://t.co/st2cvV1kFs" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">https://t.co/st2cvV1kFs</a>— Fiona Ryan (@CllrFionaRyan) <a href="https://twitter.com/CllrFionaRyan/status/1526213340539899904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">May 16, 2022</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> It is clear that the number of units being used for Airbnb that have the capacity of being returned to the rental market is a tiny fraction of the number of vacant properties – 180,000 throughout the country, of which 50,000 are in Dublin (2016 Census), yet the Airbnb issue attracts a disproportionate amount of comment and political energy.<br> <br> <br> <br> I referred to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">Edward Bernays</a>, a founder of the US PR industry, who persuaded 1920s feminists to smoke in public, labelling cigarettes as ‘Torches of Freedom‘, while he was in the pay of the tobacco industry.<br> <br> <br> <br> I also noted <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sham" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">BP’s highly successful campaign</a> to frame climate change as the responsibility of ‘each individual‘ by promoting the concept of ‘carbon footprint‘, thus avoiding corporate responsibility. <br> <br> <br> <br> <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220522095254/https://www.prwatch.org/spin/2010/08/9328/are-oil-companies-greenwashing-gulf-coast-cleanup?qt-more=0" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">BP also duped a number of stars</a> including Sandra Bullock, Blake Lively, Lenny Kravitz, Harry Shearer, John Goodman, and the Democratic political consultant James Carville, into supporting a <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220522094916/https://osocio.org/message/restore-the-gulf-psa-pits-star-power-against-oil/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">campaign to have the US taxpayer</a>, rather than their corporate funds, pay for the cleanup after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In each of these cases, BP was successful at exploiting an apparently environmentalist message to suit their corporate interests.<br> <br> <br> <br> I discussed with Ellie the twitter account <a rel="noreferrer noopener external" href="https://twitter.com/banshorttermlet" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="external">BanShortTermLet</a> and how it seemed to pro...
