During the interview, the leader of the Labour party added that he "will never lead a party that's left-wing".
Rural Airbnb operator and TD Alan Kelly has said that he believes Airbnbs should be regulated but only in urban areas.
The Labour leader Alan Kelly, who has a property for short-term let, said that he doesn't see a need for regulation where the Airbnb is in a "small population area".
However, he added that Airbnbs "in urban areas" need "regulation".
“I have an issue with Airbnb in urban areas rather than rural areas,” Kelly
told Pat Kenny on Newstalk on Wednesday.
During the interview, the leader of the Labour party added that he "will never lead a party that's left-wing".
The holiday home owned by the TD was included in Kelly's declaration of financial interests for 2020 but wasn't listed as a rental.
A spokesperson for Kelly told the Irish
Independent at the time that it is “only very occasionally rented and it didn’t meet the declaration limit for occupational income”.
Politicians are only required to declare holiday homes that are being used for commercial purposes. If the home is generating over €2,600 in gross income the TD must also register as a landlord.
Speaking on Wednesday, Kelly also revealed that every state employee would likely receive the suggested pandemic bonus as it "would be harder to leave people out".
When questioned by Kenny on if this included state workers who had not worked on the front lines he said: "Where do you draw the line?" adding that while front line workers are the "priority" there are also "many other people that were affected".
Main Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie.
