The Housing Minister says he wants to see regulations to stop former short-term lettings returning to platforms like Air BnB.
Many short-term lets have been placed on the general market as tourism has dried up because of the coronavirus.
However, there are fears when things return to normal, they will be once again withdrawn from the rental market.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy says his department is examining how to stop that.
"There is a longer term picture here that needs to be regulated with these platforms so that all of these homes which were effectively operating illegally don't get to go back to the short-term letting sector," said Minister Murphy.
"In fact, there may not be much of a short-term letting market for the foreseeable future because of travel habits changing.
"So there is a great incentive there to be getting it back into the long-term leasing sector in any case."
