A senior manager at Mayo County Council has called for a community-led boycott of holiday homes in order to bring high numbers of vacant properties back into use to help combat the housing crisis.
According to the 2022 CSO figures, there are 5,987 holiday homes in Co Mayo.
Director of Services Tom Gilligan sent an email to councillors on Sunday night, proposing civil action.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Gilligan said his aim is to get these "under-utilised, vacant, empty homes back into use".
He said that the proposal was sent to the members of the Housing Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) and is not the official policy of the county council.
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It suggested refusing engagement with holiday home owners and a public campaign on the issue.
"In the middle of a housing crisis, we need homes for people, not just for seasons," he said.
"The objective around this proposed boycott is to highlight the impact of underused housing stock on local communities, encourage policy reform and taxation measures on vacant second homes."
Mr Gilligan also intends to push holiday home owners to "either return properties for sale to the rental market or to the long term rental market".
He said it is about "demanding accountability from holiday home owners".
However, Mr Gilligan said he is not trying to "demonise" holiday home owners or put the blame on anyone.
"We are in the middle of housing crisis.
"We have people that are on our housing list. We have people that are currently being provided temporary emergency accommodation."
He said there are homes that are "vacant either nine, ten or 11 months of the year."
Mr Gilligan stressed that people are "welcome to Mayo" and that from a tourism point of view, it is "absolutely vital that we get people coming into the county".
He added that the word boycott is "synonymous with Mayo" in relation to Captain Charles Boycott who was a land agent in Mayo.
"The local community at the time took it upon themselves to try act as a form of civil protest," said Mr Gilligan.
"We should never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people and committed citizens can change the world."
"I do not regret the email," he added.
Mayo County Council said in a statement that the email was part of an "internal discussion document in response to the SPC's request for a policy on this subject".
"No policy has been formulated or adopted by the Council," it added.
"The contents of the document do not reflect the official position of Mayo County Council."
