Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When we talk about what we are trying to do with the guidelines and standards for apartment development and new types of living we are not just talking about the immediate crisis. We are actually making sure that we can future-proof the growth of the country out to the 2040s. This ties in with the national planning framework which is being developed at the moment. It is my intention to make sure that these new standards are in place and that all the necessary assessments will have been carried out by the time the new planning framework is published. At the moment we are working towards the finalisation of the national planning framework, but we are also very close to publishing the new guidelines for apartment building. They will look at the 2015 guidelines as they currently stand and the changes that will be made, to cover things such as car parking spaces. The guidelines may also cover the size of apartments and the number of studio apartments in an overall development. Aside from those guidelines we are looking at build-to-rent guidelines, which is one of the new, innovative developments I spoke about which exist in other cities. We can have different guidelines in a build-to-rent sector because people are not buying these properties for life but are living in them for two or three years, or perhaps longer, which means that different requirements to those in operation for bought properties are possible.

On the specific issue raised by the Deputy in terms of the return of bedsits, people are worried because they are associated with low standards. Both the Deputy and I would agree that people should have access to their own exclusive washing and toilet facilities, and so what we are looking at as part of the guidelines is how we can achieve that in a different way to what has been done in the past. We are also looking at what role there might be for the repair and leasing scheme in terms of social housing. We will have those details very shortly.

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