Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Barry. I should probably be directing this question to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, but I will ask it anyway. I have made fairly well known my views that the box-room, rabbit-hutch accommodation known as co-living is not something that should be allowed in this country. It is just a way to make money for developers and to maximise the value of a site, rather than providing decent quality accommodation for people. If that was true prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, and I believe it was, is there any recognition from the Government now that we must immediately shelve and prohibit these co-living developments from a public health point of view? There is one planned in our area for 200 box apartments with shared kitchens. I believe that 40 or 45 people are to share a kitchen. This absolutely cannot happen in the era of Covid-19. The council in Croydon, for example, recently approved planning for a co-living development of more than 200 units but it is now saying it cannot go through with it anymore. Is the Government considering prohibiting these co-living developments on public health grounds? If not, why not? I put it to the Minister of State that all that is required is for the statutory ministerial guidelines of 2018 to be amended to prohibit these box co-living apartments. Will the Government do this?

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