Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

Mr. Lawlor continued: "We welcome meaningful, evidence-based reforms that support the accelerated, coordinated, and sustainable delivery of apartments and homes in communities across the country."

The institute goes on to say:

In particular, the erosion of unit mix requirements represents a market-led approach to housing that is fundamentally at odds with the significant work undertaken by the Department of Housing to date to create a plan-led system with high quality, long term sustainable outcomes flowing from transparently and democratically adopted local development plans.

This, and allowing changes to already permitted developments, also risks introducing more legal unpredictability.

This point is also made by Niamh Towey in her excellent article in The Irish Times, which quotes lawyers and legal experts. One states: "the legislation is flawed and potentially unconstitutional due to the lack of public consultation on what could be a significant change to a developer's ... plan". The source further states: "any 'permitted modification' decision could be challenged in the High Court by way of judicial review". Again, we asked at the briefing for any analysis of risk assessment that the Minister undertook regarding potential legal challenges and none has been provided. I can only assume that he did no assessment in that regard, but it is a very real possibility that there will be delays as a result of legal challenges because of, again, his disconnect from people, to think that the Department can ram through a development that might have had 100 homes and will now have 400 homes, with no public consultation whatsoever. It beggars belief. My mind boggles at this because these developments will be flooded with judicial reviews and challenges.

I was contacted by another architect about the impact of these changes. They said: "The priority should be delivering a variety of housing types that satisfy different family structures, life stages and adaptability for accessibility, ageing and special needs." It is a real issue that this housing does not provide that.

The architect continued:

Long delays in changing existing approvals to a high percentage of smaller studios and one beds might provide higher numbers in the short term but the long-term issues will emerge from a limited scope of housing stock that does not satisfy a broad scope of needs. Housing must accommodate families, couples, older people and people with disabilities and these new standards will not assist with that.

That is truly damning because a question I have asked repeatedly is, in Dublin particularly, where are couples and families who want to have children going to be able to live and have children if all we have are micro-units – one beds and studios – where people cannot raise kids? “Would you live in these?” is the big question.

What is the reality of living in these units? We asked for time to debate this issue in the Dáil this week. We were not given it. It is disgraceful and anti-democratic that the Government is ramming through this legislation without consultation with key stakeholders, public consultation or proper time in the Dáil. It is very regrettable that the Minister has gone about it this way.

Another good article in The Irish Times spoke to couples who are living in small apartments. I will again read some of their quotes because this is the reality of what people will live in because of the Minister’s decision. A Galway couple said their hopes for having children are "indefinitely on pause until we move to a space larger" as new guidelines for smaller apartments are introduced. Mr. Ó Murchú and his fiancée, Laura, live in a mobile home in Galway that measures just under 37 sq. m, which is bigger than the Minister’s new studios. Mr. Ó Murchú says he cannot imagine making this space any smaller as it would be “mentally taxing”. He said, “We want to start our family, and have children. However, that is indefinitely on pause until we move to a space larger than here.” Where are the spaces where families, couples and people who want to have children be will be able to do so, particularly in Dublin?

The article also looked at the views of people with disabilities and access to housing and spoke to Pamela Kavanagh, head of communications at the Irish Wheelchair Association. She said wheelchair users will be further pushed out of the housing market if the minimum size of a studio apartment decreases and that there is “very minimal housing stock available for people with disabilities”, whether they are looking to privately rent or purchase a wheelchair-accessible home. The article quotes her as saying, "Housing is one of the biggest issues” for wheelchair users, acting as “the main barrier towards true independence”. Ms Kavanagh said the Irish Wheelchair Association had yet to be consulted on the guidelines. Were these new guidelines ever discussed with that association? If not, why not?

It is very clear these changes will have very long-term negative implications. Would the Minister pay €2,500 to live in these units? I doubt he would and I doubt that other Ministers in his Government or the Taoiseach would, yet he is telling the people of Ireland to do so. They are not homes. They will be cash cows for developers and other vested private interests that have been lobbying for this kind of barefaced deregulation for years. The Minister is taking away the space to start a family, have a pet, have space for a bookshelf, have sunlight and access to the outside, have space to entertain friends and family and have a full and dignified life. It has still not been clarified where the savings will come from in terms of €100,000 and whether those will be passed on in rents.

This Government, and the previous Government, which is the same Government, has long said it wants to help people move out of their parents' box rooms but much like its inflated housing figures, it misled the public during the last election by failing to mention that for the 500,000 people stuck in their childhood box room, their only option would be to move into another box room, this time owned by a corporate investor, and they would be charged €2,500 a month for the privilege. These poorly designed, poorly thought-through concessions to the developers and corporate landlords that see homes as nothing more than commodities and investment assets will lead to greater inequality. I am not sure if the Minister has looked at their actual size. Has he seen the graphic of the tennis court in The Irish Times?It is nicely done and well worth a look. It shows how eight of these units can fit on a tennis court. I am sure the Minister knows a tennis court is not that big. These are not homes; they are micro-units for investor funds. It is a disgraceful decision and the Minister will regret it, and the people who live in them certainly will.

See this speech in context