Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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882. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in view of the current homelessness crisis, particularly in Dublin, if he will recommend to Dublin City Council to reduce the minimum apartment size currently required for apartments to be legally inhabitable in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29133/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Increasing housing supply is at the heart of addressing the range of housing issues we face today, not least in relation to homelessness. It is in this context that Minister Kelly and I jointly wrote to the Chief Executives of each of the four Dublin local authorities on 10 June 2015 urging that the process for making development plans, underway in each authority at present, should focus around practical measures that can be adopted to boost housing supply and to ensure that good quality housing in suitable locations is available at affordable prices. The letter highlights the impacts of development plan requirements on the viability of new development and advises rigorous regulatory impact assessment of any new or existing development plan standards that are above relevant national minimum requirements. Floor size is one such example. The critical need for viable housing development will be central to my Department’s exercise of its statutory role in the development plan process.