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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Amy Donohoe

Almost 1,500 co-living units to be developed across Dublin and number 'could double' despite 'shoebox' ban, warns TD

Around 1500 co-living units are to be developed across Dublin despite them being banned.

Dublin City Council has granted planning permission for 1,491 units, according to Freedom of Information figures.

They will be located in 11 different areas across the capital from Dublin 4's Merrion Road, to 397 at the Old Glass Factory on Cork Street.

Applications for these sites were made before now Housing Minister Darreagh O'Brien's ban on such developments was signed into law at the end of last year.

However, almost as many more units could end up being built because planning applications that were submitted before the ban came into place are still viable.

Sinn Fein's housing spokesman, Eoin Ó Broin warned this morning that delays in the ban mean several more "showbox" units could spring up across the capital.

He told Newstalk Breakfast: "Unfortunately there are another 1,000 co-living bed spaces still in the planning process.

"Seven applications were submitted between the time Darragh O'Brien became minister and when he eventually introduced his ban on the 22nd of December.”

He said a delay in introducing the ban means a number of applications will be dealt with under old rules introduced by former housing minister Eoghan Murphy.

He fears “that most of those would be approved” and that one "very tiny loophole" could also cause further problems.

He said: "If that HDNA estimates that there is a need for co-living in certain parts of the city, then co-living applications could be considered.

"It's a very, very small chink of light but the minister should remove that as well.

"The issue here is we had a minister who promised to ban these when he was in opposition, and then spent months and months dithering.

“And as a result, we could have twice the number of co-living units in the city than when he took office.”

When in opposition, then Fianna Fail housing spokesman Deputy O'Brien slammed co-living developments after Minister Murphy likened them to "boutique hotels".

He also said they would have no impact on solving the housing crisis but would instead exasperate the problem.

Deputy O'Brien said in 2019: "Co-living units will have no effect on housing, and they will push up the price of 'normal' apartments in addition to co-living 'box' apartments.

"They are not trendy boutique hotels, they are boxes."

Taoiseach Micheal Martin when in opposition once referred to co-living as “battery cage-type accommodation” and said he feared it had the potential to become nothing more than “glorified tenement living”.

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