The Housing Minister has been blasted for saying young people should be "excited" about the co-living accommodation proposals.
Eoghan Murphy has defended plans to build a complex that could house 208 people in Dublin, in a building that could see up to 42 residents sharing a kitchen.
He told the National Housing Conference on Monday that people should be excited by having "less space for less rent" and said how similar complexes have worked well in London and New York.
He said: "This is a generation that has a different approach to things; they will sacrifice certain things for others, as we all did when we were younger."
He added: "Most people in Ireland today do not have a choice as to how or where they live, choice shouldn’t just be something for the privileged few, people shouldn’t feel trapped by their housing circumstances.
"This isn’t about allowing for high density bedsits, it is about a new style of accommodation."
But Green Party MEP candidate Ciaran Cuffe has slammed the comments and urged the Minister to resign.
He told the Irish Sun: "Minister Murphy’s comments are inexcusable. He is out of touch with what is happening in Dublin, he must resign.
"There is a lost generation sleeping on couches and in homeless accommodation outraged at these remarks.
"We are in a housing crisis, we need to build and we need capable leadership at home and in Europe to deliver housing in the numbers needed."
The Labour Party's Jan O'Sullivan also criticised Mr Murphy and said she doesn't know anyone who would be excited to live in a box room.
She said: "The most recent proposal from Minister Murphy really is scraping the bottom of the barrel with Fine Gael’s housing policy.
"I don’t know of any young worker who would be ‘excited’ to live in a box room.
"The Minister says young workers should be “excited” about these ‘single occupancy bed spaces’.
"What he actually means is low-income earners should be grateful for anything that this government throws at them. Minister Murphy has been wrong before, but this signals a new departure.
"His lack of awareness of the needs of those desperate to find housing is staggering and frankly this level of ignorance of the real struggle people are facing is unacceptable."
It all follows criticisms of plans by Barta Capital to build a co-living complex in Dun Laoghaire.
Housing charity Threshold described the developments as "21st-century bedsits with a glossy makeover".
