Chambers Ireland welcomes proposals on removing urban height restrictions

12th October 2017

Chambers Ireland today (12 Oct 2017) welcomed proposals by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to lift height restrictions on residential buildings by the end of the year.

Speaking this morning, Chambers Ireland Chief Executive Ian Talbot said,

“Today's comments by Taoiseach Varadkar following on from last week’s commitment by Minister Eoghan Murphy on reforming the height restrictions in urban areas are very welcome.”

"The undersupply of housing is a severe threat to our economic competitiveness and will continue into the medium and long-term unless we change our thinking around housing and urban living.

As the population of Ireland's urban centres continues to grow we must seek to increase their density, and lifting height restrictions must be a crucial part of our response to supporting a growing population.

We cannot allow the pattern of urban sprawl that surrounds Dublin to continue or be replicated in Ireland's other cities. Supporting measures that allow for greater population density in urban centres and towns reduces the cost of connecting ever greater numbers of people to quality infrastructure services.

Building upwards and not outwards will enable vibrant, sustainable cities to grow.”