Councillor says apartment guidelines will 'squeeze people into boxes'

Kildare-Newbridge MD councillor Chris Pender has slammed the new Government guidelines for apartments as a policy of 'squeezing people into boxes' instead of providing homes they can live in, writes Brian Byrne. Saying they are a case of 'rolling back standards and hoping no one notices', the Social Democrats representative also criticised the changes as stripping the power of local authorities to look for better.

The new guidelines permit minimum Studio Apartment floor areas of 32 sq m and a 2-person 1-bed apartment of 45 sq m. A 3-bed apartment for five people should have a minimum of 90 sq m. Issuing the guidelines, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne said they will likely result in some cases in an average of €50,000 and up to €100,000 cost reduction per unit and will get apartment building moving.

The new standards reduce dual-aspect requirements, remove the need for 3-bed units in private schemes, allow half of all apartments to be built without balconies or terraces, and reduce the number of homes that must exceed the minimum size. Cllr Pender says it's an approach that has failed again and again. "In 2015, Alan Kelly reduced studio sizes to 40 square metres," he notes. "In 2018, Eoghan Murphy reduced them further to 37 square metres. Now, in 2025, we’re told 32 square metres will somehow solve the crisis. It won’t. It will fail — again. It’s about making homes smaller, faster, and more profitable and telling people to be grateful for it.”

The councillor said the move is a developer-friendly deregulation plan dressed up as a housing solution.

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