Full coverage: Housing

Ireland’s dysfunctional housing system is unable to adjust when reality outpaces outdated official plans. Could a "city-led" model like that in Finland and Denmark change the landscape for the better?

Recent signs of stabilisation in parts of the housing market are encouraging. Prices are still rising, but more slowly. Supply remains tight, but availability is improving in some places. But until the country is consistently building far more homes each year, underlying pressures in the market are likely to remain.

At a critical junction for the State’s planning system, released records show housing officials were briefed about a "critical risk" the Office of the Planning Regulator won't meet its expanded oversight remit under the new planning act due to well-flagged staff and funding constraints.

One overlooked aspect of the housing crisis has been the Government’s dominant role in the accommodation market. While policy is shifting, fortunes continue to be made.

Accounting rules designed for macroeconomic surveillance now shape housing policy in powerful ways, increasingly including independent social providers like Ireland's AHBs on government balance sheets.

Housing trends in Ireland compare more favourably with peer countries than one might believe, including for younger people – but this does not mean current policy is adequate.

For younger adults in Ireland, the gap between how they expected to live and how they actually live has become stark. New European research shows that this experience is not uniquely Irish.

After a year of hesitation, the Government can no longer claim it’s finding its feet. With housing, childcare, disability and infrastructure still stuck in first gear, 2026 will be the year we find out what it’s really capable of.

Long before antibiotics or mass vaccination, better homes saved lives. New evidence from Ireland’s labourers’ cottages shows how improving light, air, and space quietly reshaped public health – and why housing quality still matters far beyond shelter.

Melclon Unlimited has secured planning approval for a 96-home development despite significant local opposition from residents in an adjoining housing estate over traffic, privacy, and other concerns.