Full coverage: Housing

The response to the student accommodation crisis needs to be based on the reality of life for students, writes Rebecca Moynihan.

The planning system in the UK and Ireland is complex and uncertain, which makes it hard to justify small renovation projects. Four Dublin school friends have built a product to help navigate the system.

Under the us-versus-them approach favoured by conspiracy theorists, no policy decision can ever be made. Yet it underpins a lot of the reaction to the Government’s Housing for All plan among those who won’t settle for a step in the right direction – only a full leap into Nirvana.

New data shows how Covid has taken a problem that had been concentrated in Ireland’s urban rental markets and exported it to the rest of the country. But it has also changed the sales market too – from where people are buying to what size of property they want.

When it comes to housing, there have been far too many people expressing opinions that a proposed new development isn't perfect – and therefore should not take place.

Ciara Sheahan had a steady career in real estate, but while looking for ways to set her property franchise apart, she stumbled across a technology that led her to co-found Orb Media, Ireland's only 360 experience company. She talks about the ups and downs of her career, what she learned along the way, and being a woman in business.

Modular buildings were hailed as the solution to Ireland’s housing crisis. But the sector has seen significant setbacks, due in large part to added strain on the private housing market and a shortage in construction supplies caused by the pandemic.

Foreign funds, rising rents and scarce mortgages are symptoms of a collective decision to insulate the borrowers of the past at the expense of the borrowers of today. Consequently, the prospect of home ownership is ever more distant for far too many.

Labour senator Rebecca Moynihan on how her party lost its way and why building houses is more important than idealism.

Special Development Zones were designated to deliver tens of thousands of homes, and have largely failed. Now fast-track Strategic Housing Developments, too, are under threat from the increasing use of the courts by objectors, warns urban planner Tom Phillips.