The Housing Minister has been slammed for making amendments to the planning guidelines on design standards for new apartments.

Housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin TD, said Minister Eoghan Murphy's proposed changes to the guidelines were as "a result of veiled threats by IRES Reit, who conveyed to the Minister their 'frustrations' with the State's planning system".

Deputy Ó Broin said: "The driving force behind changing the guidelines is to make sure new apartments are built at 'cost that is more economically attractive to investors and developers'.

"Therefore perhaps it is not surprising that the Minister has published no evidence to back the need to alter the 2015 guidelines. The Minister's focus is not on making apartments cheaper to buy or rent.

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"The only documentation provided at the last minute to back these changes was the executive summary of a report that had no data and no evidence base to back claims that apartment building is not currently viable.

"In our submission we clearly state that the Minister should not be altering planning guidelines based on unsubstantiated claims by the industry who claim construction costs are prohibitive to apartment building.

"We are also of the view that lifting the height restriction on residential developments will not reduce the cost of apartments, it will inflate the cost of land further.

"The concept of 'co-living' as laid out in the draft guidelines normalises the problem of the lack of affordable housing for a huge cohort of young people.

"The focus should be on the delivery of affordable one bed apartments where people want to live for a long period of time, put down roots and invest time in the local community. Sinn Féin will not accept the argument put forward by this government is that this form of living will be cheaper."

(CD/LM)