Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien is to amend the 2018 Planning Guidelines to seek to restrict all future commercial co-living development in Ireland.

Green Party Spokesperson for Housing, Francis Noel Duffy TD, welcomed the announcement.

Deputy Duffy agreed that the co-living model is not in keeping with the Government’s commitment to 'Housing for All', or compatible with its objectives of delivering social homes with a shift towards direct build, affordable purchase and a cost rental model.

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Deputy Duffy said: "As the Green Party's housing spokesperson, I have continuously advocated for the prohibition of co-living rental accommodation. Co-living apartments are suitable as short term accommodation for specific groups such as university students, or for companies with multinational staff wishing to build teamwork. We do not see co-living as appropriate for long-term independent living, especially if the occupant’s exclusive living space is small and lacks independent kitchen facilities.

"The majority of the current planned co-living developments do not have independent kitchen facilities, are located far from areas of employment or areas with sufficient density to justify these developments and, on average, only offer 16 square meters of living space. Promoting such developments is not a sustainable way of ending our housing crisis and shifts resources away from solutions that are."