High rise apartments could be on the way after the government moved to lift height restrictions in urban areas.
They have also changed the rules around parking requirements for apartment blocks in areas that have good public transport links.
The Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy also said he wants to introduce affordable communal housing for young professionals.
“You would have your own apartment, your own bathroom facilities but you would have a shared living space; you would have shared cooking facilities; how that might be shared and around how many people is completely up to the designers and the planners - but we know it works in other countries.
“We know that that meets the needs of young professionals maybe going into their jobs for the first time.”
The developments would be like student accommodation apartments for young professionals - but architect Mel Reynolds isn't a fan of the idea
“It sounds to me like we are looking at building dog boxes as high as we can get here,” he said.
“These sorts of blanket policies about height and about unit type are not appropriate in a lot of areas.”
The measures are aimed at making it more affordable for developers to build and Fianna Fáil's Housing Spokesperson Barry Cowen welcomed the move.
“I would have hoped that we would have been discussing this earlier in the lifetime of this government with a view to increasing densities in this city; increasing heights.”
It is part of a suite of changes announced by the Housing Minister, with more expected in next week's budget.
