He said that the bus connects project will be “key” to bringing down costs.
Green Party Leader and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan has suggested scrapping car parking facilities to cut costs while building new apartments.
Independents 4 Change TD Joan Collins asked the Minister in the Dáil on Thursday about plans to develop strategies to improve the living quality in apartment complexes in Dublin and throughout the country.
Ryan said that strategic housing will be “wound down” next year and it will be up to County Council’s to “deliver a range of other services, as well as the housing” to get the balance right for “high-quality living” and “balanced development”.
“We need to get the balance right, we do need to provide housing for our young people, and it does need to be close to the centre and high quality, and at the same time numbers. We do need large numbers of new housing, and they do need to be high quality,” he said.
The Minister added that Ireland needs to look to cities like Barcelona and Paris for inspiration and apply similar techniques to create both “density” and “quality” while building apartments.
He said that a “free for all” in terms of high-rise buildings wouldn’t work, adding that a “sense of community” will be lost if the Government “goes with some of the really high developments that are suggested”.
“In terms of height, which is probably the most contentious issue, right across the city here, particularly at the moment, I believe that we can’t go up, up, up – the sense of community slightly weakens when you go up above a certain height,” he continued.
“What exactly that is is site-specific, it depends on the neighbours, it also depends on cost. It’s my understanding that when you go up very high, the costs also go up. There is a balance we need to get.
Ryan also suggested that the Governments new bus connects project will be “key” in bringing down costs, as he suggested that “car parking for everyone” may not be necessary while creating new developments.
“How do we bring down costs? One of the ways I think we could bring it down, is we don’t need car parking for everyone,” Ryan added.
“I think there is a lot of people if we thought about it and designed this well, we could reduce the cost of the apartments by not having to build expensive car parking.
He said that while he agreed with the opposition’s “basic premise” it is “not easy” to do, adding that nobody has “more virtue than the other” in terms of what needs to be done in relation to planning.
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