Putting the Blame on Planning: Housing crisis and reform in Ireland

Join us for a Henry Halloran Research Trust address with Associate Professor Declan Redmond from University College Dublin. 

Putting the Blame on Planning: Housing crisis and reform in Ireland

Ireland’s planning system has been subject to waves of restructure and reform since the global financial crisis and subsequent housing market collapse. In seeking to re-establish a functioning land and property market, planning has been positioned as an obstacle to recovery, slowing development and imposing onerous regulations which undermined the viability of projects. This lecture critically examines this reshaping of planning, which has been driven by a well organised and influential development lobby alongside a compliant state. As the housing crisis worsened in recent years, the notion of viability has been used as a Trojan horse to make major changes to the planning system. Fast-track planning permissions, reduced development standards and developer subsidies are just some of the radical changes that have been made.

The lecture assesses the rationales and impacts of these ongoing changes and asks whether there are similarities in other countries affected by high housing costs and debates about the impacts of regulation on new housing supply.

The event will commence with an introduction by Professor Nicole Gurran, Director Henry Halloran Research Trust, who will also chair the Q & A.

The talk will commence at 4.15pm sharp. You are invited to join us for refreshments after the session.

Declan Redmond is Associate Professor of Housing and Planning at University College Dublin, Ireland. His research interests focus on evaluating the plethora of housing and planning policies that have been introduced in Ireland since the financial crisis. He has published on issues such as planning gain and obligations, housing affordability, and social housing regeneration. He is currently leading a major project which is evaluating the introduction and implementation of compact growth policies.