Industrial estates in Dublin could be rezoned for much-needed housing.

Dublin City Council says the capital will run out of residential land in four years and brownfield sites must now be considered.

However, many of the business parks like those in Kylemore and Coolock are privately owned.

The city council's head of housing, Brendan Kenny, that will pose a challenge.

Mr Kenny said: "A very significant amount of houses, thousands of units, could be built on these but it won't be as simple as that.

"The land is owned by private owners and in lots of cases many of the industrial estates are owned by maybe dozens of different people, so it won't be easy to pull all this together."

He also admits the proposal would take some time, saying: "It's something we need to get moving on, in my view, as quickly as possible because land is getting scarce and land available to Dublin City Council is set to be gone in four years' time, so we need to get moving on this."

He added that the industrial estates proposal would be lucrative for developers.

He said: "The industrial estates are located in very strategic areas, close to public transport and close enough to other residential areas.

"So there, in our view, a huge potential for housing here, but it's going to take a bit of time so it's something that needs to be considered now.