Much of this is entirely misleading. It’s this attitude that dooms us.

“In fact, allowing taller buildings will not help at all” – I struggle to fathom how this could be honestly written. It’s a basic matter of physics, of geography, of space allocation. We need taller and denser building in appropriate areas, far in excess of what is being allowed. More people can live in a taller building than a shorter one on the same space allocated. But this won’t help? Right.

“For starters, they usually take too long to deliver.” – Right so we just build one story buildings because that’ll be quicker? We need to tackle the long term issues of housing shortage, office shortage, recreational land shortage. That’ll all be done by using space more efficiently.

“The new development plan is quite balanced and nuanced on the matter of heights. It envisages clusters of tall buildings at strategic nodes around the city, particularly the docklands and around major transport hubs such as Heuston Station.” – The fact that a select few buildings are being allowed in some sites does not make the plan balanced. We’re getting decent height on the Boland’s Quay site so everything else in the docks needs to be 6-8 stories despite the fact that barely anyone who works there is capable of finding a house there? Despite the fact that it’s not infringing on any historical core of the city of Dublin, and we’re in the middle of a housing crisis? A few isolated tall builds won’t solve a problem, there needs to be a change in trend – in appropriate areas (we agree on that point). Yes, planning needs to be careful but the protectionism is excessive to the degree that it is ludicrous. No one wants to build towers on Grafton Street. Or alongside the GPO. Or in a Georgian square. Or anywhere in the old heart of the city for that matter. But by treating new parts of the city in the same way, we’re guaranteeing that this housing and office shortage will continue indefinitely.

“There is much poorly informed media commentary blaming the lack of housing supply on overly restrictive planning regulations. Let’s be clear. Our planning regulations are the lightest in Europe, and yet we have this problem of lack of supply.” – This is poppycock, I’ve never been to a city of Dublin’s size with such inefficient use of space, with such restrictive height allowances in its CBD. We have the potential to increase density in the city and we have awful suburban transport links compared to most cities of our size. Yet the answer to our shortage is not in the city but in more low build urban sprawl? Outrageous.