Many Irish people are culturally opposed to the idea of downsizing in later life, regardless of the benefits for themselves or society, according to Ciara Kelly.

A new ESRI report has found that more than two-thirds of people in Ireland are living in homes that are too big for their needs.

The institute’s latest quarterly economic bulletin finds that 67.3% of people in Ireland are living in under-occupied housing units.

That is the third highest rate in Europe behind Malta and Cyprus and double the European Union average of 33.6%.

The report links Ireland’s inefficient use of housing to the relatively high number of houses compared to apartments in the country, alongside a lack of downsizing options.

‘I'll leave this house in a box'

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, presenter Ciara Kelly said there is “something cultural” in Irish people’s refusal to downsize.

“You hear it said all the time from people, ‘I'll leave this house in a box,’” she said.

“Sort of ‘from my cold dead hands’ kind of thing.

“We seem to have a massive emotional attachment to the family home – to where we raised our families and all that kind of stuff.

“So as people get older, even though they are rattling around the house and even though the house is maybe too big for their needs - hard to clean, hard to heat, all of those things - they don't want to leave it.

“So I don't know how we can address this.”

Downsizing

Ciara said people are also unwilling to downsize unless they can stay in their own areas.

“That is completely understandable because that's where their friends are, that's where their families are and that's where they know,” she said.

“It's their home; it's their community.

“We don't have good mixed developments, so towns are just loads and loads of housing estates or loads and loads of one type of accommodation, so that's tricky.”

“Our housing policy is so disjointed.”

Shane Coleman in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk

Fellow presenter Shane Coleman said the issue comes back to Ireland’s failing housing policy.

“I think it goes back to the fact that our housing policy is just so disjointed,” he said.

“What we always do in this country is we build houses that we don't need.

“I see it in my own area, like in Glasnevin, five-bedroom houses up for sale. Like, how many families need a five-bedroom house?

“Very few and yet a lot of houses built in the countryside for example are ginormous, 3000 square feet houses.

“How we build houses and the type of houses we build and the type of housing we build is different to everywhere else in Europe.”

Shane said he would love to downsize in later years – provided there are good downsizing options available.

“I don't have a particularly big house but when there's two of us left in the house I would quite happily [downsize].”

Carrot and stick?

The two presenters agreed that the Government will never use a carrot and stick approach to try and encourage people to move.

“I don’t see us using the stick but you know what? Carrots can make a difference,” said Shane.

“Like, if there's a pretty big tax incentive for you to downsize, I think you'll find in a lot of cases, that emotional attachment to the to the family home will lessen

“I do think, if it's worth your while financially, it will do.”

Ciara said tax incentives could see children encouraging older parents to move – but many people will still prefer to stay where they are.