Ireland ‘doesn’t need’ to build any more semi-detached houses, Newstalk Breakfast presenter Ciara Kelly has said. 

As the nation grapples with the twin crises of housing and climate, Pat Barry, the Chief Executive of the Irish Green Building Council, has said that we should build fewer detached and semi-detached properties if we want to reach net zero. 

Detached houses require more energy to heat and Mr Barry says the construction industry needs to adapt to society’s changing needs. 

“While our homes have been getting more energy efficient over the last 20 or 30 years, they’ve also been getting bigger,” he said. 

“So, that’s offsetting the efficiencies.” 

Homes on Atlantic West Coast of Ireland

For Ciara Kelly, it is an intervention that “makes total sense”. 

“I’ve interviewed lots of people about how we can achieve higher density without making our houses more dense,” she said.  

“Terraces are a great idea; apartments are a great idea - particularly in our cities, it means better use of public amenities, public services and public transport. 

“All of those things make sense and, for what it’s worth, I think terraces are really nice. 

“My first house that I ever bought was an end of terrace and all over Dublin there are lovely old, period terraces - Victorian ones, Georgian ones. 

“I know some modern houses are being built in kind of duplex territory but I think it’s a really good idea and I think it’s a really attractive idea.” 

D87A43 Traditional "cottage houses" in the inner-city area of North Strand, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

According to the CSO, there were 7,654 new dwelling completions in the second quarter of 2022 and Ciara believes that far too many of them are semi-detached homes. 

“I’m not sure why we’re building - and you see them everywhere - five and six-bedroom executive homes,” she said. 

“We’re having 1.8 children [on average] and we still seemed too wedded to that old 1970s idea of a four-bed semi-detached house as the be all and end all. 

“Why do we need them? We don’t.”

Main image: Ciara Kelly and newly built homes.