Sinn Féin has proposed a bill to ban co-living developments.
The party says they want to get rid of rules that centralise planning powers with the Housing Minister and his Department - claiming such rules have amounted to a 'substantial power grab'.
Co-living developments have proven a controversial aspect of efforts to address the housing crisis.
It involves large developments with private rooms but shared facilities such as dining and living room spaces.
Critics here have argued that co-living offers a low standard of living, and also suggested it is often not a cheaper alternative to traditional rental properties.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy recently likened co-living to staying in a "very trendy" boutique hotel, but later admitted his analogy was "not a good one".
However, he has continued to defend the prospect of such developments - insisting that they would mainly be aimed at recent graduates entering the workforce for the first time.
Last week, a proposed 208-bed development in Dun Laoghaire in Dublin was given the green light - but with the condition that bedrooms will have 'functional kitchens' with cooking hobs.
Sinn Féin bill
Sinn Féin's newly-published Planning and Development (Excessive Ministerial Power Repeal) Bill 2019 aims to stop such developments in the future.
It aims to reverse a 2015 planning act amendment allowing the Housing Minister to place specific planning policy requirements on local authorities.
If passed, the bill would also repeal planning guidelines introduced last year.
Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said: "[Our bill] will allow individual local authorities to determine the most appropriate planning frameworks for their county development plans.
"It would mean an end to the spectacle of co-living and other developer led changes made under Minister Murphy."
Deputy Ó Broin's Dáil colleague Denise Mitchell added: “Co-living is not exciting or glamourous or whatever other buzzwords that Minister Eoghan Murphy comes out with.
“What the Government should do is take immediate action to build social and affordable housing, tackle spiralling rents including a rent freeze, and introduce tax relief for renters.”
The bill will now have to go before the Dáil, which is currently on summer recess.
