A UCC planning expert say ambitious plans to build 300,000 homes in the next ten years could create it's own economic boom.
Brendan O'Sullivan says the €4 billion a year "Housing for All" plan could see thousands of skilled workers return to Ireland to take up roles in the construction sector.
The plan also includes an overhaul of judicial reviews to 'unblock obstacles to development' and will hand major planning decisions back to local authorities.
Housing Minister Darrgah O Brien says rural communities will also be given greater certainty over building homes in their areas.
Speaking to RedFM News, Director of the Centre for Planning Education and Research at UCC Brendan O'Sullivan says the plan will also see funding for initiatives to tackle dereliction:
"There'll be rewards for people who are going to restore buildings, bring them back into use, particularly for housing. They're not going to quite go so far as to soften the regulations, I mean, if if a building is of historic interest, it still has to be done properly. What we've seen right across Europe and other places, once the City Council is serious about it, once one or two developers, who develop flagship projects in the city centre, once they start putting their money and their effort into something, everybody else starts investing into their properties."
