A developer is calling for the minimum size of co-living bedrooms at a new Dublin property to be reduced from 12 square metres to just over six.

Tom Parlon, director general of the Construction Federation of Ireland (CFI), said in an RTÉ radio interview that land was half the cost of a new house and that hard-pressed buyers of new houses were paying for land for social housing.

The Government could bring thousands of Irish emigrants back to work - if it invests in the construction sector.

Tax inspectors are targeting cash businesses as part of a probe into Ireland’s multimillion-euro black economy.

A GROWING number of Irish tradesmen are swapping the Celtic Tiger for the sunny Oz lifestyle and job opportunities Down Under, according to Australian visa agencies.