Lack of data hinders debate on one-off housing

DEBATE about the desirability of one-off housing has raged since the 1980s although in the early days the argument was more about aesthetics than environmental and social sustainability with many builders accused of destroying the landscape with incongruous Spanish-style villas, mock Palladian mansions and mini-Southforks.

The building boom of the ’90s added urgency and complexity to the discussion and in 1997 the then Labour environment minister, Brendan Howlin, launched a policy document, Sustainable

Development — A Strategy for Ireland, which attempted to lay down ground rules to control the proliferation of one-off housing.