“rooms” set up at the bottom of gardens to deal with the housing shortage

They are called “semorai”. All over the country, a kind of outbuilding, often illegal, is springing up at the bottom of gardens behind houses. Some would like to regulate their construction, they see it as a solution to the serious housing shortage.

By 2050, Ireland could need two million new homes, according to the government. And a large proportion of those two million homes will have to be built where they are most needed: in urban areas. Seán O’Neill McPartlin is director of housing policy at the think tank Progress Ireland. He says Dublin has a large number of single-family homes. While there is no more land available in the city, it is full of private gardens.

Gardens that are already laid out with all the essential infrastructure: water, electricity, etc. So it’s a missed opportunity, according to Seán O’Neill McPartlin.When it is small and insignificant in your garden, respecting certain rules of course, you do not need planning permission, he explains. So across the country, gardens are full of sheds, offices, or even home gyms, and often these are under-utilised structures. But Irish residents, neighbours, are quite used to these structures being built next to their homes. We are saying that in addition to these structures, or in place of them, people could build houses, provided that certain rules are followed.“.

Structures at the bottom of private gardens, which are used as housing, are already a reality in Ireland. This is what we call “seomraí”, this word, in the Irish language, means “room”. Moreover, these accommodations are also known as “granny flats”, since they are traditionally intended for an elderly parent. The idea is to allow them to keep their space and independence, while remaining close to the family. Above all, we avoid the retirement home.Countless people have built these seomraí, in many cases illegally, but to meet a need. They have a disabled child, an elderly parent, and these people are terrified that their home will be taken away from them.“, warns Seán O’Neill McPartlin.

Dublin City Council has already called for some of these structures to be demolished, leaving people homeless.Now, of course, we are not saying that we should break the law, but it shows how desperate the situation is. If we regulated this properly, if we made it easier to build, a lot of quality homes could be delivered.“, argues Seán O’Neill McPartlin. He and Progress Ireland have drawn inspiration from similar policies abroad. In California, for example, by 2022, more than 25,000 “accessory dwelling units“, their seomraí, were built. That is one in five new houses, built in the State.

These homes also represent savings. Dublin is the second most expensive city in Europe, after Zurich, for the delivery of apartments. Expect to pay at least €400,000. The cost of delivering a seomraí is €70,000. According to Progress Ireland, more than 350,000 homes across the country would have enough space in their garden to build a seomraí.