In its submission to the Draft Dublin City Development Plan, due to be published today, the employers’ representative group describes proposals to reduce the heights permissible as “crazy” given the pressure of population growth in the capital.

If passed, the proposals would see the maximum height of Dublin’s ‘low rise’ inner city residential buildings reduced from 28m to 24m, and the height of ‘low rise’ developments in suburbs capped at 13m.

Ibec senior executive Aidan Sweeney said the move would override established global practices of assessing each site’s suitability and context for development and effectively tie the hands of Dublin City’s planners with “new and impractical height restrictions”. He added: “If passed by Dublin City Council, the new proposals will extend to new areas standards first initiated in the Georgian Quarter 250 years ago. The simple fact is that many existing low-rise buildings in the suburbs couldn’t be built today.

“A more sensible approach is needed, which recognises that taller buildings can make a beneficial contribution, besides accommodation, to urban regeneration and their surrounding streetscape and skyline,” Mr Sweeney argued.

He said while Dublin is well positioned to attract a new wave of investment and jobs as a result of Brexit, he said the housing crisis was undermining the city’s attractiveness.

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