Many Irish investors overlook this. Ireland has no real HMO regulations yet. In the UK, you cannot create a HMO without a licence, minimum room sizes, and strict standards. Here, investors are taking a standard four-bed house, turning it into five, sometimes extending into the garden and pushing it up to seven bedrooms. Some do it properly — full refurb, professional standard, everything brand new. Others cut corners with tiny box rooms that would never pass inspection anywhere else. If Ireland

Rory Gallagher's iconic 1961 Strat is finally headed to the National Museum in Ireland

I was recently in Finland and spent some time looking at how their planning system works. Similar population to Ireland. Far more land. And a process where you can move from site to planning approval relatively quickly. Compare that to here, where two years can pass and you’re still waiting for a decision. Even when planning does come through, there aren’t enough skilled tradespeople to deliver the work. That delay and scarcity feeds straight into higher costs. These aren’t small issues. They co