The new president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce has warned that Dublin’s strong growth and rebound from the pandemic risks being “derailed” if the city’s “growing pains” are not urgently addressed.

Speaking at the chamber’s annual general meeting dinner, Stephen O’Leary, founder of social listening firm Olytico, said lack of affordable housing, poor transport, and substandard water and energy infrastructure risked holding back Dublin’s economy.

“Young workers are presented with a bleak picture of rising rents, living with parents and a stark reality that home ownership is further away than for any previous generation,” he said.

“This impacts social cohesion, wellbeing and productivity in the workforce.

He said the Government’s ‘Housing for All’ strategy was a step forward, but that Dublin needed more ambitious targets to address the deficiencies in the housing market, while transport projects needed to be accelerated.

Dublin Chamber is also calling for a 20pc reduced rate of capital gains tax for indigenous entrepreneurs on a nationwide basis.

The current capital gains tax rate is 33pc, with certain reliefs available for succession planning and inheritance purposes.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who attended the dinner with 600 chamber members, acknowledged the need for improvements in infrastructure.

“We are all agreed that we need to invest heavily in our physical infrastructure to raise our competitiveness and Dublin’s attractiveness as a place to live and work,” he said.