Developers will not have sell social housing units to councils when building new estates.
Last October the Environment Minister said developers would no longer be able to buy their way out of social housing - instead 10% of new builds would be earmarked for the less well off.
However it's now emerged that developers can lease the properties to local authorities instead of transferring ownership to councils.
It's believed this will generate huge profits for builders.
It comes as 43,000 people are waiting for social housing in Dublin alone.
