It's led to calls for the special status to be removed.
There are calls to remove the protected structure status of a former Laois hotel, to reduce the cost of converting it into social housing.
A projected construction price of €350,000 euro was given for a two-bed apartment on the site of The County Hotel in Portlaoise.
After investigation, it was deemed that its presence on the protected register was partly to blame for a high construction cost.
Local Fine Gael councillor Thomasina Connell says she couldn't stand over social housing at that price: