Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I am not a member of the committee, I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to come in for a few moments. Can the chief executives outline how many people in their areas are in emergency accommodation and what they plan to do to get them out of it and into proper accommodation? Are the numbers decreasing or increasing? Is it still down to the developer, landowner or householder selling houses where people have rented houses? Is it still due to banks repossessing or is it just that they are selling houses on the open market with an increase in the valuation of houses?

I will direct a few questions to Galway City Council. I welcome Mr. Brendan McGrath, the chief executive, and Mr. Dermot Mahon. How many houses is Galway short of at the moment?

How many houses are needed to get over the crisis? What is being done to try to deliver that? How many houses are the councils hoping to build between now and 2021? What plans are in place to build these houses? Have they been approved? Have they gone to tender? What blockages are there to completing projects? Is it with getting approval from the Department or with getting contracts signed to get houses? We have a major crisis. I am sure every county has that. As my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, said, there has to be a mechanism for fast-tracking the building of houses. I am aware of a scheme in County Galway which was held up in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for months to get approval, particularly about where windows would be in part of the development. We were told there was only one architect in the Department. Do the councils find that that still happens?

Does Galway County Council have enough land to deal with the housing crisis, not just for those in social or affordable housing, but for the ordinary people who want to buy a house? We seem to forget about the young couples who do not qualify for social or affordable housing who want to buy a house. I see it in Galway. Is it happening in other parts of the country? Is the State coming in and buying full housing estates? I see there are a number of estates in Galway where the State has bought the whole lot in one fell swoop. It is unfair on young couples who want to get on the property market. They cannot bid against the State. We have a housing crisis, including for young couples. Many are heading back home and staying with their parents because they cannot afford to pay rent or to get on the property ladder, because the prices are going up, and they cannot bid against the State.

There is an issue in Galway which may be present around the country. I go into Galway early every Sunday morning. From the top of Shop Street to its end, I think I counted 22 rough sleepers indoors in the space of, at most, 100 m. By 8.30 a.m., they were gone. There was no sign of them. They walked down the side ways. It was as if they disappeared. They come back at night between 11 p.m. and 12 midnight. What is being done about that? It is a disgrace to see so many. I have walked along and looked at them and they are all foreign. None is Irish. I ask Mr. Brendan McGrath, as chief executive in Galway, if anything has been done. Has there been a survey? Has the council talked to them? Who are they? Where are they from? What is being done to deal with that? It is terrible looking in the mornings. Many tourists walk around the city early in the morning and see that. Is that being addressed?

Will Mr. McGrath outline the future development of Galway city? I know he has done a lot of work, on which I compliment him on, in progressing the Ardaun corridor on the east side of Galway city. The road has been downgraded. Funding has been received to get access to it. When does Mr. McGrath expect to see houses built on that? How many houses does he hope will be built? When does he expect to see people move in to these houses? Will he outline how many people are in emergency accommodation in Galway? When does he expect to be in a position to get that down to zero? What is the trend of people getting into emergency accommodation? How many present to Galway City Council as homeless in a month, on average? Are they families, couples or single people? Will Mr. McGrath and other chief executives outline the monthly trends of those presenting as homeless?

I am not a member of the committee but I thank the Vice Chairman for the opportunity to ask a few questions.