Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is a difficulty that in a city the size of Galway, with so many people moving there for job possibilities, only one company is building any housing.

Galway is unique in that it was not one of those places which created excess housing. A report from the Minister of State's Department shows that Galway was one of the more prudent, cautious and well managed cities in terms of its expansion and development. The irony is that after the difficult and horrific collapse of the construction sector, Galway is suffering particularly badly because it did not splurge the last time. We have very minimal capacity. On foot of a very moderate upturn in the economy, huge pressure has been put on house prices. In some areas of Galway the price of a three-bedroom, semi-detached house has gone from €170,000 or €180,000 to €220,000 or €230,000 in the space of a year to 18 months. It is a huge increase. It has reintroduced a worry among people that if they are not in the market now, they will be priced out of it. While it is a market, it is fundamentally a question of people's lives. Those who are participating in the market are people who want a home and to plant seeds for the future. We see the same irrationality - perhaps rationality in the circumstances - that persisted in the boom times that if one does not get one's foot on the ladder, one will be priced out. Compounded with a lack of supply where only one company is building any houses, that thinking is creating a perfect storm in Galway housing.

All of that feeds its way into every other sector of housing policy. On foot of the shortage of accommodation, people who are unable to buy are having to remain in the rented sector. When they stay in the rented sector, it means demand increases. Rental prices for family homes and apartments of all kinds in Galway have increased rapidly and dramatically. That puts pressure on people who are working and whose wages are not rising at the same rate and on people on low incomes who are barely holding on. A greater proportion of people's incomes is being spent on rent. There is then a further impact on people in subsidised rented accommodation who are in receipt of rent supplement. The caps on the Department of Social Protection's allowances for families for whom social housing is unavailable is not high enough. We are seeing people having to hand out backhanders and top-ups. In many cases, people have been put to the limit financially and have had to leave their accommodation and search with difficulty and often impossibility for alternative accommodation. On foot of the economic situation there is a great deal of unemployment and difficulties with finances. People are reeling from debt. As a result, social housing lists in Galway have gone from approximately 2,500 when I was a councillor on Galway City Council in 2008-09 to approximately 6,000 now. It is a further issue that is in the mix. The only way to describe it is as a perfect storm in housing in Galway. It will get a great deal worse in the very short term unless we do something concrete quickly to alleviate matters.

I will not pretend the Minister of State has billions in a suitcase which she can release into Galway to start building.

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