Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want the official in the Department of Finance who decided not to spend this money on Galway or Limerick to listen carefully. I emphasise that my remarks are not directed at the Minister of State, but at an official who is presumably in an office somewhere watching this debate. It is an absolute nonsense to say that this "initiative is logically targeted at the Dublin local authority areas and at Cork" because the inadequacy of supply "is most acute" in such areas. As I have said, there has been damn all construction in Galway for five years. It is in the middle of a housing crisis which is just as acute as that in Dublin and Cork. Galway is a regional capital, as opposed to a regional city. I suggest that the relevant officials need to get out of Dublin every so often. If they go to Galway, they can go to the local authority offices and see for themselves the price escalations, the rent increases and the complete lack of construction that is taking place.

I assume legislation will have to be introduced to enable this measure to be advanced. If so, I will target it at every stage to seek to amend it. I will do everything I can to lobby to get Galway and possibly Limerick included in this scheme. I am sure people from Limerick are affected by this crisis. According to the Housing Agency, Galway needs 2,300 houses by 2018. No houses are being built at present. To me, that is an indication that something is seriously wrong, as is the fact that, to be frank, these supports are being focused on cities that have Ministers. I want Galway to be included in this report. The current proposal is not fair. We have been subjected to this kind of anti-west of Ireland discrimination for long enough. I want this to change. If one lives in Galway and wants to buy a house in Galway or get a local authority house in Galway, that does not mean one is any different from anyone in Cork or Dublin. If representatives of the Department want to tell me that the number of houses in Galway which can benefit from this scheme is quite small, I will say "then it will not cost very much at all" and that is how we will sort it. I want answers from the Ministers for the Environment, Community and Local Government and Finance. How do they propose to change this measure to ensure the people of Galway, who deserve to be treated equally on this matter, are included in it as is only right?

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