Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This year, we will build 14 social houses in Galway when there are 13,000 people there who have been on the housing waiting list since 2001. How many Governments have held power since then? Not one single social house has been built but we had plenty of money for the rental accommodation scheme and the HAP scheme. Then we came up with the land aggregation scheme. Is the Government even aware of this scheme? How much land from various local authorities has been taken back under it? Up to 13,000 people in Galway, some of them waiting since 2001, are on the housing list. In addition, there is a major crisis in the context of homelessness. It would be great if the officials in Galway treated those presenting as homeless as families.

That would be marvellous.

It is unfortunate that the resources of the local authority have been run down and, as a result, staff are strained beyond belief, moved from department to department and not allowed to build up an expertise or a feeling in respect of homelessness. They are now functioning as estate agents and looking for houses all over the city. If the Minister of State does not believe me, he should listen to the auctioneers in Galway, who would tell him there is no supply of private housing there. He should take a trip to see the homeless on the streets of the city. He should go the men's hostel in Eyre Square in the middle of our lovely city. When men turn up there, they are told the hostel is full and its staff can only give them sleeping bags so that they can be a little warmer while sleeping on the streets. I am not given to exaggeration, rather I deal in facts. These are the facts in Galway city.

Two weeks ago, I sat in a beautiful apartment in Salthill in which there were at least eight people from other apartments, all of whom got a notice to quit, ostensibly to facilitate the sale of the apartments. However, those people know it is to allow the apartments to be rented on Airbnb. It was reported in The Irish Timesyesterday that a six-bedroom apartment in Dublin made an annual income of €163,000 through Airbnb. The Government has utterly failed to regulate in that regard. A similar situation obtains in Galway city.

What are the solutions? The Bill is part of the jigsaw. However, the main answer is to declare a housing emergency. The Government should tell Members what residentially-zoned land each local authority has in its possession. Members should be told what land in Galway that is zoned residential is now unavailable because a road cannot be built and will not be built in the next five years. Why is the Government not providing co-operative housing? That cannot be done in Galway because the land was brought at such a premium and high rate of interest that council officials cannot conceive of giving it at a reduced rate because of the debt incurred on the purchase.

I support the Bill but have the utmost cynicism about the motivation of the Labour Party in bringing it forward.

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