Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am slow to offer too much commentary on my previous brief because the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is now responsible for this matter.

Anyway, I spent time with senior management in Galway City Council and Galway County Council - I imagine the Minister, Deputy Murphy, has too - as well as both together to talk about how we face the challenges that Deputy Connolly has outlined relating to the dramatic housing shortage for student accommodation and social and affordable housing. Those conversations are continuing. There is ongoing dialogue between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and local government in Galway to ensure plans are being addressed. One of the reasons we asked local authorities to produce an audit of all available land for housing and commercial development was for that very reason.

We have to try to ensure that we develop mixed developments and that we do not use every portion of land we have for housing if, in some circumstances, it is unsuitable. We must ensure that we build communities and that we will have sustainable societies in future that can address housing need as well as employment need and so on. It is about balancing these competing interests and getting it right. That is what the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government should be doing. My understanding is that is exactly what departmental officials are doing together in the context of Galway.

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