Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Connolly. That is exactly what we are doing. She will be familiar with this. I have visited Galway City Council and Galway County Council to discuss on a number of occasions. The Minister has also gone to Galway on several occasions and has visited some of the emergency accommodation provision being funded by means of the taxpayer's money paid to all the different service providers at local level.

It is fair to say that there is serious pressure in Galway city and county. There is no mistaking the figures; they are very clear. This year, 145 new social homes will be delivered into the system. The target for the next three or four years is 1,089. We expect Galway city to treat that as a minimum and we have told the council that very clearly. We are going site by site and road by road in order to try to see what we can do to remove barriers and deliver accommodation much earlier. There are a number of schemes in the system. However, these are not sufficient to deal with difficulties that exist in Galway, which is a major pressure area. It will be getting major attention within the Department. The Minister, the social housing delivery team and I will be down there on a regular basis, visiting all the different sections, to ensure that the needs of Galway are addressed. Last year, through the benefit of the housing assistance payment scheme, more than 764 housing solutions were found. That will not be nearly enough to deal with the emergency, so I will be working with the authorities this year and next year as well. There are opportunities in Galway. We have made the resources available and we have made it very clear that we will do whatever it takes to move matters forward. We want this to be addressed.

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