Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, worked with me to try to get a report produced. Our effort went into just getting a report from a task force that was set up in 2019. The Minister of State then told me he would study the report and come back to me with an analysis of the difficulties. I have read the written answer from the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, already. Let us look at Galway city, where rents have breached all records and gone up by 12.5%. There are no houses available under HAP. The only game in town is one available property. When Simon Communities of Ireland looked at the city in its three-day snapshot, no properties were available. There are people on the housing waiting list for up to 17 and 18 years. I am not given to exaggeration. On top of that, we have headlines telling us the Galway Harbour Company is about to conclude a deal with the Land Development Agency to build premium housing. There is no mention of public housing and no mention of an overall plan. I would have thought a task force that was set up in 2019 because of the crisis that existed, a crisis that has since become worse, would analyse the situation and come up with solutions.

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