Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact there were 2,195 public beds. Where, however, is the vision for this area in terms of State-owned student accommodation in order that we can bring the prices down? A market is once again being created for the vulture funds and anyone with money who can then do what they want during the summer, although we have tried to curtail that lately with limits on time. I come from a city where the HAP scheme and all the private schemes have led to a disaster. The housing crisis in Galway is worse than Dublin. There is absolutely no hope. At one time, we could go up with someone every six months and tell him or her that eventually he or she would get a local authority or public house. That is gone. We have emails and what seems like choice-based letting whereby everyone gets a computer and looks for a house knowing that only one person can get it out of thousands of people. We are doing the exact same thing all over again with student accommodation.

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