John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom caint faoi fhadhb ar leith maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta sa tír: an fhadhb atá inár nGaeltachtaí agus inár gceantair Ghaeltachta. Mar a luadh go minic sa díospóireacht seo, tá fadhb an easpa tithíochta fud fad na tíre i ngach áit. Ach is fadhb ar leith í sin i gceantair Ghaeltachta. Cuireann sí todhchaí na Gaeltachta i mbaol. Más rud é nach bhfuil duine nó daoine in ann cur fúthu i gceantair Ghaeltachta, beidh tionchar aige sin ar an teanga sa cheantar sin agus ar thodhchaí na nGaeltachtaí.

Tá a fhios agam go rachaidh an tAire, an Teachta Browne, go Gaillimh ar an Aoine chun casadh leis an ngrúpa BÁNÚ, grúpa gníomhaithe sa cheantar sin atá ag impí orainn ar fad níos mó a dhéanamh chun soláthar tithíochta a chur ar fáil sa Ghaeltacht do dhaoine atá ina gcainteoirí dúchasacha agus gurb as na ceantair seo iad. Tá súil agam go mbeidh cruinniú maith againn ansin agus go mbeimid in ann réiteach a chur ar an bhfadhb ar leith atá sna ceantair Ghaeltachta.

On that, I know the Minister, Deputy Browne, is visiting Galway on Friday to meet some of the activist groups who are campaigning for further housing options in the Gaeltacht. I hope the outcome of that meeting will be positive because while we have a housing problem throughout the country, the lack of housing in the Gaeltacht puts it in danger. If young people who speak the language cannot reside there, obviously that is going to place its future as a Gaeltacht region i mbaol, in some danger.

I have heard a lot in the debate regarding the lack of infrastructure and the need to expand the areas in our local authorities that are zoned for residential development, and I concur with that. However, in some locations it will be more challenging. There is scope, albeit limited, to increase the amount of zoned residential land within the confines of the boundaries of Galway city. It is the smallest geographical local authority in the country, yet we expect its metropolitan area to expand by 40,000 people within the national planning framework timeframe. The constraints of the city boundary are an issue we need to look at. We do have the MASP area but, again, we need clarity around the planning of it.

Reasonably large tracts of land have been zoned for residential development in Galway city but we have the problem, as has been noted by many other speakers, of the lack of road and water infrastructure to trigger the development of that land. I am looking forward to the work of the housing activation office and the infrastructure task force because as much as we need anything else in the whole area of housing, we need both of those offices to commence work soon. I imagine that come July, when the new housing plan is published, that will feature centrally in it and there will be concrete actions to show us how both of those bodies will work with respect to triggering housing development.

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